NPR Covers Caregiver Discrimination

Mentioned during a church service yesterday, I became aware of an NPR story that ran earlier this summer about caregiver discrimination. While the focus is on working parents, the concept covers adult children caring for ill parents or spouses. As our nation ages, this will become a growing concern.

Steinbrenner Estate Likely to Avoid Federal Estate Tax

In yet another high profile death of the ultra-rich, the recent passing of George Steinbrenner underscores the current law that there is no federal estate tax on 2010, as reported in the Washington Post.

Members of Congress keep introducing new legislation, but so far, nothing has advanced to become law.

Congress set the estate tax to disappear in 2010 and be, pardon the phrase, brought back to life in 2011. No one expected this throw-Mama-from-the-train scenario to actually play out in 2010, but Congress has been unable to agree on a reasonable level for a new estate tax.

Keep watching, and maybe soon we'll have a resolution to this issue. Until then, 2010 is proving to be a windfall year for heirs of the ultra rich.

Death and Facebook

The New York Times recently ran an article about the difficulty Facebook is having preventing its site from prompting users to get back in touch with an old friend....one who has died. It is possible to convert a page to a tribute page, with sufficient proof of death, but it is not widely known about or used. Yet one more thing for a Personal Representative to think about when handling an estate.

Wisconsin's New Power of Attorney for Finance

The Wisconsin Legislature recently passed legislation that will bring changes to Wisconsin's power of attorney for finance law. A nice summary of the law, and its impact, can be found in the June edition of the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine.