Our latest Featured Speaker is William G. Benz of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP!

Bill is speaking during Part 2 of our upcoming three part webinar – Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts. Bill is speaking on on September 17, 2026.

Bill will co-teach “Removal of Fiduciaries and Accounting Litigation.” The session will address removing a trustee or other fiduciary, temporary-trustee appointments, strategies involving a neutral private professional fiduciary, interim orders affecting real property, trustee accountings, de facto trustees, and related practical issues.

Will is a seasoned litigator whose practice includes trust and estate disputes and business transactions. He represents beneficiaries as well as family-member, professional, and public fiduciaries in complex probate matters. His corporate-law background is especially valuable when a trust or estate dispute involves layered business entities, disputed ownership, financial elder abuse, fiduciary surcharge or removal, or efforts to recover trust property.

The three-part program will take attorneys from key deadlines and discovery through settlement, trial, evidence, ethics, and fee petitions.

Welcome back Bill! So glad to have you speak again.

Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts (CA)

Three-part live webinar | Thursdays, September 10, 17 and 24, 2026 | California | $450 to $635 | Also available OnDemand

Probate litigation runs on its own track, and a skilled civil litigator walking into it for the first time will find that most of the assumptions do not carry over. You file petitions rather than complaints. Notice requirements are statutory and strictly enforced. Standing is contested more often than in ordinary civil practice. Discovery works differently, and so does the path to trial.

This three-part program builds the practice area from the ground up for attorneys coming from civil litigation, and for estate planning attorneys who find themselves in contested matters and want to handle them rather than refer them out.

The program covers the petition practice that drives probate litigation, including Section 850 petitions and the range of relief they can reach. It works through will and trust contests, examining the grounds that succeed, the evidence they require, and how no-contest clauses affect strategy on both sides. It addresses trustee and executor removal and surcharge proceedings, accountings and objections to them, and financial elder abuse claims and how they interact with trust and estate claims.

Throughout, the emphasis is on procedure that is specific to the probate department: which judge hears what, how these matters are actually set and tried, and where the department’s customs differ from the civil courtroom down the hall.

This is a three-part series across three Thursdays, which makes it workable alongside an active caseload.

For Full details and to register, go here.

Litigator Brad Nahrstadt from Illinois, was a frequent speaker at our litigation boot camps – state and federal – in Illinois for years.  He probably taught at least ten years in a row. And he was one of our most highly rated speakers. The attorneys who learned from him loved his advice, as well as how organized he was and the incredibly helpful samples he provided. I still include some of those samples or outlines, such as for depositions, in our boot camps today.

I adore Brad and cannot recommend him—or his advice—highly enough. He was an excellent attorney and, before retiring, one of the finest instructors I knew. I’m confident that his newly published book, Montgomery on Trial, will be a fantastic resource. Read on for Brad’s own account of the book and what inspired him to write it.

In 1991 I was a second year law student. I was fortunate to land a job for the summer at a firm known at the time as Williams & Montgomery. The firm was founded and run by two of the best trial lawyers to ever grace a courtroom. I was given an offer of full-time employment and in 1992 I became an associate attorney at Williams & Montgomery.

Through a series of coincidences, I wound up doing most of my work, at least for the first fifteen years I was at the firm, for Lloyd Williams and Barry Montgomery. I worked up cases for them and tried cases with them before handling cases on my own. I learned from masters of trial practice.

Barry Montgomery was a trial attorney for over fifty years. I was one for almost thirty. Together, we have eighty years of experience trying cases. A little over a year ago we set out to distill everything we know about trying cases into one easy to use book. Montgomery on Trial is the result of our efforts. This book covers every aspect of trying a case and gives practical, hands-on advice concerning motions in limine, jury selection, opening statement, direct and cross-examinations, closing argument and jury instructions. If you have never tried a case and want to learn about the nuts-and-bolts of doing so, this book is for you. If you have tried cases and want to see what other practitioners have to say about the art of trying cases, this book is for you.

Montgomery on Trial has been published by the Illinois State Bar Association. You can order a copy by clicking on this link:

https://lnkd.in/d8juXcuw

I hope you will pick up a copy.

One of our fabulous speakers, Howard S. Krooks of Cozen O’Connor in Florida, specializes in Elder Law and Estate Planning in Florida. He just published this timely blog post on the impact of recent Continuing Care Retirement Community bankruptcies on the elderly. It is well worth the read, so I asked him if we could repost it here. The post is below. And if you or a loved one is considering buying into one of these high-end type of retirement communities (and I know several who have or are considering it myself), be sure to read and pass on the last paragraph.

