A condo resident can file a lawsuit after he slipped on snow and ice while taking out his trash, according to the state Appeals Court. After a 16-inch snowfall, a landscaping company hired by the condo association plowed out the area. However, it plowed a large pile of snow up against the dumpster. The resident attempted to make his way through the snow in order to dispose of his garbage. He slipped and fractured his wrist,
Staples, the office-supply retailer, can be sued for firing an employee and then sending a mass e-mail to other employees saying why it fired him. That’s the word from the federal appeals court in Boston. The employee can sue Staples for “libel” … even if what it said about him was true. In most states, truth is a defense to libel. But Massachusetts is unusual. In Massachusetts, it’s illegal even to broadcast the truth about someone
A brand new law in Massachusetts will make many changes in the way people’s estates are handled. The “Uniform Probate Code,” signed into law by Gov. Patrick, includes the following new rules for what happens if someone dies without a will: In many cases, an estate representative can begin distributing assets to heirs before getting a formal court judgment. If the dead person’s spouse is raising young children from the marriage, the spouse will in most
A majority – some 53% – of individual landlords make mistakes on their federal income tax when it comes to reporting rental income and expenses, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That means that out of about 8.9 million individual landlords in the country, nearly 5 million aren’t paying the correct tax. And of those 5 million, fully a quarter paid too much tax and should have had a lower tax bill,
Many older people who are concerned that they will someday be incapacitated protect themselves with a power of attorney. This document gives someone else the right to make decisions for you if you can’t make them yourself. But what if a person who can no longer make decisions doesn’t have a power of attorney – or the power of attorney isn’t enough to protect them for some reason?
A dog or a cat can be a member of the family, but what happens to this family member after you’re gone? How can you ensure that your dog, cat or other pet will be cared for? You can give directions in your will to leave your pet to a caretaker. But there is no guarantee that the caretaker will continue to care for the pet.
A retirement community can force one of its residents to move from a private apartment to a smaller assisted-living unit, a federal court has ruled. Sally Herriot, 90, is a resident of Channing House, a continuing care retirement community in Palo Alto, California. Like many such communities, Channing House provides three levels of care – independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing. After moving to the facility with her now-deceased husband in 1991, Ms. Herriot lived
Picking a retirement plan beneficiary is a key step in estate planning. Every year we hear about people who lost out on enormous tax savings by picking the wrong beneficiary. So how do you decide whom to pick? Most married people will choose their spouse. This is usually a good idea because the spouse can take distributions from the plan if he or she needs the money. The spouse can also roll the account over into
With the stock market down significantly, some parents are looking at safer ways to save for a child’s college education. Prepaid 529 plans offer parents (and other family members) the opportunity to lock in tuition at today’s rates. Up until now, traditional 529 savings plans have been more popular. These traditional plans allow parents or other family members to invest money for a child’s education tax-free, usually in mutual funds. But prepaid plans are gaining ground
All of us are affected by the economic recession, but you should know that certain estate planning techniques become must more valuable when asset prices plunge – so this is a good time to take advantage of them. Some of the best estate planning ideas involve giving a partial interest in your assets to your heirs now, while retaining effective control over the assets. The idea is to get these interests out of your estate now
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