Your Caring Law Firm

Attention Florida Residents: Change in power of attorney law

2011-10-02T19:24:00.002-04:00

Just when you thought you had your estate planning documents in order, there sneaks up a drastic change in the power of attorney law. A durable power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone the authority to act on your behalf. You are the principal and the person you appoint is the agent. Effective Oct. 1, 2011, the new law comes into effect in Florida. The most pressing question is whether your “old” or existing document is still valid and the answer is yes. However, we cannot predict how long financial institutions or third parties will honor these “old” documents. We do not want our clients to be inconvenienced in this situation, so we are encouraging them to execute new instruments. Some of the changes in the law are that co-agents can exercise authority independently, unless the power of attorney provides otherwise, and copies in lieu of original documents are acceptable. The old law was silent on the issue of copies in lieu of originals and on many other points. One of the key purposes of the Florida Power of Attorney Act is to clarify the agent’s authority as it might affect the principal’s estate plan. The principal must specifically acknowledge in the document if the agent has authority to make changes to the principal’s estate plan, change rights of survivorship, beneficiary designations, waive rights under annuities and retirement plans, and make gifts. These are called the superpowers. This list is by no means exhaustive, but gives you an idea of the changes. The purpose of these changes is to protect the principal and to clarify what previously was not in the statute.

This change in the law is long overdue as the last overhaul of this statute was in 1995. I know it can be dull stuff, and not on the pop culture radar in Florida, but go see your estate planning attorney to learn all about it. This important instrument can be used for convenience in a variety of situations, but most significantly, it can keep you out of guardianship court.

Hallie Zobel

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

September 28th, 2011

Death of a Terrorist

2011-05-08T10:14:00.003-04:00

According to national news reports, Osama Bin Laden has been killed at a compound in Pakistan, by US special operation forces a few days ago. The news just became public on Sunday. It is a great victory in the war on terror against al Quaeda. Do you think that bin Laden prepared a will and other documents in preparation of his death. Is there estate administration in Pakistan?

His adult son was killed in the coup also, which makes for a twist in estate law. If his son was named in the will, and they died at the same time, there should be a clause in the will that states where the son’s share goes. It is recommended that you draft contingency plans should a beneficiary die at the same time as you or within a short amount of time. Mr. Bin Laden, as we know, had much power, but did he have a lot of assets? The mansion he was living in, according to CNN wire staff, was worth over one million dollars.

Was the compound titled in his name? These are questions I would ask the Personal Representative. Since he is one of the most wanted, if not the most wanted man in the world, for the sake of his relatives, I would think that he had an estate plan. I would like the courts to allow the United States to file claims against his estate on behalf of all the individuals who perished in the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001. May they rest in peace.

Hallie Zobel

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

May 6th, 2011

Who Will Raise Hope?

2011-03-29T13:22:00.001-04:00

There is a corny television show named Raising Hope. It is about a twenty- something young man named Jimmy who is raising his daughter Hope because her mother was executed for a crime she committed. I am embarrassed to say that I watch it on occasion because it follows Glee. That is a whole other story. Anyway, Jimmy lives with his mother, Virginia, father, Bert, grandmother and daughter Hope. They are a wacky family that marches to the beat of a different drummer. Jimmy works at a grocery store where he has a friend named Sabrina, who is a cashier. The subject comes up of who is going to raise Hope if he dies suddenly. His mind explores the various people in his life and what attributes they have to serve as surrogate parent for Hope. He quickly eliminates everyone he knows including his Mom, who can’t even get out of bed for work and his Dad, who can’t keep track of his pairs of shoes, flip flops, and socks. In one funny scene, Bert’s missing sock is stuck on his back with static cling, just out of his view.

