Monitoring his emails and gazing at the sights on Elafonisi beach in Crete, attorney Al B. Wise receives a desperate 4:30 a.m. (Texas time) email from his best client Betty Makit Williams – “Going under Slim Cutter’s knife in four hours for emergency surgery. No will. Can you get me one in case I don’t make it?” Sadly, Betty Makit did not make it. Did her will on a Post It?

Yes, at least in Texas. Knowing that a formal will was out of the question, Al B. Wise advised Betty Makit to write a holographic will – her last will and testament, completely in her own handwriting and signed by her. In addition to a will on a Post It note, Texas heirs have successfully probated wills written on a bedroom wall and on the fender of a vehicle. Even a Canadian will of a man trapped underneath was successful by probating the tractor’s fender as the will. About half of the states permit holographic wills.Continue Reading Last-Minute Wills….What Counts?

This past Valentine’s Day, Chip Stone (a sculptor) gave his longtime girlfriend, Sarah Bellum (a neurosurgeon), an adorable 3-year-old Yorkshire Terrier that he rescued at the Dallas animal shelter.  Sarah immediately fell in love with the affectionate and docile 6-pound dog that the prior owner had, for some unknown reason, affectionately named Piranha.  This past

George McFly, a 9th grader at Texas Hill Valley High School, is dreading the first day of school. As has been the case since the 3rd grade, Biff Tannen has made McFly’s life at school absolutely miserable. First, there was the time that Biff accidentally tripped McFly in the cafeteria which sent McFly (along with

Corrie O. Graff and Dan Saul Knight are ice dancers competing at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.  Graff and Knight have lived together for eight years in a North Dallas apartment adjacent to the Galleria, where they sneak onto the ice each night after the mall closes.   Besides competing together, the two have also

I have always enjoyed a good prank, particularly one with an element of revenge.  Maybe it’s just the “good old day” syndrome, but it seems like kids’ pranks these days lack creativity.  As I drive my 6-year-old to his T-Ball game each Saturday morning, we count the number of houses between mine and the field