Monday, January 16, 2012

Carefully Structure Family Loans To Avoid Unintended Consequences

Family loans could be effective in many situations, but families have to be sure to consider tax and relationship implications. The main consideration is to be sure to structure and document the loans properly. If you don't, then you could end up with unintended gift and income taxes. If you don't have a high enough interest rate on the loan, then the IRS views the "forgiven interest" as a gift and that will eat into your annual gift tax exclusion and possibly your lifetime exclusion.

Proper structure and documentation involves several steps. Below are several of the steps that The Street mentions:

Properly record with the right governmental authority
A promissory or mortgage note should have an interest rate equal or greater than AFR. It should also spell out terms and payment dates.
If you properly record and document a mortgage, then you can list the interest as income on Schedule B of your return and deduct mortgage interest expense.

Other things you want to consider include whether the borrower will pay you back, whether you will start a precedent that will lead to other family members asking for loans, and how the family relationship is.

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Friday, January 13, 2012

In support of the state Supreme Court’s unpublished citation rule

BY: GREGG HERMAN

In support of the state Supreme Court's unpublished citation rule

A recent Wisconsin Law Journal article questioned the necessity of the Wisconsin Supreme Court rule allowing citation of certain unpublished cases.

The article quoted various lawyers who said the rule is rarely invoked, leaving the impression it is not worthwhile. The article states unpublished cases are rarely cited due to "limitations on eligible cases, cost to clients and need."

In adopting the rule, the Supreme Court made two substantial limitations on the use of citing unpublished cases. First, it only applies to signed opinions, not per curium ones. Second, it only applies to decisions filed after July 1, 2009.

So, no surprise that, so far, the rule has been rarely used.

As a result, the questions we should be asking are: first, has this rule caused any problems? And second, has it substantially changed the practice of law?

The answer to both questions is "no."

At several conferences, including a judicial one, I've asked lawyers and judges how many unpublished, but citable, cases they have either cited or seen cited. In all instances, the answers were few, if any.

Personally, I have not seen a single appellate case where either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court has availed itself of this rule.

Clearly the rule has not revolutionized the practice of law. But, then again, it was never contemplated that numerous citations to unpublished cases would be forthcoming. After all, if these cases were all that important, they would be (or should be) published.

Rather, the rule is intended for the few unpublished cases that would, on occasion, provide some guidance to lawyers and trial courts.

While the new rule has not substantially changed the practice of law, there have been no reports of the rule creating any problems. The fears of lawyers or courts getting blindsided or inundated by obscure unpublished cases has simply not materialized.

Similarly, it has not greatly increased the workload of lawyers or courts. In 2011, there were nine unpublished family law cases which are citeable under this rule. That is approximately one case every six weeks. It is hardly a great burden for lawyers and judges to read that many cases.

So why is the rule a good idea? It prevents an absurdity in the law with no adverse consequences.

The absurdity is best illustrated by trying to explain to a client that the appellate court has ruled on a similar issue in a different case, but you cannot remind the court of its decision. It's a secret.

It's even more absurd when you realize that you can cite a circuit court opinion, but not an appellate court opinion.

The rule, once it has been in effect for a sufficient time, will likely result in a more efficient legal system. If lawyers and trial courts know how an issue is likely to be decided by the Court of Appeals, it will lead to settlement as no lawyer wants to engage in a kamikaze mission.

It is premature to give examples of this efficiency in action since the limitations on use of this rule will result in some time needed for its use.

In the short term, however, the rule is doing no harm. In my opinion, future benefits with no adverse consequences are not bad results.

For more information on these matters please, call our office at 305-548-5020.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Fertility Laws Unclear in Canada

By CBC News

Fertility Laws Unclear in Canada

A lack of government regulation overseeing reproductive technology is failing to protect prospective parents and their would-be kids, lawyers and infertility support groups claim — one year after a landmark Federal Court ruling on the private industry.

Uncertainty about rules on matters such as the collection of donor information, the number of embryos that can be implanted, and compensation for donors and surrogates were expected to be settled following the December 2010 Supreme Court of Canada decision.

But little about the fertility laws has been made clear since then, said Diane Allen, who used assisted reproductive technology 27 years ago to conceive her son, Chris.

