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What is a Trustee?
Being named a trustee in someone’s revocable is an honor and a privilege. With such privilege comes significant responsibility. It doesn’t matter if you are appointed as a trustee after death or at incapacity. Your job is nonetheless critical and must be taken...
What is an Estate Plan?
Why should you have an estate plan? An estate plan can provide significant peace of mind by ensuring that your money and property are protected, plans are in place in the event you become ill, and your accounts and property pass down according to your wishes. What key...
Persuasion and Effective Speaking
This afternoon, I read an article in this month's ABA Journal, one of my legal periodicals. The article spoke about the power of persuasion and made some pretty good points about persuasion and effective speaking. As I read through the entire article, I...
Famous Copyright Case
Famous Copyright Case. Lady Liberty. Copyright Law provides that the owner of a copyright has several exclusive rights in their copyright protected content. Among those rights are the rights to reproduce, to display, and to distribute your copyright protected work....
Self-esteem and Courage
Self-esteem comes from having the courage to make tough, unpopular choices. People pleasing is deadly! It is easy to follow suit, be a part of the status quo, and subjugate your beliefs, values, and feelings--all in the name of fitting in and being liked. Most people...
The Forgiveness Factor
Key to Forgiveness. Willingness to Forgive. The key to forgiveness is a willingness to forgive. Just saying "I forgive you" doesn't rid you of the anger. Think about it: How often have you seen someone who says he's forgiven someone else and is still riddled with...
How to Avoid Probate
3 Reasons to Avoid Probate When you die, under probate it’s likely your heirs will have to sign documents in order to receive their inheritance. This can happen if you own property in your name only and if you haven’t expressly designated a beneficiary. Some of those...
Everything Happens for a Reason
"Why me?" Sometimes when we're disappointed because we didn't get the outcome we wanted, it's hard to understand why it happened. It seems unfair that we try hard to achieve our goals with little visible success. It's tough if we did our very best. "Why me?" we ask....
Courtesy. Kindness. Politeness.
Being thoughtful and polite. Do you think there is a rudeness epidemic in America? According to a national survey conducted from 2011 to 2013 among 1,000 American adults, 70% believe incivility has hit pandemic proportions. And 43% percent anticipate they'll...
Your Finances Are Your Responsibility
Money: State of Imbalance Financial freedom results from effectively managing our finances, and how we handle our finances is how we conduct our lives. Are you having difficulty managing your personal affairs? Do you feel lost and confused more often than you'd like?...
Make Peace with Your Parents
I didn’t always love her even though she was my mother. She wasn’t there when I needed her, and we never seemed to connect when she was. As a kid, when I was told I looked like my mother, I’d cringe with pain at the thought that we were cut from the same cloth. At...
Happy Birthday to you.
Is Happy Birthday to you Used A lot? Arguably among the most widely used words in any language are, “Happy Birthday.” And, probably the most famous and commonly used lyrics are those from the song, “Happy Birthday to you.” It’s played repeatedly by millions of people....
Walk Through Your Fear
I’ve always been fearless, or so I thought. And as long as I had a drink or a drug in my hand, that was true. Chemicals gave me the courage to do the impossible, such as talking to people, feeling my feelings, asking for what I needed, taking what I wanted, being...
Learn from Your Mistakes
Sometimes when we’re disappointed because we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, it’s hard to understand why it happened. It seems unfair that we try hard to achieve our goals with little visible success. It’s especially hard if we did our very best. “Why me?” we ask....
Let Go of Addiction
Addiction, regardless of how we define it, robs us of the ability to make the right choices. Whether we’re addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, sex, love, other people’s opinions, or old ideas, our lives are no longer our own. Because we’re addicted, we do...
Move Your Body
My heaviest weight was 145 pounds, and I was only twenty-six years old. I went from a size four to a size fourteen almost overnight. For some, 145 is not a lot of weight, but for my small frame, it was a lot of bulk to carry. And I got that way by design. It wasn’t a...
Create The Life You Want
You are the artist in your life. You create the images and colors on the canvas called your life. Are you creating the picture you want? Does your canvas convey a life of fulfillment and growth? Or does your canvas convey chaos and despair? Sometimes we don’t like...
Service to Others.
Imagine you’ve lived a long, full, and productive life. Now, you find yourself at the pearly gates waiting to gain entry. Upon arrival, the gatekeeper doesn’t ask how many pairs of cute shoes you have, where you went to school, how much money is in your stock...
The Value of Pause
Pause. It’s an esteemable act to stop and smell the roses. For years I diligently and faithfully read my daily meditations. I worked them into my routine activities, just as I shower, brush my teeth, and press my clothes. After each reading, I’d stop and digest the...
Don’t Let Obstacles Take You Down
Self-esteem comes from not letting obstacles get you down. Obstacles can materialize in many different ways. The appearance of a pink slip from your employer when your goal is to get pro- moted. A rejection letter from a literary agent when your goal is to get...
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
On the plane to Hawaii, I sat next to a man wearing a knit skullcap, sweatsuit, sneakers, and dark glasses. As I do whenever someone sits next to me, I said hello. But then I immediately thought, “He must be one of those hip-hoppers.” And because of my innate belief...
Do the Next Right Thing
It’s an esteemable act to do the right thing at the moment. Have you ever done something you later regretted, but then found it was too late to make it right? Have you ever wished you had just one more chance to make an amend for harm done? One more opportunity to...
Let Go of Victimhood
Self-esteem comes from letting go of victimhood. The unabridged version of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines a victim as “a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency . . . a person who is deceived or cheated . . . a...
Treasure Your Friends
It’s an esteemable act to treasure your friends. Our connection was immediate on our first day at law school. We now have a soulful bond that has spanned almost twenty years. Who would have thought the two of us, from such different worlds, eleven years apart in age,...
Trademark Protection.
What does a trademark protect? Trademark protection starts long before the application is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO). It starts with selecting a trademark that can actually be protected. As an intellectual property attorney, one...
Francine D. Ward
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