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Idaho Law Blog

3 Tips on Having the Estate Planning Talk with Your Children

Published on: September 29, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Every generation is different in how they communicate. This is the reason for the name “the silent generation”. It seems that Baby Boomers, and Generation X members, as well as later generations, are much more open and willing to discuss matters than older generations are. This has never been more true than when it comes to discussing your estate plan with your children. Keep in mind that there is no legal requirement that you share anything with your children about your Idaho Estate Plan. However, if you do plan on discussing it with your children, here are 3 tips on how you can discuss your Idaho Estate Plan with your children.

1. It is Your Idaho Estate Plan, Not an Agreement

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Federal Judges Address Overworked District Court, Bankruptcy Among Elderly, and Liberal Ninth Circuit

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

In the 2016 Eastern Idaho Bench Bar Conference held in Fort Hall on September 23, 2016, three federal judges from Idaho addressed current concerns.

First, Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill explained that, based on the current caseload, Idaho needs another federal district judge. Currently, Judge Winmill is Idaho’s sole active federal district judge. Judge Edward J. Lodge, who is 82 years old and intended to reduce his caseload after he took senior status, has continued taking on a significant—but not full—caseload.

To help illustrate the need for a new district judge, Judge Winmill compared the District of Idaho to the Eastern District of Washington, which has essentially the same caseload but six active district judges. The District of Idaho, on the other hand, has approximately 1.7 active judges: he and Judge Lodge. The workload is exhausting.

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If a friend or family member crashes my car, am I liable for the damages?

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Joseph G. Ballstaedt

Let’s suppose you own a truck, and let’s also suppose your neighbor Bill does not. One day, Bill knocks on your door and asks a favor. He just purchased a new couch, and he has no way of transporting it from the furniture store to his house. He asks if you’d be willing to lend him your truck. You’ve known Bill for years and that he’s a good driver, so you say yes. Bill takes your keys and is on his way, and before long, the bad news arrives. While driving to the furniture store, Bill ran a stop sign and broadsided another car. Under these circumstances, can you be held responsible for the damage and injuries Bill has caused?

Yes, under Idaho law, you can be held responsible for Bill’s negligence. Idaho statues explain that if you give another person express or implied permission to use your motor vehicle, and that person negligently crashes while using your vehicle, you are liable for any resulting death, injury, or property damage. However, your liability under these laws of “imputed negligence” is limited by statute to the greater of 1) $50,000 for bodily injuries or deaths to multiple persons (a $25,000 limit applies if only one person is injured or killed) and $15,000 for damage to property or 2) the limits of your liability insurance.

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I’m not receiving child support, what should I do?

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Heidi Buck Morrison

If you are not receiving child support, the first step is getting a child support order in place. This will involve filing a court case to have child support established. In Idaho, child support is calculated based on the Idaho State Child Support Guidelines, a statutory formula, which takes into account a number of factors, including time spent with the child, income of the mother and father, which parent insures the child and the cost of such insurance, and which parent claims the child on his/her taxes. I.R.F.L.P. 126.

If you need assistance getting a child support order in place, the attorneys at Racine Olson can assist you today.

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3 Things to Know About Eviction Notices

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Landlords in Idaho are restricted by specific statutes on their ability to remove their tenants from a rented property. The reason for this is that Idaho lawmakers find it important for individuals to have shelter that cannot be taken away from them easily or quickly. For this reason, Idaho lawmakers have specifically designed statutes that require an eviction notice to be provided to a tenant before they can be evicted or removed from the property. Here are three things you should know about eviction notices.

1. An Eviction Notice Must be in Writing

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3 Things to Know About Pour-Over Wills

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Estate Planning offers many options for individuals and families with simple or with complex estates. Anyone who has looked into creating a living trust has probably heard the term “Pour-Over Will” but few really understand what they are or how they work. After all, if you are interested in creating a Living Trust you likely want to avoid probate and the need for a Will in the first place. 　Here are 3 things to know about a Pour-Over Will.