Virginia, Bert, Jimmy, and Hope travel to the attorney’s office who meets them on a Saturday. How odd. I don’t know any attorney who meets clients on Saturdays. I certainly don’t. On the attorney’s desk is a time meter box with a bell on it that the attorney hits for every ten dollars of fees he earns. So Hope’s family talks quickly. Jimmy settles on Sabrina Collins as the best candidate as guardian for Hope. Later, Jim asks Sabrina but she says she has no experience and doesn’t want the job. When they leave the attorney’s office, they pile into the truck and the attorney comes out, with baby Hope in his arms, and says, “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

Jimmy announces that none of them are fit to raise Hope, including himself. He shares his revelation to Sabrina who tells him that his family needs to teach each other to be independent and become capable people. They proceed to do just that. At the end of the show, they experience a near death experience together. They realize if it goes bad, there will be no one to raise Hope, but then get out of the dangerous situation with a big sigh of relief.

Will the show win a Golden Globe? Hardly, but the writers tackle an excellent topic of selecting a guardian for your children, should you die before they grow up. My law firm handles this type of planning and encourages clients to name guardians for their minor children in their Last Will and Testament. I know a lot of people with minor children who will not do any estate planning because they can’t decide who to name as guardian. This makes no sense.

I can’t think of any more important task as a parent than naming a guardian for your minor children in your will.

Hallie Zobel
Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

March 27th, 2011

It (Still) Takes a Village for Special Needs Children

2011-03-16T17:30:00.002-04:00

Back in 1996 Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book, “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us,” was published. No political figure can write anything without it stirring up partisan controversy, but this post isn’t being written for political purposes, so we’re going to set aside any conversation of her overt agenda in writing the book as well as any hidden agendas which might be imputed to her.

Suffice it to say for our purposes here that most people, when faced with a long-term, difficult task, would prefer not to face that task alone, but to do so with others, preferably well known and well trusted others. Call that a village or just call it a team, having others to rely upon can help make difficult tasks far less so.

Thinking of how special needs children will be taken care of after their parents are gone can be a frightening prospect. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where the old adage, “Failure to plan is planning to fail,” is very true. The problems faced by special needs individuals are very real and they won’t go away when ignored. A properly drafted and properly maintained special needs trust is a great vehicle to meet the needs of special needs individuals, but one of the key points of a March 14, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal by Veronica Dagher is that you need a team, she calls it a network, including a guardian, a trustee, a financial planner, an attorney, an accountant, advocacy groups, friends and family in order to make sure the special needs individual is properly cared for and public benefits are preserved. Follow the link below to read this concise but very informative article.

David Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trust, Planning

March 16th, 2011

Grief Smells Like Orange Blossoms

2011-03-15T23:51:00.001-04:00

Smell invokes memory unlike any other sense. The treacly-sweet aroma of Florida springtime clobbers me with grief every March. Enveloped in the cloying perfume of citrus in bloom, I flash to my senior year of high school when Megan McCabe died. Megan was thoughtful and smart and funny and pretty, and a member of the Crew team with me. A group of rowing friends went to the beach on a gorgeous Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day. One of the cars didn’t make it back. Megan died in the accident; others were badly injured.

It was the middle of Crew season. We practiced on Lake Howell, which (back then) was surrounded by orange groves. We rowed and ran for several miles every afternoon. I remember slogging through the blooming citrus trees, overwhelmed with heat and humidity, sand and sun, tears and loss.

Every high school class suffers a similar tragedy. Patricia Auwerda, another kind, adorable, brainy, and witty childhood friend of mine, died in a different accident weeks after Megan’s death.

Devastated families cry, “Will anyone remember my child?” To the McCabe and Auwerda families, know this. Still, after all of these years, I remember Megan and Patty often and fondly, and honor them every spring when I smell orange blossoms.

Merrell Bailey

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

March 13th, 2011

So You Want to Present a National Webinar?

2011-01-06T19:03:00.005-05:00

Congratulations! You’ve been asked to present with a group of experts on a webinar that will have people from across the country listening? Here are some helpful hints that I learned from my recent experience.

I was invited by WealthCounsel™ to be a panelist with Lew Dymond, Peter Parenti, and Paul Bernstein to discuss the new tax laws that Congress passed on December 17, 2010. The audience would include attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors throughout the U.S. The webinars were scheduled for December 28, 2010 and January 3, 2011.