For more information on these matters please, call our office at 305-548-5020.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I kept my word and finally made a will

By Paul Farrow

I kept my word and finally made a will

My New Year's Day family meal went without a hitch this year. There was no medium-rare topside for me to choke half to death on, just a tender boeuf bourguignon that even Jude, my three-year-old son, was able to munch on.

It is 12 months since I confessed that I hadn't got around to writing a will, despite my numerous articles on the importance of having one.

But two events a year ago prompted a New Year resolution to get a will. The first was having my sister and father perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on me as I choked alarmingly on a piece of beef. Later that same day I tuned into The Archers, to hear super-posh Nigel Pargetter plunge to his death, leaving his wife, Elizabeth, a widow and his twin sons fatherless.

I have always been reluctant to think about death, getting older and making a will. I am not alone – recent research from Brewin Dolphin, the private client investment manager, found that 63pc of people did not have a will. Those surveyed blamed a lack of time, being too young or not having enough money.

It is understandable why talk about the future is often put on the back burner. Talk of wills, inheritance tax and estate planning seems far removed from your day-to-day life. Besides, there is already enough doom and gloom around for us to bear.

For more information on these matters please, call our office at 305-548-5020.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Indian family law key to emotional custody battle

By CNN

Indian family law key to emotional custody battle

For the prototypal some moments of her life, Veronica was with her relation mother.

For the incoming digit years, she was with her foster parents.

And for the terminal week, the bambino has been with her natural father, over 1,000 miles absent from the exclusive bag she'd ever known.

It's been a long, complicated travelling for teen Veronica — digit prefabricated doable by a federal accumulation meant "to protect the prizewinning interests of Amerindic children" that, in the process, has tugged at the heartstrings of every involved.

The news began in 2009, when Veronica's natural care and father, Dusten Brown, subscribed a jural writing agreeing to place the woman up for adoption. Brown's attorney, technologist Jones, says that her computer subscribed the relinquishment but didn't quite see it.

Soon after the woman was born, emancipationist — a U.S. Army shirker — headlike soured on a 1-year deployment. It was then that the female touched on as well, to the Charleston, South Carolina, bag of Matt and Melanie Capobianco.

It was an unstoppered adoption, kinsfolk someone Jessica Munday said. That meant the girl's relation care could and did reassert a relation with the girl.

But Brown, the natural father, wasn't on board. Four months after Veronica's birth, he began jural transactions hunt safekeeping of her.

"My computer has been conflict for safekeeping of his woman since presently after her birth," technologist Jones, Brown's Charleston-based lawyer, said by e-mail. "He loves this female with every his heart."

Brown appeared to get that effort New terminal year. On New Year's Eve, he arrived in South Carolina, picked up Veronica from her foster parents, and headlike westerly to his bag in Oklahoma.

"It's awful," Matt Capobianco said life after to CNN affiliate WCIV. "Everyone keeps locution how intense they see for us. But, I mean, she's a 2-year-old woman that got shoved in a pushcart and unvoluntary to Oklahoma — with strangers."

Key to Brown's housing is a 1978 federal accumulation titled the Amerindic Child Welfare Act.

Its intend is to "promote the unchangeability and section of Amerindic tribes and Amerindic families by the organisation of peak federal standards to preclude the capricious remotion of Amerindic children from their families and tribes and to secure that measures which preclude the change of Amerindic families are followed in female safekeeping proceedings."

Brown is registered in the Iroquois Nation, a "federally-recognized government" of Indians that has "inherent ruler status," supported nearby Tahlequah, Oklahoma. That effectuation teen Veronica has Amerindic blood, as well.

Chrissi doc Nimmo, supporter professional generalized for the Iroquois Nation, says that the protections inexplicit in the Child Welfare Act are country and important. Applied as she sees it, emancipationist — as an Amerindic and the natural ascendant of Veronica — is entitled to safekeeping of the girl.

"There's a positioning preference. If children are distant by the land or if they're settled in clannish adoption, the prototypal alternative is for a kinsfolk member," Nimmo told CNN affiliate KOTV.

Others disagree. CNN jural shrink Avery Freedman, for one, said the accumulation was utilised in this case.

"It's a wonderful accumulation which seeks to protect the state of … Native dweller families," she said. "But it cannot be utilised as a hit to defeat existing families."

