Do you own or are you considering buying a vacation home? If you do own a second home or may someday, there are many issues that you should consider. Here is a link to an article (relatively short) that discusses these issues. http://tinyurl.com/bgzsvq
A recent Forbes.com article provides a breakdown of President Obama’s tax proposals.
One element may be devastating for charities. The proposal would cap the value of deductions for things like charitable donations, mortgage interest and investment expenses at 28% for couples earning more than $250,000, or 30% less than they would otherwise receive.
On a more positive note, the proposal would stop the scheduled repeal of the estate tax next year and freeze current levels, i.e., a 45% maximum tax rate on a married couple’s estate valued at more than $7 million.
“He’s being so generous at the lower-income level that making $200,000 is going to be like falling off a cliff. Say what you want about the Bush tax cuts favoring the rich, but this is just becoming punitive.” - Dustin Stamper, an analyst at Grant Thornton LLP, on President Obama’s proposed tax increases.
According to a Columbus Dispatch article, a hospice physician in 
“Who is going to hire an 81-year-old man?” - Fred Dase, a recently laid off octogenarian, in a Wall Street Journal article, Elderly Emerge as a New Class of Workers – and the Jobless. The reality is that many people, despite their age, are no longer able to retire from the workforce. I am seeing people coming out of retirement, and they are not professional athletes.
The Columbus Bar Association’s 15th Annual Probate Law Institute (PLI) is scheduled for Friday, May 1, 2009. The Planning Board has finalized the agenda and this year’s event promises to be one of the best ever. Richard T. Taps is a certified elder law attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, an author and a well known Medicaid expert. Mr. Taps topic is "Medicaid Update for Nursing Home and PASSPORT Eligibility." His presentation will cover court decisions, administrative appeal decisions, and state hearing decisions for the period of March 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009. I will be posting more details, including the Course Agenda, in the very near future.
We all know that a will can transfer a decedent’s property. What else should your will do? First, your will should nominate a person(s) to serve as executor. It should specifically authorize your executor to do things, like sell property, without requiring probate court approval, and it will usually dispense with the requirement of your executor to post a surety bond. Second, your will should nominate a guardian for any minor and/or adult disabled children. Finally, if your estate plan includes a trust, your will may contain a pour-over provision transferring property to the trustee of your trust.
Another life insurance planning mistake is naming a minor child as a beneficiary. This will almost certainly require that a guardianship be set up for the child through the probate court, incurring court costs and attorney fees. The probate court would also determine who to appoint as the guardian. The amount of the insurance proceeds would be public record and the court would have to approve all expenditures. On top of that, the guardianship terminates and the assets are distributed outright to the child upon turning 18 years of age. The solution is to create a contingent trust for minor children.
The Columbus Bar Association (CBA), as a benefit to its members, publishes Columbus Bar News Bytes. The CBA asked me to share my personal experience with internet marketing. The article was divided into two parts. The second part discusses social networks, Twitter, and more. If you missed the first part you can find it here.
This year there is a slight but significant change to the investment rules for 529 college savings plans. Previously an investor could only change investments once a year. This created some issues in 2008 when the market sank and investors had already made an investment change for the year. The IRS will allow investors to make 2 investment changes for 2009.
The current market environment is a “series of earthquakes with constantly changing epicenters.” - Deutsche Bank Chairman Josef Ackermann in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Comparing the economy to natural disasters does wonders for investors’ confidence.
Do you ever check the Department of Commerce’s Division of Unclaimed Funds to see if it is holding your money or your clients’ money? According to its website, the division has more than 3,200,000 accounts worth over $1,000,000,000 in its custody. It takes less than five minutes to search for any unclaimed funds.
The term “Ponzi Scheme” derives from a financial fraud perpetrated by con man Charles Ponzi, where he promised investors very high returns in a relatively short period of time. The initial investors are actually paid their returns from subsequent investment victims. Because these schemes entice the investor with tempting and remarkable profits, they usually involve a proposition that is difficult to understand or vague in its description.
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