First, I hyperventilated about being included with such esteemed colleagues. Second, we quickly had to learn the new law well enough to present it to a really bright group of listeners. Third, we had to work up presentation materials for WealthCounsel™ to disseminate. Finally, we had to actually present the webinars. Thank heavens, a lot of this was happening over the holidays, because I was having a crash course in public speaking over the internet.

Webinar speaking is different than public speaking. A big lesson for me was how different speaking on a webinar is compared to speaking in front of a live audience. I do a lot of public speaking. I’m comfortable in front of crowds, and really enjoy it. If you are high energy and have a big voice (as I do), your personality has space to dissipate when you are a room with other people. However, all of that perkiness directed down one tiny phone line and across the internet may be a weensy-bit overwhelming to your audience.

This does not mean that you should stop being yourself, however. You were asked to present for a reason. Just keep in mind that your audience cannot see you. Basically, you are having a one-way telephone conversation. Remember the old adage that the person on the other end of the phone with you can tell if you have a smile on your face? This applies ten-fold to presenting a webinar. A cheerful personality is welcome in a web presenter. Be careful not to veer into manic lunacy.

Recognize and complement the speaking styles of your co-presenters. Are you a calm, quiet, logical presenter? Is another panelist higher energy? You may have to pump up your style, and your co-presenter may have to tone it down some. If you don’t try to find a cohesive mean, your audience may get whiplash from the difference.

Use a script. An in-person audience does not want you to read a script to them. And no audience, either in-person, or on the web, wants you to read the slides to them. However, you may use a script when you are presenting a webinar. If you write it properly and practice it effectively, you will sound fresh, yet be thorough without having to memorize.

Learn how to drive the webinar software. You’ve attended a thousand presentations on the web. You know how to sign in, and access the chat function and the Q&A function on the toolbar. Now, though, you are a panelist or organizer; your access to the webinar software is different, and the options on the toolbar are expanded. Make sure you log in using the correct instructions as a panelist. Undock the Q&A from the control panel. Enlarge it so you may read the questions in full. On December 23, 2010, I was asked to help cover the Q&A only on a WealthCounsel™ presentation that had been previously recorded by Lew Dymond and CPA Robert Keebler. While Lew was available to answer questions live, Bob Keebler had a scheduling conflict; I was asked to step in to assist Lew.

I did not know that undocking and enlarging the Q&A was an option. As a result, I could see only one line of one question on my screen. When the Q&A went live, instead of answering questions effectively, I spent several minutes barking, “Uh, Uh, Uh,” like a trained seal while I frantically worked in the background with the presentation organizer to figure out how to access the full text of the questions. It was not my finest moment.

Live questions are an adrenaline rush. Undock the Q&A from the control panel early, and read the questions asked in advance so you may prepare your answers. I realized when I was answering questions after the Bob Keebler/Lew Dymond presentation on 12/23/2010 that I spend an awful lot of time having conversations in my head. I ponder things. I don’t react to them. You cannot do that and answer Q&A live. You have to react. Be prepared to jump in the deep water and swim.

Budget time to answer questions from attendees after the event. You spent time learning the subject matter. You spent time preparing the presentation materials. You spent time on the webinar itself, plus answering the live questions. Your job is not done! Expect attendees to e-mail you questions after the event. Don’t forget to allocate time to answer their questions promptly, thoroughly, and cheerfully.

Have fun! Participating in the webinars was a wonderful experience for me. I can’t wait to do it again. Please shine in your presentation by learning from my mistakes. Recordings of the webinars are available for free using the hyperlinks, above. Please download them and critique my performance.

Hey, what about a Living Will?

2010-10-22T00:29:00.000-04:00

Recently, I watched the season premiere of “Brothers and Sisters”. You know the show, the strong matriarch, Sally Fields, at the head of the whiny family known as the Walkers.

It takes place one year after the horrible automobile accident that occurred at the cliffhanger last May.

It was packed with legal issues, pertinent to the type law I practice.

Last season left us with a multiple car pileup, on the expressway, in California. Brother Justin, who conveniently has paramedic training from the military, is crawling to brother in law, Senator Robert McCallister(played by Rob Lowe), to render aid, but Robert, with blood trickling down his beautiful face, tells Justin to move on to Holly and he will wait for the ambulance. Justin then leaves Robert and goes to his mother in law, Holly, to give her first aid. It doesn’t look good for Robert.

