Wills and Probate Resource Month - October 2018

October is Wills and Probate Resource Month at the Harris County Law Library. All month long, you will find materials on wills, estate planning, and probate and trust administration on display in the Law Library and online.

Self-Help Guides from Nolo Press

Nolo’s Plan Your Estate is your go-to estate planning guide. With coverage of common estate planning goals, such as leaving property, providing for minors, planning for incapacity, avoiding probate, and reducing the estate tax, it is a go-to source for easy-to-understand estate planning information. Another useful Nolo resource is Estate Planning Basics. Both of these Nolo titles can be found in our Self-Help Collection in the Law Library. For assistance in finding these guides, please ask a member of the reference staff.

TexasLawHelp Wills & Estate Planning

TexasLawHelp.org is an incredibly useful online legal research tool for the general public. Take a look at their Wills & Estate Planning resources for information about filing a small estate affidavit, a transfer on death deed, or an affidavit of heirship. Also find a link to the Texas Probate Passport, a publication of the Texas Young Lawyer’s Association.

Harris County Law Library Research Guides

Visit our Research Guides page to download a free copy of our Probate, Trusts, and Estates Research Guide. This topical guide helps you quickly find the most practical resources available at the Law Library, including the Texas Probate System, a State Bar of Texas publication, and O’Connor’s Texas Probate Law Handbook (both of which are pictured above).Ask for these and other titles at the Law Library reference desk.

Register to vote... at your local public library

View fullsize

Register by October 9

Tomorrow, October 9, 2018, is the last day Texans can register to vote if they intend to cast a ballot on November 6, 2018 (per the Texas Secretary of State). If you’ve waited until the last minute, your local public libraries, including the Harris County Law Library, are here to help.

Texas Public Libraries = Voter Registration Agencies

Under the National Voter Rights Act of 1993, states can designate “voter registration agencies” to distribute and accept voter registration forms (see NVRA Q&A from the US Dept. of Justice). Texas has designated all public libraries as voter registration agencies in §20.001 of the Texas Election Code. That means you can find voter registration applications on hand at the Harris County Law Library and other libraries open to the public like Harris County Public Library. You can also complete and submit the form in your community at your local library, which makes it easy and convenient to get ready for election day on November 6, 2018.

Further Reading

• Find out your voter registration status from the Texas Secretary of State

• Find voter eligibility requirements from the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar

• Find early voting locations and election day information from the Harris County Clerk at harrisvotes.org. Your polling place might even be our local public library!

• Find a CLE course on Voter Registration Law from the Harris County Attorney’s Office. Note: this recording carries 1.0 hour of Texas CLE credit!

Latest & Greatest – Legal Malpractice Insurance in One Hour for Lawyers

By JoAnn L. Hathaway

Published by American Bar Association. Law Practice Division.

KF 313 .H38 2017

Part of the popular In One Hour series published by the American Bar Association, Legal Malpractice Insurance in One Hour for Lawyers is a handy reference guide that sorts through the confusion surrounding lawyers professional liability (LPL) insurance. Author JoAnn Hathaway provides the information lawyers need to select the best LPL coverage for their practice. With this book, lawyers will learn about the costs involved in acquiring the insurance, the relevance of responses on the LPL insurance application, and the how-tos of choosing the right carrier. The author walks her readers through a “typical” LPL insurance policy and explains key provisions and endorsements. She also sheds some light on coverage limits and the practice of claims-made coverage. And what happens if you change firms or form a new one? Hathaway has some answers for you on that issue as well.

Before you purchase LPL insurance for your practice, have a look at Legal Malpractice Insurance in One Hour for Lawyers. One hour now can save you from lots of headaches later.

Constitution Day - September 17, 1787

Constitution Day is observed each year on September 17 to commemorate the signing of our Constitution in 1787. On display in the Law Library lobby throughout the month of September is an exhibit featuring foundational documents that shaped the Constitution, including the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, along with examples of broadsides that were crucial to the states’ decisions to ratify our founding document.

DMCA Handbook for Online Service Providers, Websites, and Copyright Owners

By Connie J. Mabelson

Published by American Bar Association. Section of Intellectual Property Law.

KF 3030.1 .M33 2018

Enacted in 1998 as the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) protects online service providers (OSPs) from contributory copyright infringement in connection with the transmitting, caching, storing, or indexing of online copyrighted content. Within the DMCA are four safe harbors that give immunity to OSPs from monetary damages resulting from copyright infringement. Of course, some things are easier said than done. That is where attorney Connie J. Mabelson and her book DMCA Handbook for Online Service Providers, Websites, and Copyright Owners come in to save the day. Mabelson explains all that OSPs need to know about acquiring the immunity and protection promised by the DMCA in the event that the OSP, either knowingly or unknowingly, transmitted, cached, stored, or indexed infringing content on its servers. She begins, though, with the basics. She defines an OSP and what qualifies as a service provider, whether it be a website, a search engine, or a host of other providers of online content. She then provides an overview of the content protected by copyright law, how such content can be infringed upon, specifically in an online environment, and the affirmative defenses that an alleged infringer may assert in a suit for copyright infringement.

Mabelson reminds us that OSPs can limit their liability for claims of contributory or vicarious copyright infringement through the application of the safe harbors set forth in the DMCA. These safe harbors exist for transmitting, caching, storing, and indexing online content. However, the safe harbors can only be used if the OSP is eligible and if the OSP followed the process specifically laid out in the DMCA, including the take-down process. The author also includes some sample forms, such as take-down notices and letters to alleged infringers.

Whether you are a website owner, copyright owner, or content creator, you will want to read DMCA Handbook for Online Service Providers, Websites, and Copyright Owners for a clearer understanding of the DMCA, its requirements, and its protections.