Keep Fido Legal!!

The Enquirer reports Hamilton and Clermont Counties have extended the deadline to register your doggies in 2010.

Hamilton County has extended the deadline to February 28.

Clermont County has extended the deadline to March 31.

Enquirer article here.

Hamilton County dog registration info from Dusty Rhodes, Auditor, here.

Clermont County dog registration info from Linda Fraley, Auditor, here.

Free Tax Prep Sites

The University of Missouri provides a tidy free tax preparation site finder here. Please read the fine print as only certain people qualify for the free tax prep at these sites.

ABA on Estate Planning

Do I need a will? What happens if I die without one? I'm a single parent, what happens to my kids when I die?

All tough questions, all questions to which you should already have answers.

Sometimes it's difficult to ask these questions to an attorney. Get a base with the ABA primer on estate planning. If you have further questions, contact an attorney. Any attorney that handles estate planning understands the sensitivity of the issues and will help ease the fears associated with uncertainty.

The ABA primer can be located here.

SCOTUS Blog on New Finance Law (Plain English)

Looking for a good explanation for the big change in campaign finance law that came from the Supreme Court this week? Don't feel like spending three years on a law degree to understand a law prof dissecting it? The SCOTUS blog, once again, has you covered. Discussion for the people can be found here.

If you want to go the law school route, the Law School Admissions Council website can be found here.

Ohio Victims of Crime

You were hit by a drunk driver. Someone assaulted your kid. You missed work and lost wages because of required court appearances. Bad things happen. Sometimes insurance doesn't cover everything. The French say "C'est la vie." Ohioans SHOULD say "apply for victims compensation!" For the out of pocket expenses you lose due to someone else's misdeeds, Ohio sometimes has you covered. Many times people will seek civil recourse when victims compensation is a much more convenient, and affordable, resource.

The Victims of Crime Fund provides a resource for those who were left in the cold by a criminal. If the paperwork or process is confusing, please contact your attorney. Not all victims of crime qualify for victim compensation, contacting your attorney will save you the time and hassle of trying to determine whether you qualify.

Victims compensation information from the Ohio Attorney General's Office here.

Divorce Without the Court

While Divorce Court makes for great TV drama, when you face the possibility of having to divide up the assets and determine custody of the kids, the idea of doing it in court can be daunting.

There is another way.

Collaborative divorce provides a pre-court option for couples looking to separate. Each party is represented by an attorney. These attorneys will help to guide the husband and wife to an amicable (hopefully) resolution concerning the children, property, and other assets. Too often, divorces are described as "messy." The goal of collaboration is to keep the process open, share all information, and find a way the parties to walk away from the marriage without dragging each other - and the children - through protracted and hostile court proceedings. Collaborative divorce attorneys do not seek a winner and a loser, but a solution.

Collaborative divorce does not preclude the possibility of taking the action to court. If the collaborative efforts break down, both parties can retain new counsel and take the matter to family court.

The American Bar Association provides a quick overview of collaborative divorce here.

"Divorce Without Dishonor" blog provides another reason to look at collaborative divorce here. Judges are people, too. Taking it to court brings another party into the decision making process, possibly complicating things.

If you are interested in pursuing a collaborative divorce, call an attorney or your local bar association. If that attorney can not handle it for you, they will know someone who can.

Estate Tax, BRB?

With other pressing matter on their plates (health care reform, holiday parties, etc.), your representatives failed to act on the expiring Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. This act passed under Bush II provided a ten-year period of increasing exemptions from the estate tax, culminating in an "unlimited" exemption in 2010. Most experts expected Congress to act on this loophole before 2010 arrived. However, as of today, no modification to the Act has passed through Congress.

Senators and Reps are well aware of this omission. Some are promising to have a retroactive modification to the exemption in place soon. While it looks like there is an unlimited exemption currently, the current exemption could disappear if new legislation is enacted with a "look-back" or retroactive date to January 1, 2010. In other words, estates passing free of tax in the early months of 2010 could receive a tax bill later in the year.

If Congress keeps procrastinating and does not enact new legislation concerning exemptions in 2010, 2011 will revert back to the federal exemption rates from 2000 - $1 million dollars. This is called a "sunset" provision and was included in the 2001 legislation.

The WSJ details this issue here.

Summary of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act.