As the show starts, we learn that one year has passed, and Robert has been lying in a coma for this last year, since the accident, being kept alive by medical machines, that are probably breathing for him. It is quite tragic and his wife, Kitty, played by Calista Flockhart, has been by his bedside, hoping for a miracle that he will awaken. The physicians have given her little hope, and she is grounding her hope on case studies she has read, where similar coma patients have woken up and resumed a somewhat normal life. Apparently, no family member is able to speak to Kitty about Robert’s situation and her decision to “pull the plug.” During this episode, she rages at her brother, screaming, “It is a hard decision what you are asking me to do!”. Well, the family has agonized for one year about Robert lying in limbo, and not really “living”.

These end of life decisions should not have to be Kitty’s decisions, it can be Robert’s. It comes as a surprise to me that he does not have his estate planning completed, and does not have a living will. A living will is a document that specifies whether life sustaining measures should be undertaken to preserve life when one is not expected to recover. Sometimes it is called “pull the plug” document. It is a document that you sign, prior to the end of your life, that signifies your wishes, taking the pressure off of spouses, children or other family members. The majority of my clients want this document for several reasons, to avoid the large medical expense of keeping them alive and to keep their loved ones from going through the emotional agony. We discuss these very issues with clients in my Central Florida law firm and encourage them to execute this advance directive, along with the other documents such as a trust, will, durable power of attorney, and health care surrogate. I am wondering if Robert did not have a will either? Well, it is television land and it makes for much better viewing for him to be without legal documents.

By the end of the episode, Kitty realized that it was not her husband lying in the hospital bed, but a body and she made the decision to disconnect the life support. The episode ends, as usual, with the Walker clan drinking and raising their wine glasses for a toast to Robert. I would rather toast to advance planning he did to save his family the turmoil of the last year.

Hallie Zobel

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

Poor Man’s Probate is Usually Poorly Planned

2010-06-29T23:36:00.000-04:00

On more than one occasion a friend of mine in my neighborhood or at church has come up to me and asked a question something like this, “David, do I really need a will? I don’t actually have very much and it seems like a lot of money to spend just to get some papers written up.” After I ask a few questions about their circumstances, in about half of these situations I discover that they have already done something, usually on advice from a non-attorney, and the individual is really wondering whether or not they have done the right thing. They’ve engaged in a course of action designed to lead to what some call a “Poor Man’s Probate” and the results, which they will probably never witness, are usually not at all what they would want for their survivors.

Here are some of the things I’ve seen:

A deed, usually a quit claim, has been recorded adding a child or children as owners.

A child or children have been added as co-owners of bank or investment accounts.

A life insurance policy has been purchased naming a minor child as a contingent beneficiary.

A life insurance policy has been purchased naming a grandparent as a contingent beneficiary. because the grandparent will look after the minor children.

Can you see the problems presented above? Here are just a few I spotted, and I’m not saying this list is exhaustive.

Quit claim deeds wipe out title insurance policy guarantees. If a boundary dispute pops up the title insurance company will look at the current ownership and will be excused from liability because the current owners aren’t the ones they promised to protect.

Florida’s strong homestead protection laws will protect you from various creditor claims, but if a judgment is entered against your child who has an interest in your homestead, a cloud will be created on title to the property which could make it difficult to sell.

Your bank or investment account could be garnished in order to meet obligations created by a judgment against your child.

If you and your spouse both die in an accident, life insurance death benefits will need to be put into a guardianship for your minor child. Who will be the guardian? Will they be a good steward of those funds? Will your child be emotionally ready to receive a large sum of money at the age of 18 when unfettered access to the funds will be given?

What if you forget to change the insurance policy beneficiary when your parent, the grandparent of your children, has a stroke, then you and your spouse both die in an accident. The death benefit is paid to your parent whose guardian has a statutory duty to use those funds for your parent’s benefit, not the benefit of your children. Worse still, if your parent has remarried and the proceeds go into a joint account with the new spouse, then the new spouse will have a claim on those funds.

