Tax cheaters will try anything.
"There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government."
Benjamin Franklin
Here are a few charitable deduction scams that the IRS and Justice Department officials have been focusing on:
• Kickbacks. A charity solicits
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
from William Congreve’s The Mourning Bride (1697)
Fritzi Benesch, 86 year old multimillionaire and former owner of the clothing company, Fritzi California, is suing her lawyer for malpractice. The case, brought in 2000 went to trial the
Robert Anbrogi has an excellent article posted at Findlaw: Ethics: Hiring Experts You Don’t Plan To Use. He asks: "Do lawyers ever retain experts just to lock them out from being hired by the other side?"
"Lawyers do occasionally contact or ‘retain’ experts solely to disqualify them from working for the other side,"
We are happy to welcome a guest post from political commentator Don Feldman:
It could have been worse.
* In the year of the “perfect storm” for Republicans, the charismatic Democratic candidate got 52% of the vote. If not for the timing of the economic meltdown, McCain might have won.
* As
2010 is the year for Throwing Momma from the Train. In 2009 the estate tax exemption is $3.5 million. In 2011 the estate tax exemption goes way down to $1 million. In between? In 2010 there is no estate tax at all.
Obviously, something has to be done.
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
The October 29, 2008 edition of Trust & Estates contains this article: A Final Win for the Lawyer of Erin Brockovich Fame.
Edward Masry was the California trial lawyer who with the help of an assistant named Erin Brockovich brought a class action lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Company for groundwater contamination which caused wide-spread illness
See our prior blog post on the issue of whether an inconsistent will can overcome the presumption that a joint account passes to the surviving joint owner. (You may be surprised at what the Superior Court said.)
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted the petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Order of the Superior Court
Billy Hamilton channels Ambrose Bierce, who gave us The Devil’s Dictionary and such classics definitions as:
Conceit, n. Self-respect in one whom we dislike.
Hand, n. A singular instrument worn at the end of the human arm and commonly thrust into somebody’s pocket.
Tarif, n. A scale of taxes
"Negative inheritance," a term coined by Laurence Kotlikoff, a professor at Boston University, describes the situation when the costs to children of caring for aging relatives outstrip any gifts or bequests they might receive in return.
A large portion of baby boomers find themselves becoming the caregivers for their parents. Many of these caregivers want
You will enjoy this post at David Giacalone’s f/k/a about Frank Duci’s will:
(source: Schenectady Gazette) 