After much wrangling and politics, on December 17th, President Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, otherwise known as “TRA 2010.”  The law did many things: Temporarily extended the Bush-era income tax cuts, Temporarily extended the program extending unemployment insurance benefits, Temporarily cut employee’s FICA tax by 2%, […]

Reproductive technology has advanced so rapidly that legal answers are being demanded for questions that we wouldn’t have conceived of asking a generation ago. Questions like, Who gets to decide what happens to a woman’s frozen eggs after her death? Should a wife be able to harvest sperm from her dead husband’s body in order […]

At Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral, Glenn Bergenfield, a close family friend who presented a eulogy, said that in her final days, as he looked around the Edwards household for any guidance she had regarding funeral arrangements, he found none. Since she was such a detailed planner, he thought surely she would have left copious notes. Bergenfield […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAmerican Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys Announces Initial Consultation Training with Guru Ganesha Khalsa SAN DIEGO, December 17, 2010 – What happens in Vegas could transform estate planning attorneys’ practices: On February 12, 2011 at the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas, nationally renowned sales trainers Guru Ganesha Khalsa and Frank […]

If you prepare any tax returns, you will need a PTIN beginning in 2011. A “PTIN” is a Preparer Tax Identification Number. Anyone who prepares tax returns for others needs a PTIN for any tax return he or she signs off on beginning on January 1, 2011. This new requirement appears in code section 6109(a)(4) […]

In his recent blog entry here (Nov. 24), Steve Hartnett, the Academy’s Associate Director of Education, reminds us that sometimes the basic things you do for clients are the most important — in this case, drafting healthcare directives to express and protect clients’ medical wishes. Steve’s right. These documents (HCPOAs, living wills) are basic – […]

It seems almost every day we hear about another couple breaking up. Recently Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria filed for divorce from basketball star Tony Parker. This underscores the importance of taking divorce into consideration when doing estate planning. Even if clients are blessed with a long-term, happy marriage, there are protections that the prudent […]

The Academy recently launched a full-out Social Media and Search Engine Optimization Program as an option for Members. It took off like a shot and we have roughly half of the Membership focusing on being on page one of Google searches for all the estate planning related searches that consumers make looking for solutions to […]

Many People Wonder: Why does restarting the computer resolve so many issues? What kind of magic happens while the computer reboots? Many times when someone has a problem with their computer, the first thing that any tech support person will tell them is to restart their computer. Most people think the tech is just trying […]

In consulting with one of our Peak Performer Members, a common issue came up. How often does this happen to you? You’re in a meeting with a staff member… one of several meetings you have scheduled for the day. You anticipated that it would take thirty minutes at the most. Unfortunately, your employee happens to […]