Let's Discuss. A Pop Culture and Law Podcast.

Welcome to the 4th season of Law & Pop Culture! This season we are dedicating the first 4 episodes to one of the greats of literature: Jane Austen. In this episode, we will discuss the book-turned movie called Sense and Sensibility starring  Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, and romcom heartthrob Hugh Grant. Besides being a love story it also discusses the complications that come when...

In the final episode of season 3,  we are going back to talking about Succession Planning and how the ultra-rich do it, and of course, the drama that can come from having all that money. We discuss the first episode of the 2017 tv show TRUST, which details the unraveling of the Getty Family and that famous kidnapping.  Later in the episode, we continue with the Getty's story except that for t...

In this episode titled Plot Twists in Estate Planning, we’ll be talking about what happens when a rightful heir comes forward, or when the person who is supposed to administer the estate gets replaced without their knowledge! We start with our movie starring Adam Sandler and Winona Rider: Mr. Deeds.  Later in the episode, we discuss the dispute over the Estate of Lisa Marie Presley, the late daugh...

This week we are once again talking about Elder Care and the conflicts that can cause in families. Let’s start with our movie. It is called Hanging Up and stars rom-com darlings Diane Keaton and Meg Ryan, and Phoebe from Friends herself Lisa Kudrow.  Later in the episode, we discuss the drama behind another media mogul whose Estate ends up in an epic family battle that goes to court: billionaire S...

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about protecting your assets through a divorce or separation, and how the actions may change depending on how amicable or nasty that process is. We begin with the movie: A Simple Favor starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, in which there are some questionable actions from one of our protagonists in regard to a life insurance policy involving her husband....

In this episode we talk about Undue influence, very large Estates, and the legal consequences of taking advantage of the elderly. First we discuss the movie Bernard and Doris starring Susan Sarandon as Doris and Ralph Fiennes as Bernard, in which Doris is a decadent Hollywood star and Bernard her new butler who ends up being her sole heir! After, we discuss the case of Brooke Astor and her son Ant...

Welcome back to the second half of the third season of the podcast! On this episode, we will discuss Conditions on Wills. Some of them can be Conditional gifts, these are often referred to as 'contingent gifts' as they rely on the occurrence of the specified contingency. Which is exactly what happens in the movie The Bachelor in which Jimmie finds out that if he want to inherit the multi...

In this episode of Let's Discuss, Law and Pop Culture we will talk about what happens when you create an Estate Plan and have a Will in place but for whatever reason, your beneficiaries can't find it. First, we discuss the movie The Greatest Inheritance starring Mena Suvari, which tells the story of 4 estranged siblings who come home after their mother dies but getting their inheritance...

In this episode, we are talking about different scenarios that can happen if we fail to plan ahead, think of them as warnings of what you DON’T want to happen. First, we talk about the movie Death at a Funeral starring Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Zoe Saldana, Chris Rock, Danny Glover, Martin Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Luke Wilson, and James Marsden, a star-studded cast.  Later in the episode, we talk...

On this episode of Let's Discuss: Pop Culture and Law, we talk about the importance of having a proper plan in place when you have underage children and some things that can go wrong when you don't have it. We start the episode by talking about our first animated film in the podcast: Lilo & Stitch, which besides being about a little girl and her pet alien, it also deals with the fail...

Welcome to the THIRD season of our podcast Let’s Discuss, Law and Pop Culture, in this space we talk about movies and celebrity cases that deal with Estate Planning matters and discuss if that really happens in real life or what they could have done instead. We are starting this season with a topic we have yet to touch on: Non-Profits and Foundations. We begin by discussing the classic 90’s romcom...

This week we will be talking about the type of matters The Matus Law Group is known for: Special Needs Estate Planning. First, we’ll begin with the 1999 movie The Other Sister, starring Juliette Lewis, Diane Keaton, and Sarah Paulson, in which Carla (Juliette Lewis) has a mental disability but that doesn't stop her from wanting to break free from her family and gain some independence as an ad...

