Jay Brinker, Attorney

The Morning Line (First Time in Nine Months)

I wrote Paul Daugherty's The Morning Line blog on Friday. I made up and handed out year end "awards" particularly to the pitiful Cincinnati Bengals. I hope you enjoy it.

Guest TML: Buckle up, patient Cincinnati fans, for the 2020 sports awards Jay Brinker provides Cincinnati Enquirer readers with some sports awards for an incredibly long 2020.

Knives Out

The film “Knives Out” is an award nominated dark comedy written by Rian Johnson, who is best (and actually only) known as the writer and director of “The Last Jedi”, the 8th installment of the “Star Wars” saga. The film involves the death of the patriarch of a family, his will, and the machinations of his family to obtain his estate. It also involves the Hercule Poirot-esque detective played by Daniel Craig investigating the death.

Without revealing any significant plot parts, I noticed a few estate planning points:

1. Will readings are entirely a creative device for Hollywood. I have never been part of one in 30+ years of practice.

2. The grandchildren were part of the angry family pining for an inheritance, but rarely would grandchildren inherit a meaningful sum from their grandparent unless their own parent were deceased.

3. The film did correctly reference the Slayer Statute.

4.Channeling my Gene Siskel, skinny, late middle-aged, bald man critic mode - if you are looking for something to stream, “Knives Out” is much more entertaining than the multitude of sequels and re-makes released by Hollywood last year.

Five Cent Cine: Knives Out “Knives Out” is a worthy murder mystery/detective procedural, complete with the twists and turns we expect—and don’t. Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” (book, 1934) meets the classic board game “Clue” (first issued 1943). This Hollywood take, based on the inevitabili...