February Fraud Alert from Denver DA

The Denver DA’s office sends out a "Fraud Alert" each month. This month, they caution that "The most common tax fraud this time of year is committed by perpetrators who use stolen identities to file tax returns in the hopes of collecting tax refunds. However, not all identity thieves have financial motives in mind. Stolen Social Security numbers are also used by perpetrators or others with questionable backgrounds to get a job." They note that perpetrators will send e-mails or call saying they are from the IRS and asking for Social Security numbers and other information. The IRS never contacts taxpayers in this way. The alert also tells taxpayers to be sure to use a password to protect your tax return electronic file, and then save it to a disk and delete it from your hard drive. To see other Fraud Alerts, go to Fraud Alerts.

“Temporary” Reduction in Probate Filing Fees

Effective January 23, 2012, the Colorado Supreme Court has temporarily reduced filing fees in court actions, including probate matters. At least temporarily, the fee for filing an application or petition for probate is $127 instead of $164, and the fee for filing a trust registration statement is $126 instead of $163. The fee for certifying Letters is also reduced from $20 to $13. While the directive on the Supreme Court website says that the reduction is temporary, it does not say when the fees will go back up to prior levels. See Filing Fees.

Estate Planning Basic Skills 2012

Laurie Hunter will be presenting at the Colorado Bar Association's Continuing Legal Education seminar entitled "Denver Estate Planning Basic Skills 2012" on March 1, 2012. Laurie's presentation will focus on Planning for Married Clients and Larger Estates: Yours, Mine and Ours - Second Marriages and Blended Families, Using Contingent Trusts for Children or Grandchildren, Planning for Problem Adult Children, Non-Tax Considerations When Planning the Larger Estate Such as Distributions of Business Interests, Etc., Which Tax Apportionment Clause is Appropriate, Married with Children.

Portability: Mechanics, Compliance and Risks

Josie Faix is presenting a seminar entitled, "Portability: Mechanics, Compliance and Risks" on behalf of the Trust & Estate Section of the Colorado Bar Association on February 7, 2012 at the CBA offices at 1900 Grant Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado. Josie will focus on compliance and exposure issues related to what has been trumpeted by some in the media as one of the most significant estate planning benefits of Sections 302(a)(1) and 303(a) of The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.

Estate Planning - Being Mindful of Divorce

There are some lessons to be learned in the estate planning context to help protect family assets from claims of a spouse of a child or other relative in a dissolution proceeding.

Property is characterized as either "marital" property or "separate" property. Generally separate property is allocated 100% to the party who owns it. Fortunately, from an estate planning perspective, separate property includes property which is received by gift or inheritance. The earnings on and appreciation in value of separate property is, however, characterized as marital property. In general, all property which is not separate property is characterized as marital property and is subject to division by the divorce court. Colorado is a so-called "equitable" division state which means that marital property does not have to be divided equally, but may be divided on a non-pro rata basis determined to be equitable by the court. One basis for an unequal division may be the disproportionate value of separate property owned by one of the parties.

One risk is that property which might otherwise be characterized as separate property may lose that status if it becomes commingled with marital property or otherwise cannot be traced to its separate property source.

For more information on this topic, including some general guidelines, see our December 2011 newsletter.

Colorado Advocates Push For Mandatory Reporting Law for Elder Abuse

American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging reports that Colorado is currently one of only four states without a mandatory reporting law for elder abuse for social workers, physicians and other care occupations. Advocates for the elderly have been working to pass a law that would require social workers, physicians and others to report suspected abuse of at-risk adults. Over the last thirteen years, multiple mandatory-reporting bills have been sent to legislative committees, where the bills languish. One bill made it to the Governor’s desk in 2005, but then Governor Bill Owens vetoed the bill. Advocates of mandatory reporting plan to introduce another bill on this issue in the 2012 legislative season. Many in the elder care community are in favor of such a law, but are cautious when it comes to the consequences. Dora-Lee Larson, executive director of the Denver Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, said she supports the law, as long as it is accompanied by funding so caseworkers have the resources to meet expanded need.

International Network of Boutique Law Firms

Wade Ash Woods Hill & Farley, P.C. is a member of The International Network of Boutique Law Firms ("INBLF"). INBLF is an organization of highly credentialed single-discipline (boutique) law firms, each of which, after a great deal of research, has been identified and hand-selected as prominent in each firm's respective field of practice.

Each member firm practices, and has achieved preeminence, in only one or two specific substantive areas of practice, none of which overlaps with any other member firm's area of expertise in that specific geographic market. The INBLF is organized such that individual chapters have been established in every significant city and geographic market throughout the United States and Canada, thereby ensuring that all major practice areas in every major market are covered by a highly credentialed INBLF member.

The purpose of the INBLF, among other things, is to ensure that each firm's clients will receive only the very highest quality legal representation -- irrespective of the nature of the legal issue or the jurisdiction in which it arises -- should that client elect to retain an INBLF member for legal counsel or assistance.

Yes, There is an App for That

Facebook now has an application (commonly referred to as an "app") called "If I Die" that allows a user to post a final message on his or her Facebook wall when the user dies. A user selects three "trustees" who are Facebook friends that will verify the death of the user. After the trustees confirm the user’s death, Facebook posts the user’s "If I Die" message. Eran Alfonta, the app’s co-founder, said the app was created because "[w]e all have things to say and don’t necessarily have the audience with the patience to hear us. Actually we all want to leave something behind, we all want to leave a stamp behind us." For now, the app posts the "If I Die" message on the user’s public profile page, but the creators are working on changes to the app which will give users the ability to send non-public messages, even to non-Facebook users. The number of app users is expected to hit 100,000 within a couple of months.
　
See If I Die: Facebook App Lets You Leave Sweet Last Words, Mashable Social Media, Jan. 6, 2012.

Colorado Lawyer of the Year

Marc Darling was recently named the 2012 Colorado Lawyer of the Year in Litigation - Trusts & Estates Law by U.S. News - Best Lawyers®.

Wade Ash Woods Hill & Farley, P.C. Named Best Law Firm in Colorado

Wade Ash Woods Hill & Farley, P.C. was recently named Best Law Firm in Colorado by U.S. News - Best Lawyers^® for the following practice areas:

Trusts & Estates Law
Litigation-Trusts & Estates Law