Howard last spoke at our Estate Planning 101 program for Florida, which an be found here. We can’t wait to have him back the next time we do an estate planning program for FL, in 2026 or 2027.

Hundreds of Millions Lost by Seniors Due to Bankruptcies filed by CCRC Communities, by Howard S. Krooks 

The Wall Street Journal has reported that recent bankruptcies nationwide in the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) segment of the long-term care marketplace have resulted in residents losing their buy-in deposit. Such “entrance fees” typically require payment by seniors of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases, exceeding one million dollars, merely to access residency at one of these high-end facilities. The July 7, 2025 article, entitled “She Paid $1 Million to Join a Senior Facility. Its Bankruptcy Wiped Her Out,” by Akiko Matsuda details the loss of $945,000 by Arlene Kohen, 89 years old, who paid her $945,000 entrance fee in January 2020 (plus about $5,700/month in rent each month thereafter), to move into Harborside, a continuing-care retirement community located in Port Washington, New York.

According to the article, Ms. Kohen sold her Great Neck, New York home for $838,000 to partially fund the entrance fee. Other liquid assets made up the difference. The contract promised a 75% refund upon departure or death. Harborside declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy three times over the years (in 2014, 2021, and late 2022). Its first two reorganizations protected residents’ refund rights. However, after the final sale during bankruptcy, the new owner (Focus Healthcare Partners) scaled back care, requiring Kohen and those needing more advanced care to leave the facility. Not only does a facility’s bankruptcy cause disruption in the lives and care needs of those affected, but it also results in financial loss for seniors and their families. Bankruptcy proceedings prioritize secured creditors, leaving residents as unsecured creditors, placing them at the bottom of the repayment hierarchy and jeopardizing their ability to recover their entrance fees. Kohen’s family now expects to recover less than one-third of the originally promised refund of approximately $710,000.

Nationwide, at least 16 CCRCs have filed for Chapter 11 since March 2020, impacting over 1,000 families and erasing roughly $190 million in entrance fees, with 212 of those families having a loved one at Harborside, according to the article. While some contracts promise refundable entrance fees, these refunds are not guaranteed, especially if the CCRC declares bankruptcy. The CCRC business model relies heavily on upfront fees used to service debt and operations, and collapses when new move-ins decline, as occurred during the post-COVID housing slowdown. Also, critics point to weak state oversight of CCRCs and a lack of suitable regulations. Efforts to enhance consumer protections have faced resistance and been withdrawn in some cases, highlighting the influence of industry interests. Unlike states like Florida (which regulates CCRCs as a specialized form of insurance entity and is supervised by its Office of Insurance Regulation), many states lack the regulatory authority and expertise to safeguard residents adequately.

This story highlights the inherent fragility of the CCRC model and the financial vulnerability of seniors who pay large lump sums as entrance fees, expecting secure, lifelong care in return. When facilities go bankrupt, residents typically fare poorly as creditors. Furthermore, regulatory gaps remain a major issue. Although Senate investigations date back to 2010, many states still don’t require advance financial backing or consumer protections. The story also demonstrates the devastating effects of downturns in the housing market, since many prospective residents rely on the sale of their homes to pay the substantial entrance fees. When the housing market experiences a downturn, CCRCs similarly attract fewer potential residents who can afford to pay the entrance fees, thus affecting returns to residents who leave the facilities, whether to seek needed levels of care or as a result of death.

So, what can you do if you or a loved one is contemplating admission to a CCRC and payment of a hefty lump sum entrance fee? First, prospective residents and their families should carefully review a facility’s financial health, reserve levels, and refundable guarantees. Occupancy rates and bond ratings should also be reviewed if they are available. Second, residents and families should carefully read and understand the terms of the residency agreement, particularly regarding entrance fee refunds, levels of care, and potential fee increases. With regard to entrance fee refunds, prospective residents and their families should make an effort to learn whether such refunds are dependent on a subsequent sale of the unit, which could become particularly relevant if the individual is leaving the facility to obtain a higher level of caregiving at another facility, as opposed to the refund becoming refundable due to the death of the individual. Finally, prospective residents and their families should explore alternatives to the CCRC model. This might include in-home care, rental communities that do not charge up-front entrance fees, or other senior living communities. This will allow for a determination as to whether another arrangement would present a similar level of caregiving without the inherent risk in the payment of a large entrance fee.

The original article was published on July 15, 2025 and can be found here.