Thought leadership across bankruptcy, mediation, AI ethics, estate planning, consumer protection, and the discipline of building a serious legal practice.
Rule 5.355 is the procedure for asking a probate court to review whether an estate employee was properly hired and whether compensation to the personal representative or anyone the personal representative hired is reasonable. A 2026 amendment divided the rule into subdivisions. Here is how it works.
October 14, 2026Saying no is a leadership skill. Why I screen every prospective matter for fit before accepting it, why a self-screening step respects the prospective client's time, and why protecting capacity is a promise to the clients I already serve.
October 12, 2026When a probate court needs someone to represent an estate or a person who cannot protect their own interest, Rule 5.120 supplies the tool. A 2026 amendment reorganized subdivision (a). Here is how the rule works, step by step, with the 10-day service deadlines.
October 11, 2026Heroic effort does not scale. Why checklists, written procedures, automated reminders, and quality gates protect clients better than talent and late nights, and why the leader's real job is to design the system and then hold to it.
October 9, 2026Why my practice works by letter and email rather than telephone, and why the written record is a leadership discipline: clearer thinking, real accountability, advice clients can reread, and decisions anyone can trace.
October 6, 2026Rule 5.425 lets heirs distribute a small intestate estate by affidavit, with no administration. The 2026 amendment raised the nonexempt personal property limit from $10,000 to $20,000. Here is who qualifies, what the affidavit must say, and who must be served.
October 5, 2026The October 1, 2026 edition of the Florida Probate Rules amends Rule 5.320 to correct statutory references in the individual personal representative's oath. Here is what the oath requires, what the rule says about timing, and what to check in your form library.
October 4, 2026On July 16, 2026 the Florida Supreme Court amended three probate rules, effective immediately, to match Chapter 2026-57: a new adversary proceeding category, a $20,000 small-estate limit, and a $150,000 summary administration limit. The comment window closed September 29.
October 4, 2026The Florida Supreme Court's June 18, 2026 order amended five probate rules effective October 1, 2026. Rule 5.320 gets the attention, but the curator rule (5.122) is the one with a real change in practice. Here is what each of the other four rules now says.
October 4, 2026A June 25, 2026 Florida Supreme Court order amended about forty probate and guardianship rules effective October 1, 2026. It is a cleanup order: updated cross-reference titles, 'shall' to 'must,' and a few rules reorganized. Here is what changed and what to update in your forms.
October 4, 2026Florida's new section 817.537 makes fraudulent entry of a residential dwelling unit a third-degree felony and lets landlords serve a 7-day non-curable notice. What the law covers, what it does not, and what landlords and renters should do now.
October 1, 2026The Florida Department of Revenue moved reemployment tax filing and payment to a new eFile and Pay system on August 24, 2026. Old bookmarks and saved logins no longer work, and the third-quarter RT-6 is due October 31. Here is the checklist.
September 21, 2026The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued a revised civil cover sheet, JS-44 (Rev. 8/2026 DC). Beginning September 1, 2026, new civil cases filed without it are marked deficient. The bigger news is what changed on the form itself: the A-N case assignment checkboxes are gone, the TRO category is now mandatory, and two nature-of-suit codes moved.
August 4, 2026The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law in July 2026 without a presidential signature. It streamlines federal review, expands financing, and restricts institutional bulk-buying of single-family homes. What it does not do is preempt local zoning or produce tradespeople, and there were roughly 298,000 unfilled construction jobs in May.
August 4, 2026Most people believe IRS debt can never be discharged in bankruptcy. That is wrong. For each tax year, three timing tests set a date on which the unsecured portion becomes dischargeable in Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Here is how the analysis works, and why the exact dates matter more than the amount owed.
July 4, 2026The FBI and Google Threat Intelligence confirmed that the Silent Ransom Group is physically entering law offices to steal client data. Every firm needs to act now.
June 7, 2026Florida's new citation-accuracy rule is a warning shot: AI-assisted drafting is acceptable only when lawyers keep verification discipline at the center of the filing process.
May 31, 2026Business bankruptcy filings are rising again, commercial Chapter 11 activity is accelerating, and workers often learn too late that unpaid wages, severance, and benefits do not all sit in the same place in the bankruptcy payment line.
May 30, 2026Chapter 2026-57 raises several Florida small-estate thresholds and gives prevailing personal representatives a fee-shifting tool when they must enforce their statutory authority.
May 30, 2026A Washington Lawyer ethics column highlights the new D.C. flat-fee landscape after Mance, Ponds, Alexei, Zamora, and Owens. The lesson is practical: prepaid flat fees need trust-account discipline, informed consent, and clear earning milestones.
May 26, 2026Over the past two weeks I've published series across several of my sites about the two federal programs that can cost you your passport. Now I want to step back and say what they actually reveal, about the government, about legal practice, and about the clients who get caught in between.
May 23, 2026Legal history is not just background reading. It helps lawyers frame arguments, counsel clients, mediate disputes, and recognize when familiar procedures are doing real constitutional work.
May 22, 2026A Legal History Month tour of five dates that still shape American law practice: Magna Carta, constitutional ratification, Dred Scott, Lochner, and United States v. Nixon.
May 18, 2026Inspired by a Washington Lawyer humor column, a Legal History Month reflection on why lawyers should study the profession's past with humility, context, and practical purpose.
