This is where I write about the questions clients actually bring me. I am Michael J. Holmes, an attorney licensed in Idaho, California, Texas, Washington, North Carolina and Massachusetts, and most of what appears here started as a question someone asked across the desk or over the phone: what happens to the house when there is no will, whether a revocable living trust is worth what it costs, how a deferred sales trust compares with a 1031 exchange, when an aging parent needs a durable power of attorney rather than another name on the checking account.
Each article is written for the person with the problem rather than for another lawyer. Where a rule changes from one state to the next — and in estate planning, elder law and real estate it very often does — the article says which state’s law it is describing instead of leaving you to guess. Idaho, California, Texas and Washington are community property states, each with its own variations; North Carolina and Massachusetts are separate property states. That one difference changes how property passes at death, how a surviving spouse’s share is calculated, and what a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement has to do to be enforceable.
The posts below are listed newest first. Longer pieces on a single state or a single practice area live on the practice pages rather than here, so if you are researching a specific problem it is usually faster to start from one of the links below and follow the reading from there.
Estate planning — wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives, beneficiary designations and probate.
Elder law — incapacity planning, guardianship and conservatorship, long-term care and elder financial abuse.
Real estate law — purchase and sale agreements, title and boundary disputes, landlord and tenant matters, 1031 exchanges and deferred sales trusts.
Business law — entity formation, operating and shareholder agreements, contracts, business succession and valuation.
Family law — full-service family law in Idaho, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements in all six states.
Idaho · California · Texas · Washington · North Carolina · Massachusetts
Each state page sets out what Holmes Law handles there, the statutes that govern, and the local office or telephone number for that state.
Nothing on this blog is legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and court decisions change, and the right answer usually depends on facts a general article cannot know. If a post raises a question about your own situation, get in touch and we can look at it properly.
Every few months an Idaho client asks whether they should form their LLC in Wyoming instead of Idaho. The pitch usually comes from a podcast or a YouTube ad and revolves around three claims: Wyoming has stronger asset protection, Wyoming…
Massachusetts spent years debating whether to follow California and void employee noncompetes outright. It landed somewhere else: noncompetes remain enforceable here, but only if the employer followed a specific set of procedural and substantive rules laid down by the Massachusetts…
Massachusetts protects the equity in a principal residence from most creditors. Every homeowner gets some of that protection automatically, without doing anything. Recording a written declaration at the registry of deeds increases it by a very large multiple, costs a…
Almost every state has a living will statute — a law that gives a signed declaration about end-of-life treatment direct legal force, so that a physician presented with it is bound by what it says. Massachusetts does not. The legislature…
Ask most people whether the estate tax applies to them and they will say no, correctly, about the federal one. The federal exemption is high enough that it reaches a very small fraction of estates. Massachusetts is a different conversation…
North Carolina sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from California. Here a noncompete can be enforced, injunctions are granted, and a properly drafted restriction protects a genuine business interest. That is the good news for employers, and it…
A married couple buying a home in North Carolina generally takes title as tenants by the entirety, often without being told what that means or being offered an alternative. It is the default for good reason: it is the strongest…
The most common complaint about powers of attorney is not that they are hard to make. It is that institutions refuse to honour them. An adult child arrives at a bank with a properly signed, notarised durable power of attorney…
North Carolina is not a community property state. Property belongs to whoever holds title, and a married person can, in principle, leave their property to anyone. In principle. In practice North Carolina, like most separate property states, refuses to let…
Washington has no personal or corporate income tax, which is one of the reasons businesses move here. What it has instead is the business and occupation tax, and the single most important thing to understand about it is that it…
Attorney advertising. Michael Holmes is the attorney responsible for the content of this website. Mailing address: 360 E. 1st Street, Unit 716, Tustin, CA 92780.
Firm name. The Law Offices of Michael J. Holmes is the official name of this law firm.
Where we are licensed. Michael Holmes is licensed to practice law in Idaho, California, Texas, Washington, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. He is not licensed in any other jurisdiction. Nothing on this website is an offer or solicitation to provide legal services in a jurisdiction where he is not admitted to practice.
No legal advice; no attorney-client relationship. The information on this website is general information about the law, not legal advice. Reading this site, submitting the contact form, or calling does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send confidential information until a written engagement letter is signed.
Results. Every matter is different. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.