All of these results are bad. Some are truly disastrous. All of them would cost far more to unravel than it would cost to make proper plans.

The basic documents we recommend are a will (or better yet a trust with a pourover will), a durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, and living will. If your funds are extremely limited just get the durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, and living will. One solution does not fit all needs and so we carefully interview people to find out what their particular needs are and what solution best fits them, but don’t make the very costly mistake of thinking that no planning or ad hoc planning are the solutions to your estate planning needs.

David Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

Citizen wants reimbursement from Michael Jackson's estate

2010-01-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

Even after death, as in life, everyone and his brother wants a piece of Michael Jackson's money.

Sources to TMZ report that upwards of $20million in creditor claims are being filed in his estate. The claims come from a doctor, various law firms and a lady named Shellie Doreen Smith, who claims to have been married to Michael Jackson in the seventies.

My personal favorite is the taxpayer who sued on behalf of the City of Los Angeles taxpayers. Apparently the taxpayers picked up $3.3 million of the memorial tab and he believes the estate should pay back the City. The article claims him as a "do gooder". I suspect a "do gooder" lawyer is behind this claim. But then again, why shouldn't the estate pay for the memorial service? Is only one Los Angeles taxpayer outraged? Seems like all should be; I certainly would be.

Hallie Zobel
Bailey Zobel Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

Death Arbitrage -- Should I Pull the Plug Today? There's No Estate Tax.

2010-01-04T21:44:00.000-05:00

I'm angry. I'm disheartened, dismayed, and disgusted. But mostly, I'm angry.

One of my peers today asked me if I am advising clients to remove life support from their loved ones -- their RICH loved ones -- quick, right now, before Congress acts to bring back the estate tax.

Because, depending on the nature of the assets, you can do the tax math and decide whether it is more lucrative to allow someone you love to die today, or keep the person alive, betting that Congress will change the estate tax laws in a manner more favorable to a delayed death.

I was horror-stricken. Not because I was surprised; we estate tax professionals have been discussing this potential situation for a decade. I was appalled because I believed that Congress would never allow its citizenry to be in this position. And here we are -- four days into the new year, and now my clients want to know their options.

What are the death-tax-lottery alternatives?

1. For the critically-ill person of any amount of wealth, if the differential between fair market value and basis is less than $1.3 million, it makes tax sense to pull the plug.

2. For clients with unrealized capital gains of more than $3 million above the $1.3 million in basis that we may allocate now, (so, for example, someone with $4.25 million or more in wealth that has zero basis), for tax reasons, you should pay the electric bill and keep that machine going until Congress acts.

3. For critically-ill people worth between $4 and $4.5 million, the 15% long-term capital gains tax on the amount above the $1.3 million in basis that we may allocate today may be more than the 45% estate tax on assets above $3.5 million that would be due if Congress extended the estate tax rules from 2009. Your tax professional, if s/he has the stomach for it, can calculate this number for you.

Gallows humor for clients with a lot of life insurance, but not a lot of other assets, used to be that they were worth more dead than alive. Now it isn't funny. Congress has opened the door for tax implications to be one more piece of the puzzle that people consider when dealing with an impending death. And I'm one of the tax professionals who will be asked to provide the information. How caring is that?

I read quotes about members of Congress piously discussing the sanctity of life. Yet here I sit, in a position that is untenable, but that was wholly avoidable by even a modicum of responsible action from my elected representatives. For that, Congress, I will not forgive you. I have a vote, and I have a voice, and I will use both.

Merrell Bailey
Bailey Zobel Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

Congress Finds Time to Subpoena White House Party Crashers, but No Time to Enact Estate Tax Reform

2009-12-17T00:47:00.000-05:00

I feel safer knowing that Congress plans to subpoena the aspiring reality-tv stars who "crashed" a White House party. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/12/09/2009-12-09_subpoenas_for_crashers.html

And inquiring into the fairness of the college football Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a subject of grave national interest that obviously requires immediate Congressional attention. http://www.newser.com/story/75809/house-panel-kill-colleges-bcs-system.html

Fast action in times of crisis -- that's what I look for in the legislative leaders of my country.

