As an English Major, I have always enjoyed a good play on words.  Sometimes, a play on words is the result of clever wit.  Often, a play on words is an unintentional consequence of the idiosyncrasies of the English language.  Below are real quotes from witnesses and lawyers in courtrooms across the country.  These quotes […]

A common estate planning technique for married couples is the A/B Trust.  Upon the death of the first spouse, an A/B Trust will subdivide into two sub-trusts: a revocable A Trust to hold the surviving spouse’s share of the estate and an irrevocable B Trust to hold the deceased spouse’s share of the estate.  There […]

As a proud holder of a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English Literature from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont, I appreciate a good vocabulary argument.  I can remember long nights with my college roommate where we would engage in “dictionary battles,” challenging each other’s definition and pronunciation knowledge.  I’m pretty sure this is a typical […]

I have a bad habit of staying up way past my “bedtime.”  Occasionally, I’ll have the TV on and there is one commercial that runs very late at night constantly.  The commercial advertises an opportunity to be part of a “trial” for a cosmetic product and have a chance to be in a commercial.  The […]

An important-looking letter arrives in the mail.  You are informed that you just won a cash prize of millions of dollars.  The letter includes a check for a “partial payment.”  You are instructed to deposit the check and to call a toll-free number to claim the rest of your prize.  But you must act quickly, […]

I was very close to all four of my grandparents, especially my father’s parents.  I grew-up two miles away and often went to their house before and after school.  From an early age, they shared their family history with me, especially stories about how they escaped Communist Czechoslovakia and made a new life in the […]

SFGATE recently reported that there is a dispute over the distribution of late actor Robin Williams’ estate.  His children contend that his estate plan leaves all of his assets to them.  His wife by a later marriage insists that certain items of tangible personal property were intended for her to keep.  The items in question […]

Marilyn Monroe famously informed the world that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” in the 1953 movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  Apparently fellow Hollywood legend, Richard Burton, heeded that advice: he gave his then wife, Liz Taylor, a heart-shaped diamond known as the “Taj Mahal” for her 40th birthday.  In the aftermath of Liz Taylor’s death, […]

My four-year-old son, Jonah, inherited my love for ice hockey.  While we patiently wait for a hero or heroine to build an ice rink on the Monterey Peninsula, we must travel weekly to Sharks Ice in San Jose (our closest ice rink) for my son’s skating lessons.  While my wife sometimes joins us, it’s often […]

Jerry Seinfeld has a very famous routine about the irrational nature of team loyalty in sports.  I love the Green Bay Packers, but what am I really rooting for?  Seinfeld points out that I’m not really rooting for any of the players because they change teams with frequency.  What I’m really rooting for, Seinfeld contends, […]