Elder Law Issues
Court Overturns Obama Rule Protecting Investors Saving for Retirement
A U.S. court of appeal has struck down a Department of Labor (DOL) rule that was intended to prevent financial advisers from steering their clients to bad retirement investments, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new regulations to at least partially address the same problem. Prompted by concern that many financial advisors have a sales incentive to recommend to their clients retirement investments with high fees and low returns because the advisors get higher commissions or other incentives, in February 2015...
read moreDOL Announces That Fiduciary Rule Goes Into Effect June 9
After initially delaying a rule intended to prevent financial advisers from steering their clients to bad retirement investments, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the rule goes into effect on June 9, 2017, but its future is still unclear. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order delaying the so-called fiduciary rule, the first part of which was scheduled to go into effect in April 2017, and calling for a review. The DOL is still reviewing the rule and can still make changes to it or repeal it based on the...
read more5 Things to Know to Reduce Your Tax on Capital Gains
Although it is often said that nothing is certain except death and taxes, the one tax you may be able to avoid or minimize most through planning is the tax on capital gains. Here’s what you need to know to do such planning: What is capital gain? Capital gain is the difference between the “basis” in property — usually real estate or stocks, but also including artwork and collectibles — and its selling price. The basis is usually the purchase price of property. So, if you purchased a house for $250,000 and sold it...
read moreDo You Pay Capital Gains Taxes on Property You Inherit?
Nope. When you inherit property, such as a house or stocks, the property is usually worth more than it was when the original owner purchased it. If you were to sell the property, there could be huge capital gains taxes. Fortunately, when you inherit property, the property’s tax basis is “stepped up,” which means the basis would be the current value of the property. For example, suppose you inherit a house that was purchased years ago for $150,000 and it is now worth $350,000. You will receive a step up from the original cost...
read moreContract Basics
Why Contracts Are In A Language You Can’t Understand Negotiation Contract Law Basics Breach of Contract The Reasonable Person Remedies Special Types of Contracts Why Contracts Are In A Language You Can’t Understand Every profession has its own jargon, and law is no exception. Law’s language is called legalese. Lawyers don’t necessarily use legalese to obfuscate, although that is a pleasant side effect. Rather, they use terms they know to be well-defined. Each word of legalese has a time and court-tested meaning. For...
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