I'm sure that these pressing items are the reason that Congress most likely will not find time to pass estate tax reform before January 1, 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126098351451293981.html

As you may remember, on January 1, 2010, the estate tax goes away. This sounds like great news, doesn't it? US citizens can step back and enjoy this culmination of a decade of constant change in the estate tax laws.

Don't get too comfortable, however.

First, the capital gains tax rules also change effective January 1, 2010. This means that (with exceptions), instead of inheriting assets with a basis of fair market value at the date of death of the person who left you the wealth, you will inherit the assets with the basis of the person who died.

For example, let's say that Aunt Tilly died and left you a share of stock that is trading on the NYSE for $105. You sell the stock for $105. How much would you pay in capital gains tax on that sale? If Aunt Tilly died on December 1, 2009, the answer would be zero. You inherited the stock with a basis equal to the fair market value on Aunt Tilly's death, and you sold it for the same amount. $105 - $105 = $0 capital gain. $0 x 15% capital gains tax rate = $0.

However, if Aunt Tilly dies on January 1, 2010, your capital gain tax depends on what Aunt Tilly paid for the stock. Let's say that Aunt Tilly bought the stock in 1978 and paid $5 for it. Your capital gain would be $105 minus $5 equals $100. At the 15% long-term capital gains tax rate, you would pay $15 in capital gains tax on the sale of this asset.

Big deal, you think? A 15% capital gains tax is much less than a 55% estate tax, isn't it? Not so fast there, cowgirl. Remember that anyone who inherits an asset is subject to the capital gains tax on the sale of that asset, but only people of a certain wealth are subject to estate tax. Also, how will you know what Aunt Tilly paid for that share of stock and when she bought it? What if Aunt Tilly left you a diamond earrings worth $5,000? Or improved real estate worth $200,000? How will you know how much she paid for these assets? The burden is on the person who inherits the asset to prove to the IRS what Aunt Tilly's basis was. If you can't prove Aunt Tilly's basis? The IRS presumes the basis to be zero. $200,000 minus $0 = $200,000 x 15% = $30,000.

Didn't we go through this in the 1970s and it was such a pile of hot mess that it was repealed by Congress? Tax professionals were thwarted in their efforts to calculate a taxpayer's tax liability to the point of impossibility of performance. No one could figure out Aunt Tilly's basis in anything.

Second, the repeal of the estate tax is only for twelve months. On January 1, 2011, the estate tax comes roaring back at 55% for every dollar over $1 million in wealth transferred at death.

I don't know about you, but a lot of my clients are worth more than $1 million dollars. They don't consider themselves to be wealthy, and frankly, neither do I. Let's take a couple who has been married for sixty years. There is a $300,000 life insurance policy on the husband and also on the wife. Their home, bought for $40,000 in 1962, now is worth $200,000. They have retirement savings of $300,000. This couple is worth $1.1 million -- and at the second death, $55,000 will go to the IRS and not to the children.

Sure, I can do fancy estate planning for this couple, split their wealth in half, protect half at the first death, and the remainder at the second death, and thus shelter all of their wealth from estate tax. But this couple doesn't feel they need sophisticated tax planning, and can't fathom splitting assets they have owned together for sixty years. They barely need an estate plan! The life insurance policies and retirement savings have beneficiary designation forms and pass outside probate, and the homestead passes to the children under Florida law.

But for the estate tax, this couple could have a very simple, inexpensive estate plan. However, due to the 2011 estate tax rules, this couple should pay far more than they wish to me to prepare an estate plan they do not prefer, to avoid an estate tax they don't feel they should be subject to in the first place.

Finally, the earliest estate tax returns for people who die in 2010 would be due on September 1, 2010. Congress has gotten very comfortable in passing tax laws that are retroactive. This means that Congress could pass as late as August legislation that affects the estate taxation of someone who died in January. Tax practitioners and their clients will be traversing unstable terrain, with no certainty as to what the tax liability of someone who dies in the early months of 2010 actually will be.

I'm an attorney and a CPA and I have six college degrees. If this tax situation baffles me, how am I supposed to explain it to my clients? Happy Holidays to you, Congress.

