March
22
2010
Yes. In addition to the $13,000 annual Gift Tax exclusion, there is a 100% exclusion when you make direct payments FOR someone’s medical bills or tuition expenses. Both the medical and educational exclusions are allowed without regard to the relationship—so the recipient need not be a close relative or your dependent. The payments must be made directly to the medical care provider or the educational institution. Payments to the recipient cancels the tax benefit. Room and board, supplies, books and other fees do not qualify.
A qualifying educational organization is one that normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of pupils or students.
March
22
2010
You have a right to see the gun and to see the basis for which the cop is stopping you. You’ll need to do some work, but you can also subpoena the calibration records for the gun. In California, for example, if it wasn’t calibrated within the last 10 days of your stop, you win.
March
22
2010
If a person dies without a Will (known as dying “intestate”), his or her property must go through the probate process in order to have the legal title to the property transferred to the heirs at law. The probate court appoints a Personal Representative (frequently called an “Administrator” or “Administratrix”) to receive all claims against the estate, pay creditors, and then distribute all remaining property in accordance with the laws of the state.
March
22
2010
Federal law does not require that employees be given lunch breaks, but many state laws do. In California, for example, the general rule for meal periods is that no person may be employed for a work period of more than five hours without a meal period of not less than 30 minutes. However, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent if a work period of not more than six hours will complete the day’s work. Unless the employee is completely relieved of duty, the meal period must be considered time worked. Also, if employees must eat on the premises, a suitable place for that purpose must be designated.
February
10
2010
I was recently looking for some property on Lake Greeson Arkansas where real estate is very affordable. I love the idea of having a piece of Lake Greeson Real Estate to hang on to forever and pass along to my children, to enjoy. Why is it that there are no houses permitted on certain lakes in Arkansas? Is there anyway that you can start a petition or something to open up a discussion about generating some income to these towns now with lake access and nothing to do with it. Who should I call???
February
9
2010
Hey, Lawyer Wu i just checked in to some life insurance in Texas and need to get a little more information from you on this. Do you have to use a Texas Life Insurance company to write the policy or could I shop it around on the internet? I actually looked into two plans one being a lump sum cancer insurance plan and the other was Texas life insurance?
Absolutely, you may shop your insurance around and find the best provider that serves your local area, they may be located across the states, but play that role well. Just because you live in Texas and you want to buy life insurance in Texas, it can be bought anywhere from a licensed company.
January
4
2010
Unwitting possession means that you possessed a contraband substance without knowing you had it. The classic case is mail carriers – they deliver a package containing cocaine but are not guilty of possessing cocaine because they didn’t know (and had no reason to know) that cocaine was in the package. The other classic case is borrowing someone’s car and the owner had cocaine stashed in the door frame. Some states allow unwitting possession as a defense, some add the ‘had no reason to know’ element, and some don’t specifically recognize the defense at all.
January
4
2010
Yes, but within limits. So long as the copy that you are making is for personal use, and you do not further distribute the material, and you make no “for-profit” use of the material, then you are in a safe haven under federal copyright law. HOWEVER, Congress has just passed a law which makes duplicating sound and visual recordings this way illegal. The record industry and the Video industry are anxious to protect their products. There is a good chance this will be challenged in the courts. Some of the decisions have gone pretty far in finding copyright infringements in cases of what might more traditionally have been deemed free speech. For example, in one case critics of a Church made available on their web site certain publications of the Church. The Church sued for copyright infringement and won some limited victories because it was held that the website publisher might have profited from his site in some way and therefore derivatively from posting the Church materials.
November
29
2009
Who receives the settlement money depends on the laws of your state. In many states, in order for a minor (anyone under the age of eighteen (18) years) to file a claim in court, the claim must be filed through a Guardian Ad Litem. The Guardian Ad Litem, usually one of the minor’s parents, will file suit on behalf of the child and must act for the child’s benefit. All settlements of a minor’s personal injury claim must be approved by a judge in order for the settlement to be valid.
November
29
2009
There are several potential parties you could sue:
(1) The property owner, if poor maintenance of the diving board was the reason it broke. In order to recover damages against the owner, you’d have to show that the board was not safe for usage and the risk of injury was great. To prove this you would want to establish that the pool owner either knew the diving board was unsafe, or should have known the diving board was unsafe.