1. What a Pour-Over Will is

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Employee or Independent Contractor

Published on: September 28, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

It may be surprising to know that many people who are working a job really don’t know whether they are an employee or not. They may think that they are an independent contractor, but may not actually be one according to the law. 　In Moore v. Moore, the Idaho Supreme Court provided some specific guidance on whether a person is in fact an independent contractor or not. Here are the 4 factors the Courts used in its decision.

The first factor that the Court examined was whether there was direct evidence of the employer’s right to control the time, manner, and method of the work. In analyzing this factor, the Commission found that Claimant generally controlled his own work. The Commission analyzed the period of time from the late 1990’s until 2008, and found that at all times before and after the accident, Claimant was an independent contractor who controlled his own work. Moore v. Moore, 152 Idaho 245, 249, 269 P.3d 802, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 12 (Idaho 2011). Shriner v. Rausch, 141 Idaho 228, 108 P.3d 375 (2005), does not stand for the proposition that the Commission cannot consider the course of dealings between the parties when conducting its analysis. Importantly, the Court in Shriner never indicated that the course of dealing could not be considered, but only that the course of dealing did not change the result in that case. If anything, the Court’s statement was an explicit acknowledgement that the course of dealing was properly examined, but that such dealings either supported, or did not contradict, the Court’s ultimate conclusion. Moore v. Moore, 152 Idaho 245, 250, 269 P.3d 802, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 12 (Idaho 2011).

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Small Business 101: Can you form a partnership in Idaho by conduct alone?

Published on: September 27, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Joseph G. Ballstaedt

If you and a friend or family member have started a side business or some type of small money-making venture, you may have inadvertently formed a partnership. To form a partnership in Idaho, partners don’t need to file paperwork with the state of Idaho, form a written partnership agreement, or agree to form a partnership. Rather, under Idaho law, a partnership can form by conduct alone. Specifically, when two or more people get together and run a business as co-owners and share profits, they have formed a partnership, a legal entity separate from their individual entities. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t intend or want to form a partnership; a partnership may nonetheless exist.

As a partner in a partnership, you may have unexpected liabilities. Each individual partner is an agent of the partnership for purposes of the partnership’s business, and when a partner does any normal and expected business work or transactions (acts done “in the ordinary course” or running the partnership), those acts are almost always binding on the partnership, in additional to acts explicitly authorized by all partners. Acts that are binding on the partnership are in turn binding on all individual partners (with limited exceptions) because each individual member to a partnership is usually jointly responsible for the debts, obligations, and liabilities of the partnership.

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The Basic Terms Every Written Lease Agreement Should Contain

Published on: September 27, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Under current Idaho law, a lease agreement can be either oral or written. As attorneys, we always recommend that our clients get a written lease so that there are no misunderstandings about what the terms of the agreement will be. However, just having a written lease agreement alone is not enough unless it contains all the critical information needed to clearly describe what the agreement really is. As is set forth in the Idaho Attorney General’s Landlord and Tenant Guidelines (http://www.ag.idaho.gov/publications/consumer/LandlordTenant.pdf) here is a list of the basic information that should be contained in every written lease agreement between a landlord and a tenant.

1. Contact Information. The names, addresses and telephone numbers of the landlord, the property owner, the tenant and an emergency contact and any other important contacts, such as maintenance personnel. This information provides both parties with a way to contact each other in case of some sort of emergency. This also allows the parties to contact each other if they feel that the terms or conditions of the lease agreement are not being that.

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3 Things to Know About a Minor’s Trust

Published on: September 27, 2016 | by Racine Olson

By Lane V. Erickson

Many of my clients are parents of children who are minors. These parents often ask me how they can transfer property to their children if they are minors at a time when the parents die. These parents raise several serious concerns about who will take care of that property and the timing of it being distributed to the children. A Minor’s Trust is an Estate Planning mechanism that can be used to protect property given to minors and provide for a plan of distribution. Here are three important things to know about a Minor’s Trust.

1. A Minor’s Trust Can be Included in a Last Will and Testament

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