Merrell Bailey, Esq., CPA*, MBA, MSTaxation, MSAccounting
Bailey Zobel Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

(*inactive license, Alabama)

$3.5 million, 45% estate tax passes House

2009-12-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Gossip on Capitol Hill:

We’re getting word that by a vote of 225-200 the House has just passed H.R. 4154, which would make “permanent” the current $3.5 million exemption and 45% maximum estate tax rate

Merrell Bailey

Bailey Zobel Pilcher
Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

17 broken coffee pots in the garage

2009-12-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

I loved this article about a Marietta, Ohio Goodwill store that found $1,500 of marijuana hidden inside a large galvanized metal water jug they had received as a donation.

http://tinyurl.com/ygw6c5k

At Bailey Zobel Pilcher, our clients often find themselves having to clean out the home of elderly loved ones. This is a daunting task, fraught with emotion, and usually occurs in a time of crisis. It took my brother and my husband thirteen weeks, two days a week, eight hours a day, to clean out my parents' house when my parents moved into assisted living. I couldn't even go inside. The amount of "stuff" was overwhelming to me. For example, in the garage, which was stuffed to the ceiling, there were 17 broken coffee pots and 12 broken telephones. My Dad was sure that the next coffee pot or telephone that broke could be fixed with a part from a previous one.

When my Aunt Dorothy moved out of her apartment in Jersey City into a nursing home, my brothers found an entire closet full of tubes of toothpaste, brand new, in the box. Many of the tubes were so old they had petrified. Depression babies...

How do you know what to keep? What to throw away? Are your siblings fighting about the contents? Being snide about who is taking what and bringing up that "Mom always did love you more?" Claiming that "Dad told me he wanted me to have that?" It becomes very attractive to want to just throw everything away.

If cleaning out your parents' home becomes overwhelming, know that there are companies that specialize in doing this for you. They do not have years of family dynamics invested in the teacup collection. They know what is valuable and what is not. They have the patience and ability to sell the china and silverware and Lladros that no one in the family wants. We help our clients by giving them referrals to companies such as Creating Divine Order.

We also counsel our clients to pay attention when they are in this situation. Look in the pockets of the clothes and old purses for money. Stick your fingers down the toes of the boots for jewelry. Flip through the books and magazines to see if bearer bonds or stock certificates have been hidden between the pages. Many people stash valuables in the most perplexing places -- such as this galvanized metal water jug donated to Goodwill.

I learned this as a child. My godmother, my father's aunt, lived in New Jersey during the Northeast Blackout of 1965. She was away from her home visiting her second cousin in Bergen County during the power outage. When she returned home several days later, she found that her neighbors, to be helpful, had cleaned out her freezer and refrigerator, and thrown away the spoiled contents. My great-aunt fainted -- she had frozen her jewelry inside ground beef , which she kept in the freezer. When she wanted to wear her jewelry, she would take the ground beef out a couple of days before the event to thaw. Everyone knew this -- except these neighbors. The meat -- and the jewelry -- was gone.

Merrell Bailey

Bailey Zobel Pilcher
Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

A Law Firm is a Business

2009-11-24T23:15:00.000-05:00

With five business degrees, a CPA certification, and nearly two decades of business experience under my belt before I started practicing solely as an attorney, it never occurred to me that many people -- many lawyers -- do not consider a law firm to be a business. Yes, attorneys are members of a profession, and a law firm is a professional practice... but a law firm is a business with employees, and payroll, and taxes, and billing, and cash flow issues, just like any other business.

I'm on a mission to help other lawyers streamline their business practices. Please take a look at my most recent article, "Consistent and Current Cash Flow," published in The Florida Law Practice LINK, a publication of The Florida Bar.

http://www.yourcaringlawfirm.com/resources/merrellbaileyGPFall092page.pdf

I am happy to answer questions about how we design our procedures at Bailey Zobel Pilcher to enhance our client's experience. The better our business runs, the better we may provide legal advice to our clients. This helps us to to be...

Merrell Bailey

Bailey Zobel Pilcher
Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning