Kevin Krall: You're listening to special programming sponsored by
Stovall and Associates law firm. The content of this program does
not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jas and more,
the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of
the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Unknown: Good morning, Las Vegas. This is Larissa Jehova,
TSA Attorney at Law and I am joined by my partner
here. This is Leslie Stovall, how're you doing? This morning,
we are putting on a show called Las Vegas law Talk where we are
going to be discussing how the law applies to you guys as
listeners, and we're going to be discussing legal current events.
And in today's show, we are going to be discussing the
legislative changes in Nevada that take effect January one of
this year, we are going to be talking about the current events
in the news and how they relate to the law. And we are also
going to be discussing what you need to know if somebody close
to you passes away, not just what you need to know as far as
how to cope with the loss of a loved one, but the legal aspects
that apply when a person dies. So on January 1 of this year,
there are a number of changes that Nevada has voted in to be
coming into effect, and one of them will be the permanent mail
voting. Now what that does is it requires all county and city
clerks to send every active registered voter and mail ballot
before each primary general election. You know,
that's really interesting. One of the arguments that you see
across the country is whether or not there should be mail in
voting. This certainly helps people have the opportunity to
vote if they're not able to get down to their voting or place of
voting.
I agree with you. One of the major legislations for women my
age is that doctor visits are no longer required to receive
certain types of birth control. Now, this is going to be key
because what happens is, many of the male listeners might not
know but my mom is in the women's healthcare industry.
When you run out of your birth control, you are required
typically to have a doctor's appointment to refill those. And
in this particular legislation, it's going to allow individuals
to get those refilled without the doctor visits, hopefully
making it more convenient and cutting down on unwanted
pregnancies.
Worse, I understand there's also been a change in Medicaid for
incarcerated people. What did the state legislature do with
that?
Sure. So beginning on the first of this month, there's now a
more seamless transition for Medicaid eligibility for
incarcerated people. Previously, when an individual was receiving
Medicaid and became incarcerated, their coverage
would be terminated. That caused a lot of problems when they were
out of incarceration and had to reapply for Medicaid. Now, when
a person is incarcerated, their Medicaid eligibility is only
suspended rather than terminated. The bill specifies
that individuals who were not previously on Medicaid should be
allowed to apply for enrollment in the program up to six months
before their scheduled release date.
Well, Laura, I understand there's another Medicare, excuse
me Medicaid service change that's coming up. Would you like
to explain
that one? Sure. There have been changes to Nevada's state
Medicaid program including coverages for doula services,
coverage for community health workers, and presumptive
eligibility for pregnant women. That statue also makes changes
to Medicaid coverage for doula services and takes effect today.
Yeah,
this new law implements the state Supreme Court order
establishing a statutory right to a jury trial for a person
charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, that would
lead to the defendant losing his firearm ownership rights.
This was huge, because previously in domestic violence
cases, there were not jury trials. And there were a lot of
individuals who felt that losing their right to be able to carry
a firearm, which is a consequence of being convicted
of a domestic violence charge would necessitate the need for a
jury trial. Well, that's
right. And people, not only the right carrier, firearm, but also
employment. People in the military people in law
enforcement would lose their jobs if they were convicted of a
domestic violence charge, and now they have the opportunity go
before a jury and have a jury make that decision.
So what this law really has done, it has created a framework
to hold jury trials in municipal court which was not previously
available
That's correct. You know, the one change that I see in the
political system has to do with the end of the presidential
caucuses, and Nevada had a rather unique way of determining
who would be a presidential candidate through the caucus
system. This year, the legislature has adopted the
primary system, which means every voter gets to go out and
vote for the person they think should be the party's candidate
for the general election. And that is really a significant
change.
Well, one of my favorite changes to legislation this year is that
savings accounts for low income Nevadans have been established.
This new law kicked in January 1, and it will allow some low
income people to create a savings account and receive
matching funds from a bank to multiply their deposits up to
fivefold. The new program called the Individual Development
Account Program will be available to people living in
low income housing projects who have enrolled in Medicaid, or
who are in the foster care system. The law calls for the
State Treasurer to accept grants and donations, and use them to
match deposited funds by account holders with up to $3,000 per
beneficiary per year. The state is also required to provide
financial literacy training to account holders, which I think
is awesome. I also think that financial literacy training
should be a requirement in Nevada public schools.