Jones insists that emancipationist "would ease be entitled to safekeeping of his woman low South Carolina law."

"It is essential to see that the Amerindic Child Welfare Act was not utilised as a loophole in this action," the professional said.

Whatever the jural arguments, the emotions are ease raw. The Capobiancos hit uttered to Veronica erst since she left, on New Year's Day.

"She said, 'Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy! She measured rattling agog to center us. And she said, 'I fuck you!' numerous times," Melanie Capobianco told WCIV.

She additional that her economise change same he'd unsuccessful as a father, sending her soured with grouping she didn't undergo and not lettered what the lowercase woman staleness conceive of them and the full situation.

Melanie Capobianco said she is worried most what's next, and how Veronica is effort finished apiece period and night.

"We meet desire we could be there, if she was afraid," she said.

For more information on these matters please, call our office at 305-548-5020.

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Monday, January 9, 2012

More act on wills

TASMANIANS are contesting more wills than ever before as disinherited children and disgruntled spouses let the courts decide if they have been ripped off.

Estate industry insiders have noted a growing nationwide trend in the number of people willing to fight the perceived injustice of finding they had been left less than they believed they were entitled to.

An experienced estate planner told the Mercury yesterday many people had no idea how easy it was for family and spouses to contest a will.

"Under the legislation, family members or a spouse can make a claim for free and in most cases the person lodging the claim is successful," she said.

"People are more informed today than they have ever been and they're less willing to sit back and accept their lot if they feel they deserve more."

She said some people reacted very badly and her firm had been forced to hire security guards on occasion.

Those in the industry say it is essential to engage a professional estate planner when making a will if there is any possibility it could be contested and the person making the will has good reasons for disinheriting someone.

"The courts look at whether there is a moral obligation for the person who made the will to have provided for the person who's lodged the claim," the estate planner said.

"If there is, the court is likely to award them something but not necessarily what they're asking for."

A jump in house prices and the state of the economy in recent years, as well as an increase in family and marital breakdowns, are just some of the reasons put forward to explain the spike in disputes.

Hobart lawyer and Tasmanian Law Society spokesman Daniel Zeeman says if a claim is lodged the case goes to mediation first and most people come to an agreement in order to avoid a trial.

"Mediation makes the option of contesting a will more accessible," he said.

Mr Zeeman said children made up the most common category of claimants in Tasmania with many people regularly discovering their parents had disinherited them.

There were important factors to consider, he said, when making a will in circumstances where a child was not a beneficiary.

"If a client had a reason for disinheriting a child the advice is to write down exactly why you're doing it and be specific," he said.

"Look at the people in your life to whom you had a moral duty to provide for and treat them fairly."

For more informatio on these matters , please call our office at 305 548 5020.

Friday, January 6, 2012

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCIDENT ENDS IN MURDER-SUICIDE

By MSNBC

On behalf of Hanan M. Isaacs, P.C. posted in Domestic Violence on Sunday, January 1, 2012

During the holiday season, many individuals are anxious to see loved ones they have not been around for an entire year. A person's life can change drastically over that 365-day span: new homes, new cars and new relationships. But, what if some of those changes aren't for the better? Like most other states, New Jersey -- particularly the month of December -- is notorious for its increased amount of domestic violence. This escalation may stem from the financial and emotional stressors that many experience as the year comes to a close.

One such incident may have occurred earlier this month. According to preliminary information, a man was visiting his ex-wife when the violence escalated to a deadly level. Neighbors living near the Bayonne, New Jersey home heard an argument coming from within the house. While one of them was attempting to phone police to take care of the domestic dispute, shots were fired.

Law enforcement arrived and found three adults dead. A woman who had a gunshot wound was located outside of the home and was taken to Bayonne Medical Center to be treated. An infant had also been shot in the incident.

The shooter was among the dead. Authorities believe he shot himself after firing on the three individuals. Initially, the infant -- a boy between the age of 12 and 18 months -- was alive, despite being shot when emergency responders arrived. He was taken to a local hospital before he passed away.

The mayor of Bayonne would not readily discuss the relationship of the shooter to the victims. Two other children were in the house at the time of the incident, but were not hurt in any way. According to the mayor, both were traumatized by what had happened.

For more information on these matters please, call our office at 305-548-5020.