NEWSLETTERS
Newsletter
September 9, 2004
- Medicaid planning is legal. It is how you can save some of your hard earned assets for your family instead of seeing everything lost to nursing home costs.
- Medicaid planning can be done for you if you are incompetent if you have a Durable Power of Attorney specifically authorizing gifts or Medicaid and estate planning transfers, or a Court finds that if you were competent you would have done Medicaid planning. The Court proceeding is both time consuming and expensive.
Newsletter
August 27, 2004
Did you know that only one state (Oregon) requires lawyers to carry malpractice insurance?
Only six states (Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Virginia) require attorneys to disclose whether they have malpractice insurance. Only five states (Alaska, New Hampshire, Ohio, and South Dakota) require that a lawyer tell their clients and potential clients if they do not have a specified minimum level of malpractice insurance.
Newsletter
October 14, 2004
The first step is finding a lawyer. In New Jersey, it may be harder to avoid lawyers than it is to find one. However, just any lawyer wonít do. You want to find the right lawyer for you and your situation.
Perhaps the best place to start is with a personal referral. Call me, your accountant, financial advisor, insurance agent or other advisor, relatives, and friends. Many lawyers are listed on various internet referral sites, such as New Jersey Lawyers Directory (http://www.njlawnet.com/newjerseylawyers), but remember that lawyers pay to be listed on these sites. Most county bar associations have lists of attorneys by specialty, but again, lawyers pay to be included on these lists and the bar association just gives you the person on the top of the list.
Newsletter
July 29, 2004
There are 7 Common Misconceptions about Domestic Partnerships that you need to know about. You should know:
- A Domestic Partner has no right to inherit from the other Domestic Partner. A Domestic Partner receives nothing on their partner's death unless they have a Will naming him or her.
- A Domestic Partner has no say in their partner's funeral arrangements unless the deceased partner has a Will naming their partner to make those decisions.
Newsletter
July 22, 2004
Welcome to the first installment of my email newsletter. This and future issues will briefly address areas of estate planning, administration, taxation, business law and similar topics. I hope you find it informative.
On June 28, 2004, Governor McGreevey signed into law an increase in individual income tax rates creating a new top tax rate of 8.97% on income in excess of $500,000. New Jersey’s individual income tax brackets are now:
In 2000, the top New Jersey individual income tax rate was 6.37% on income of $150,000 and the top federal income tax rate was 39.6% on income in excess of $288,350, a combined rate of 45.97% assuming the deduction of the New Jersey tax from federally taxable income is phased out, and 43.45% assuming the New Jersey is fully deductible.