Before we leave legislative changes, I do want to point out
that the state legislature has changed the carseat requirements
for children who used to be children had to be in a car seat
if there are six, under six years of age and weighed 60
pounds or less. The weight requirement has been eliminated
now is children under the age of 60, who are less than 57 inches
tall. So folks if you have children, or grandchildren or
grandchildren, keep that in mind when you are making a decision
about a car seat.
Great. So now that we have the legal changes in Nevada covered,
I want to talk about current legal news. Now something that I
found shocking and interesting was that 2021 was the deadliest
year for homicides in many US cities. Philly, Portland,
Louisville, and Albuquerque had their deadliest year on record.
It's inexplicable the amount of violence that has occurred over
this last year. Not only do you have these record numbers of
homicides, but there's also a record number of children who
have been killed by gun violence. It's reported that
1500 children and these are children and teenagers under the
age of eight teen have been killed by gun violence this last
year that exceeds the year before 1300 80 in 2021 of
the things that I see are parents who are negligent in
leaving firearms available to children and teens.
That's a terrible problem. I don't know what what parents are
thinking or caretakers are thinking about leaving a
firearm, a pistol or even long gun available to children.
Children are inquisitive, they dig around, they play around in
the house, they pick up something like a gun.
And what parents need to know is they can be held criminally
liable for leaving guns available for children and teens
to be able to take and either injure themselves or injure or
kill others, not only can
they be held criminally liable, there's also civil penalties,
which is monitoring or by Child Protective Services. And it's
not to mention lawsuits. Well, not to mention lawsuits because
if you have a visitor coming into a home, and their child is
injured as a result of a gun, the parents are going to be held
liable when we saw in the most recent shooting by that young
man, where both of the parents have been charged up in
Wisconsin,
I think for giving him the gun when he knew he was unstable.
Well, that's right. And one of the other things that's been
noted is that many teenagers are obtaining what are are
untraceable ghost guns. And these are guns that are made
from kits or they're parts of guns that are put together to
form of functioning gun. In fact, here in Nevada, the Nevada
legislature just passed a legislation and it goes into
effect this month that outlaws ghost guns here in Nevada.
That's interesting. Center talking about guns. I want to
talk about the Alec Baldwin shooting case. And there are
many articles still coming out about the investigation in to
the unfortunate and terrible accidental shooting death of an
individual who was on set. Do you have any comment or any type
of analysis of that case?
Well, recently, it was reported that Alec Baldwin owns the
production company that employed the individual that gave Alec
Baldwin the gun that was loaded.
But it was not supposed to be loaded. All the bullets were
supposed to be blanks, and it's unknown how live bullets got
into the mix of blanks?
Well, I have to tell you, I, I don't understand how anybody
that has a firearm, or a pistol in their hand that would pointed
at somebody without first themselves looking at it and
making sure that that did not have live and ammunition in it
in the first
place. They had somebody that they hired to do that.
I'm just telling you, I wouldn't trust somebody to hand me as a
firearm if I was going to be pointing it at somebody. That's
how accidents occurred. In my opinion, he should have been
looking in the first place. Now, you know, the real question is
whether or not I think a lot of people are wondering this is
this if he's going to be charged criminally? He certainly has
civil liability, not only because he owns a production
company, but because he did not look at that gun himself. And
with regards to crime, I don't know. He may have some criminal
liability because of the circumstances under which this
killing occurred.
Well, the investigation is still open. So we shall see what will
result from this unfortunate accident and my heart goes out
to the victim, not only the one who passed away, but there was
another individual who was injured as well.
That's right. Hey, did you hear about the phony bourbon that's
being sold? No, but
I'm sure you drink it.
No, I didn't. That's funny.
No, I'm just kidding. I know you like the good stuff. I've seen
your receipts when you visit the liquor store.