May 14, 2026Senior Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected ICE's January 2026 warrantless-arrest memo for failing to require a real individualized escape-risk assessment in D.C. civil immigration arrests. The ruling is a reminder that procedure is often where constitutional rights either live or disappear.
May 12, 2026Senior Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected ICE's January 2026 warrantless-arrest memo for failing to require a real individualized escape-risk assessment in D.C. civil immigration arrests. The ruling is a reminder that procedure is often where constitutional rights either live or disappear.
May 12, 2026Two cases filed in 2026 are drawing the first real legal lines around AI liability, one for what an AI said about a real person, one for what an AI claimed to be. Together they're reshaping how courts will think about accountability in the age of machine-generated content.
May 10, 2026A federal judge is streaming the Musk v. Altman trial live on YouTube, the first judge in the Northern District of California to use the court's new audio-livestream rule. A look at what the case is actually about, how the trial is structured, and what the public access experiment means for federal civil litigation.
May 8, 2026At 3 a.m. on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines shut down permanently after a failed $500 million federal bailout, doubled jet fuel costs, and a second bankruptcy in under two years. A legal and financial breakdown of what happened, and what it means for employees, creditors, and the U.S. budget-travel market.
May 7, 2026A 2026 federal court ruling held that documents prepared using an AI platform before retaining counsel enjoy no attorney-client privilege, and sharing them with your attorney later does not fix the problem.
May 6, 2026A 2026 federal court ruling held that documents prepared in Claude before retaining counsel were not privileged. What Florida and DC clients need to know before using AI to research their legal situation.
May 6, 2026A new advisory practice from Steven C. Fraser, Esq., confidential consultation, strategy guidance, execution support, and long-term advice for collectors, family offices, and HNW individuals navigating complex legal terrain.
May 3, 2026The federal student loan landscape has been remade. SAVE is permanently gone, two new plans launch July 1, Parent PLUS borrowers face an irreversible deadline, and wage garnishment is back. A sober walk through the deadlines and decisions every borrower has to make this summer.
May 1, 2026The NCTDR and ICODR jointly released AI guidance for third-party neutrals in 2026. Here's what the nine ODR Standards say, where AI helps, and where it threatens the integrity of the process.
April 30, 2026On March 2, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in the AI-generated artwork copyright case. The result: the human-authorship requirement stands. Here is what that means for clients, creators, and counsel.
April 27, 2026Part 1 of a two-part series. Daniel Solove's recent Florida Law Review article reframes how lawyers should think about AI and privacy. The traditional framework is breaking, and lawyers who do not understand why are advising clients on the wrong problem.
April 24, 2026Part 2 of a two-part series. Biometric overreach, AI hallucinations in legal filings, employer surveillance, and consumer-protection erosion, the four AI-privacy fault lines that Florida and DC counsel are going to be defending against this year.
April 21, 2026A November 2025 Stanford Law School analysis argues that the modern in-house legal department is becoming the strategic center of corporate dispute resolution, not a cost line. What this shift means for outside counsel, executives, and the firms that serve both.
April 18, 2026Chief Judge Karen K. Specie signed Administrative Order 26-001 on April 15, 2026. Effective April 30, parties in the Northern District of Florida bankruptcy court must use Required Local Form Orders, and material alterations are prohibited.
April 16, 2026The OSCA Office of Family Courts publishes a monthly case law update for Florida judges and practitioners. The June 2025 edition covers four appellate decisions in delinquency, dependency, and adoption, each of which carries practical lessons for family-law practitioners.
April 13, 2026Earlier this month a $270M+ exploit on the Drift Protocol forced the digital-asset ecosystem to confront a tension that has been building for years: open systems require lawful accountability, and accountability requires the right legal architecture. Circle's Dante Disparte makes the case, and so does the law.
April 10, 2026When a Chapter 13 case is dismissed or converted before confirmation, debtor's counsel can still be paid from funds held by the Trustee, but only if the application is filed and served correctly. The FLMB filing checklist, reduced to a working summary.
April 7, 2026Final post in the series. Why perseverance, not talent, not luck, not even systems, is the trait that closes the gap between starting and finishing.
April 3, 2026Fourth in a five-part series. Why goals fail without systems, and how to build the daily processes that turn ambition into compounding output, drawn from thirty years of law practice.
March 31, 2026Third in a five-part series. How studying the people who already did what you want to do shortens the path, without copying their style, their voice, or their values.
March 28, 2026Second in a five-part series. How to set goals that actually pull you forward, micro and macro, measurable and inspiring, without the trap of unrealistic targets.
March 25, 2026First in a five-part series. Why your mental model, fixed versus growth, sets the ceiling for every legal career, every business, and every difficult conversation.
March 22, 2026A practical, battle-tested file-naming and folder system for solo and small-firm attorneys, covering matter folders, document conventions, version control, and the discipline that keeps it usable five years in.
March 19, 2026If the IRS has flagged your passport for seriously delinquent tax debt, you're probably focused on how to pay it. But the more important question may be: does all of it have to survive? Not all federal tax debt is permanent, and a conversation with a bankruptcy attorney might change everything you thought you knew.
February 14, 2026The IRS can revoke your passport for seriously delinquent tax debt. What most people don't know is that some of that debt has a legal exit, and it has nothing to do with a payment plan.
February 10, 2026The 2026 federal court closure schedule, why each closure matters for your deadlines, and the small-but-critical deadline-extension rule of FRBP 9006(a) and FRCP 6(a) that quietly saves a lot of cases.
January 5, 2026