This week we are once again tackling the topic of Succession Planning, which is the process businesses should go through as it determines what would happen to the business if the owner were to pass away suddenly,  become incapacitated, or retire.  First, we discuss a very talked about TV show that is currently heading to its 4th season. This show is an Estate Planner’s dream in terms of the themes...

 This week we are talking about big Estates and the family disputes that can arise, which are sometimes motivated by greed such as in the movie Steal Big Steal Little starring Andy Garcia who plays twins! Later in the episode, we move on to Jimi Hendrix’s Estate and the disputes that arose between his father and brother in a litigation process that is far from over.   Thanks for listening, to lear...

In this week's episode,  we will be talking about what happens when a person has many beneficiaries, which could result in nasty family disputes. First, we talk about the movie Greedy (1993)  starring Kirk Douglas and Michael J. Fox, which centers around a very wealthy man and the fight between his nieces and nephews to be his heirs while he's still alive! Later in the episode, we discus...

This week we will be talking about the tricky situation of protecting your assets from spouses when you have a big network. First, we will talk about the Addams Family sequel called The Addams Family Values which deals with Fester's new marriage raising suspicions around his new bride's intentions. Later in the episode, we discuss the case that took the media like a storm in the 90s:  mo...

In this episode, we discuss the perils of dying intestate. Intestate means that you die without a will. In New Jersey, if you die without a valid will in place, your estate is subject to what is called intestate succession, or the way the state has decided your estate will be distributed. We first talk about  1947’s movie The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: a love story from cinema's golden days that su...

In this episode, we have a double feature for you: The 2021 movie House of Gucci and the real-life Gucci Family. The movie did a great job of portraying the drama between the family members but we want to delve deeper into the other side of this drama: Succession Planning. We will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly in the Gucci Family's Estate Plan, and which tools they could have used....

In this episode, we are veering off from our standard format. Instead of discussing a movie, we will be talking about a comedy show that ran for 11 years and won multiple Emmy’s during its first years. We are talking about Modern Family, which believe it or not has actually touched on several Estate Planning topics throughout its eleven seasons.   If you’re not familiar with the show, it is the st...

In Estate Planning, one of the main objectives is to protect your loved ones if something were to happen to you, and when there are minor children involved that makes the situation more delicate. In this episode, we’ll be talking about why it’s extremely important to make sure we appoint Legal guardians in our will so we can avoid a situation like the one in the movie Gifted. Starring Captain Amer...

We are back for Season 2! In our first episode of the season, we talk about Elder Care and the challenges that come with watching our parents age and having to make decisions about their care. We discuss the 2019 movie What They Had starring Hillary Swank, Michael Shannon, Blythe Danner, and Robert Foster as a family grappling with the mother's battle with Alzheimer's. We then move on to...

Our first season has come to an end and we are closing it out with a bang! We are discussing the in’s and out’s of Succession Planning. Though one might think only the extremely wealthy have to worry about this (and we do cover that area in talking about media mogul Rupert Murdoch), Succession Planning is important for everyone who owns a business, no matter how big or small it is. A perfect examp...

This week we are talking about taxes and multiple beneficiaries,  and how it is imperative that you consider everything that could go wrong. We’re talking about the movies People Like Us, starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, and Michelle Pfeiffer in a family estate planning drama involving secret half-sisters and 150 000 inheritance in cash. We also talk about James Gandolfini’s Est...

Last month was Estate Planning National Week. Part of getting your Estate Plan in order means taking a look at your current EP and updating the necessary elements. But perhaps you could take a few pointers on what NOT to do when you update yours, number one being, don’t pull the carpet from under your family’s feet by disowning them because that may cause some drama. Just like in the successful 20...

We’re back and we are coming back with a Halloween-themed episode. We will be talking about the 1991 classic The Addams Family movie, which, believe it or not, deals with some estate planning themes. To accompany this movie we will talk about another iconic figure: Jim Morrison, leading man of The Doors who unfortunately died too young. What brings these two icons together? Well, Estate Planning d...