Well, what's happening apparently, is these high price
collector liquors. I didn't even know there was such a thing.
People have been buying the empty bottles and then refilling
them with cheap liquor and then selling them over the internet
for 1000s of dollars. Not surprised, and it's all
happening over the internet. So hey, Larissa. Did you see where
the German government is looking at? legalizing recreational
marijuana? nationally? Yeah, though entire country they're
gonna legalize marijuana use and they think that the EU, the
European Union is going to follow that means all the other
countries in Europe will move to legal legalize marijuana.
They must need money. Tax money. Well,
you know, here in Nevada, the legalization of recreational
marijuana has really paid off. This last year, it's been
reported that the state sold over a well over a billion
dollars of product was sold in the state and the state has
received $159 million in tax revenue from the sale of
marijuana.
Now, I was under the impression that money was supposed to be
given to the Clark County School District and educational funding
has that happened?
Well, it appears to the reporting is that the this tax
revenue money from the sale of marijuana is being distributed
through the through the school systems, not just to Clark
County, but it goes to all of them. It's interesting, I don't
know how many how they calculated it. But they said
that that really works out to be about three $350 per student in
additional funding to the educational system, which is
good. Every Every dollar helps, because our school system in
particular needs needs a lot of help, because we're not very
highly rated. Yeah, unfortunately, you know,
well, one other article that I found interesting, since we're
talking about controlled substances, was the interview of
Travis Scott, regarding the Astro world tragedy. If some of
the listeners are unfamiliar with this case, there have been
more than a billion dollars worth of lawsuits filed against
Travis Scott Drake, and the production company that put on a
concert a few months ago, that left many injured or dead. It is
reported that Travis Scott was performing at his concert. And
there were crowds rushing the stage and as a result, many
people were injured. It is unknown whether or not Travis
Scott knew of this tragedy, but at the time it was occurring and
for a long time thereafter. He kept performing and the
individuals who were injured or passed away were unable to get
help.
It's a it's a tragedy. Eight people were killed 300 People
people were injured during the concert. And there were
apparently 50,000 people within the area that were searching the
stage. And unfortunately, this is something that has happened
repeatedly at the Travis Scott concerts, there were concerts in
2017 and 2016, where they had problems with crowds surging,
also with people jumping over barriers. And Travis Scott
himself describes his concerts as these high energy concerts
where people are encouraged to do how they feel, I suppose is
the best way to put it.
What's your opinion on whether or not he should be held
responsible, whether criminally or financially for the deaths or
injuries of those individuals who attended that concert?
Well, you know, he may be exposed to criminal liability
because of the way he's conducted himself in prior
concerts. And the same problem occurring on? Well, this looks
like about three times certainly has civil liability, not only
him, but anyone who was involved in the production of that and
staging that concert, I also think you may be looking at the
local government being responsible, because it seems to
me that you would have to know that with this particular
entertainer and the number of people that are going to be
present that you'd have to take extraordinary steps or
management to keep this from occurring. Again, I don't think
it was a surprise, or anybody that is going to take a look at
what happened, I would say this, this doesn't surprise them that
it occurred.
Well, my heart goes out to all the families of the injured and
deceased individuals. And that leads me into my next
conversation with you, which is what to do when somebody close
to you passes away.
You know, this is really an important matter, an important
issue in today's environment, you know, we've lived through
two years now, of pandemic, and it's shocking the number of
people that have died or have have been seriously injured
because of the COVID virus. And look at us now, here we are
2022. And we're facing another variant of a virus. And that
leads to disabilities and death. And I think you're probably in a
good position to talk about this, really think about how
they're going to take care of their families in the event of
their death or disability. And I know that's an area that you do
a lot of well, almost exclusively working.
Right. As you know, I do a lot of probate and estate planning
work. And one of the, I would say good things that came out of
COVID in my eyes as an attorney is that it required a lot of
people to face their own mortality, and start thinking
more about planning for death or disability regardless of age. I
know that my estate planning practice where I drafted Wills
and Trusts for people exploded last year, more young people are
thinking about getting wills in place and trusts. My friends
that our life insurance agents told me that they were extremely
busy selling life insurance policies, because of COVID. And
unfortunately, my business did pick up in the area of probate
where individuals passed away and their loved ones were were
left to handle the legal affairs of the decedent. And in my
opinion, there's not enough information out there about what
somebody needs to do when their spouse or loved one or mother or
father passes away. It's almost as if you have to get an
attorney to know what to do when somebody dies.
