I got sidetracked last night after the kids went to bed, because I ran across an article claiming, “These 14 Crazy Laws in Idaho Will Leave You Scratching Your Head.” Among the crazy laws claimed by the site are that it is illegal in Idaho to fish from the back of a camel or a giraffe. Apparently, these particular crazy “laws” have been spread far and wide on the Internet. A quick google search reveals countless websites repeating the “fact” that it is against the law in Idaho to fish from ...
Probate And Taxes Are Two Unrelated Things
I frequently teach classes on the basics of estate planning. (I do it for free, because I enjoy it, so if you want me to speak to a group of yours, please contact me!) As part of that, I often hear misconceptions about estate planning. One big one that keeps coming up is a perceived link between filing probate and paying estate taxes. Probate and taxes are two unrelated things (well, mostly unrelated anyway). Probate is the legal process for wrapping up a deceased person’s financial ...
Determining “Income” For Child Support Purposes – Not As Easy As It Sounds
One of the key steps when an Idaho court determines child support is to determine the “income” of each parent. Defining “income” is not always so straight-forward. A parent’s “income” under the Idaho Child Support Guidelines is defined as the parent’s gross income, with certain adjustments. Gross income is broadly defined to include income from any source. This includes wages, tips, bonuses, trust income, and social security benefits. It also includes education grants, scholarships, and ...
Your Trust May Be Costing You Money
Estate planning clients often seem to hold the misconception that once they have completed their estate plan, they are done. Nothing left to do but wait until they need to use it. Of course, for some, that “use it” date does not arrive for many, many years. In the interim, everything has changed, rendering their once state-of-the-art estate plan ineffective at best or harmful at worst. If you have a trust-based estate plan that was designed prior to a major change in estate tax law in 2012, ...
What To Do When A Loved One Passes
The loss of a loved one, whether anticipated or not, is an awful experience accompanied by a variety of emotions — pain, anger, relief, guilt, and anxiety just to name a few. I am not qualified to help you work through a number of those emotions. But, I can help you understand the legal issues you might face, so that at least you can understand and anticipate what is to come as you wrap up your loved one’s financial affairs. The court process for wrapping up a deceased person’s affairs ...
Moving With Kids?
One issue that frequently arises in child custody cases is where one parent wants to move a significant distance away from the other parent. These “move cases” might arise when a parent needs to move for economic reasons, or when the parent wants to move (such as to be nearer to friends or family). Where a parent plans to move far enough away that the current custody and visitation schedule is no longer feasible, that parent has the burden of proving to the court that the move is in the ...
Parental Alienation, Or One Way To Screw Up Your Kids Following Divorce
I’ve been working a lot in the family law arena lately — divorces and child custody cases. Thus, I’ve been thinking a lot about how and why divorces can lead to negative outcomes for kids. One major factor I’ve seen a lot of lately is the issue of parental alienation. Parental alienation is loosely defined to describe when one parent’s behavior interferes with a child’s relationship or attachment to the other parent. At its extreme, parental alienation can cause the child to come to ...
Squandered Opportunities
Many people scrimp and save in the hopes of having something left over for their children at their death. But as an estate planning attorney, I know that often times that hard-earned-by-mom-and-dad inheritance turns into a squandered opportunity for the kids. The money (much like lottery winnings) is quickly used on a new flat screen TV, that motorcycle they always wanted, a two-week cruise to the Caribbean, or the worst possibility: to fuel an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or ...
Legalzoom’s “$50,000 Peace Of Mind Guarantee” — The False Allure Of The Diy Legal Service
In my prior post, I talked about some dangers in using DIY estate planning services such as LegalZoom. One of those dangers is the fact that, if you use an insured estate planning attorney and he screws up, your survivors are protected by his malpractice insurance. Services such as LegalZoom, though, are not your attorney and therefore cannot commit malpractice. LegalZoom happily tells you, in its disclaimer: LegalZoom is not a law firm, and the employees of LegalZoom are not acting as ...
Create A Financial Cheat Sheet
In my last post, I urged you to write down your wishes for a funeral or memorial service. This week, I’m encouraging you to create a financial cheat sheet for use by your loved ones should something happen to you (either death or disability). Write down or type up the following: The location of important legal documents: will, trust, insurance policies, car titles, property deeds, etc.; A list of your financial assets including savings and checking accounts, stock accounts, IRAs, ...