You know, that's been my experience also is that people
really don't know don't understand what their legal
position is, when a loved one passes away, and they have no
idea what probate really does.
Yeah, a lot of people don't know what to do with probate, how to
transfer the assets, they don't even know that you are supposed
to report the death of a loved one to their credit card
companies. to Social Security, you need to cancel their credit
cards you need to cancel their passport. There's a whole long
list of items that people need to do when somebody passes away
to protect the legal rights of the deceased and the
beneficiaries and any creditors. And I've actually made this list
available on our website. So if the listeners have questions on
what to do when somebody passes away, they can visit our website
at less stovall.com Um, Le s s t o v a l l.com. I have several
blogs on the website and probate articles. But in my experience,
a lot of people don't do the proper planning, before they
pass away to save their loved ones, the time, money and
anguish of having to deal with probate court and the conflicts.
That's been my experience also. And I suppose there's really two
different ways that individuals can do their estate planning
one, they can prepare a will, or they can do a trust if they have
assets that would benefit from being in a in a trust,
right. But sometimes people don't need either as long as
those assets are beneficiary designations. Meaning on a bank
account, you could designate a beneficiary, you could designate
a beneficiary on investment accounts, IRAs, 401, K's on life
insurance, or if the property has a joint owner, those assets
will avoid probate court. But a lot of people don't have the
proper planning in the first place to know how to structure
assets, any event of death or incapacity of a loved one
spouse, or co owner.
Well, what do you do, or offer to help people review their
situation and decide what they should do for in the event of
their death.
So in my estate planning practice, I start all my
sessions with a family wealth planning session. And normally,
these sessions are $750, because they're two hour working
meeting, where I analyze all the assets of the individuals, I
analyze the family dynamics, and I go over the goals. And we talk
about what would happen with their current plan, which is
usually no plan. And we talk about the plan that would best
fit their family situation, budget and dynamics. And those
sessions are now complimentary due to a promotion that I have
this quarter, where the complimentary family wealth
planning session is now free. And there's no obligation to
sign up with me. But it is a really good eye opening meeting
to have with individuals because we go through each asset that
they own, we see how that asset is owned, whether a joint owner
or if it's owned solely. And we talk about what's going to
happen to your property and your money if you become
incapacitated or die. Now, there are different courses of action
if a person becomes incapacitated, versus whether
they pass away. Now if you get a comprehensive estate plan that
will cover incapacity and death, and it will leave your family
and loved ones free of court and conflict. But as I've seen, in
most cases, people do not properly plan for death or
incapacity. And they hire me to handle their guardianship cases
and their probates.
Well, how does how to do families avoid the long drawn
out process of probate? In these kinds of situations, what can
you offer them?
Well, what I always recommend to my clients is getting a
revocable living trust. And in a nutshell, that's where assets
are transferred out of a person's name into a legal
entity that they manage, and own and that they benefit from
during their lifetime. And in the course of that trust
planning, we designate a successor trustee to manage
assets once a person passes away or becomes incapacitated, you
know, either due to an injury or old age or anything of that
nature. And then you designate beneficiaries to inherit your
property when you pass away. And I generally recommend trusts to
individuals whose family dynamics require that meaning
they have minor children are multiple beneficiaries, and they
want to stagger payments and ages and stages, meaning they
don't want a loved one to necessarily get a large lump sum
of money all at once. Only a tres can accomplish staggering
the inheritance. If they have to go through probate. The
individual who inherits the property will get all that money
once the probate is over and in a situation of minors. Leaving
property to minors is not a good idea because if they are
entitled to that property upon your death, and they're under
the age of 18, that money will end up in guardianship court and
locked up until those minors reach the age of 18. And then at
18, they will receive an inheritance with no oversight or
direction and that's usually the last thing that a person wants
to do is leave an 18 year old with a large amount of money
with no direction or oversight. But just to talk about Roby in a
nutshell, that is the court process of proving the validity
of a will if there is one marshaling assets inventorying
assets of a deceased person notifying and paying creditors
and handling any claims that may be as a result of any type of
lawsuit, I know, in your practice, you do file lawsuits
on behalf of deceased people. And that always goes through
probate court.
Well, that's true, you have to petition to the probate court to
appoint a personal representative to represent the
decedent.
So basically, if somebody dies, and there is money owed to them,
they need a living person to handle the estate.
Well, that's absolutely right. When a person dies, there is no
one who can handle or transfer or collect assets on behalf of
that dead person.
Many people think just because they are married to somebody,
they automatically get the money, or they can automatically
do things just because they are married, and they forget that
No, it has to go through court first. You have to be appointed.
That's a process, it takes time, it costs money, and there's
delays built in along the way.
Well, and that's one of the advantages of a trust is you
don't have to wait for the court to appoint you. An individual
would be the administrator or personal representative of the
estate, you don't have to ask the court to issue orders for
payments of certain debts are things like that the trust is
able to manage those things immediately upon death, and
start distributing assets or paying off debts that are due.
Right. And I think it's very important for listeners to know
that once a person passes away, unless there's a beneficiary
designated, or there's a co owner, all those assets are
frozen. So if your husband or wife has $10 million in their
bank account, and only their name is on it, and there's no
beneficiary, you cannot get that money right away, it's going to
have to go through probate court. And that's the importance
of planning. Because if you know that your family will need money
upon your passing, you will benefit from having a planning
session with me to know how to set your family up to have that
money if they need it for funeral expenses, bills, things
like that.
You know, another benefit of trust is that it's more private,
when you are in probate, you have to file public accountings
of assets in an estate in a trust. That does not occur.
Yeah, and one of the things I think is particularly
embarrassing is that the death certificate is made public, the
only thing that's required to be redacted is the social security
number. But many people don't understand your death
certificate will be public, if it goes through probate, meaning
your cause of death, whether you are married or widowed who
you're informing was where you lived. And that's something I
wouldn't want to happen if I was deceased, or what I died from, I
just wouldn't want my death certificate to be public.
Well, they do list out the causes of death. And that can be
very personal. One of the other things that I think is
beneficial interest is for parents, they're able to
designate guardians for children. Is that true?
Right? Well, it's very important for parents of minor children,
because if like I said they leave money to minors, they're
not able to actually obtain that money until they're 18 years
old. And the guardianship process is a whole other animal.
In addition, having to go through probate, there are a lot
of resources available for people who want to know more
about the probate process and guardianship. One of those is
the website for the Legal Aid self help center of Southern
Nevada. There's also our website where I have created a lot of
blog articles and informational postings regarding the probate
process guardianship estate planning, and anything that
would be of benefit for people to know what to do when a loved
one passes away. So the website that people can check out for
more information is Les stovall.com. Or you can reach me
by phone at 702-258-3034. I love to be a resource.
Well, Larissa, how have you felt about our show today? This is
the first one we've done together. Seems like I've
enjoyed it. How about yourself?
I've enjoyed it. I hope the listeners have enjoyed it.
Well, we're gonna come back in a couple of weeks with another
program and we plan on staying on the air for a while. Don't
you agree?
I agree. And if the listeners have anything they'd like us to
talk about, they can visit the website and put in requests for
information on what our show should be about. You bet.
Look forward to hearing from folks I'd be very nice to give
us some feedback on the show and what we can do to Answer
questions for listeners.
So listeners if you enjoyed the show or if you didn't enjoy the
show and you want to tell us or if there are any topics that you
would like us to discuss on our next shows, please visit the
website www dot less stovall.com le SS to be a ll.com and send us
a contact us form with your questions, comments and
concerns.
Kevin Krall: You've been listening to special programming
sponsored by Stovall and Associates law firm. The content
of this program did not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5
Jazz and more, the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of
Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.