Having spoken to many Estate Planning clients I’ve come to find that there really are 3 main reasons people procrastinate getting their Estate Planning done. Knowing why we procrastinate our Estate Planning can help us avoid any further delay and can help us focus on getting it done. The purpose of this article is to explain the three main reasons for procrastinating and to show why these reasons really are not valid.
1. Estate Planning is Too Expensive: False
Summer is nearly over, fall is in the air, and kids are headed back to school. Here are some ways to take the worry out of whether your children are safe.
First, select the right backpack for your child. Children seem to have more and more school supplies. In addition, they get books at school and more papers. It would be easy just to get backpack with the latest superhero, the coolest colors, or the cheapest one. Remember however, this is the backpack that will need to last throughout the entire school year. You want it to last. Second, make sure it has reflective materials on it. As the daylight hours get shorter and darkness comes faster, it is important to make sure that everyone can see your child.
By Fred J. Lewis
The Idaho legislature has provided the structure for how the claims of injured Idaho workers are adjudicated. There are three commissioners appointed by the Governor of the state of Idaho for 6 year terms. First, there is an appointment made by the Governor for a Commissioner that comes from the labor community. R.D. Maynard? is a former AFL-CIO Union representative who was appointed as the employee Idaho Industrial Commissioner. Second, there is an appointment made by the Governor for a commissioner that is a lawyer. Thomas P. Baskin is a highly experienced worker’s compensation lawyer who was appointed as the lawyer Idaho Industrial Commissioner. Third, there is an appointment made by the Governor for a Commissioner that comes from the employer community. Thomas E. Limbaugh is a former orchard owner who was appointed as the employer Idaho Industrial Commissioner. These three Idaho Industrial Commissioners must approve all decisions and settlements reached in Idaho Worker’s Compensation cases.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that provides minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections to covered, nonexempt employees. Employees who are “engaged in commerce” are covered employees. 29 U.S.C.S. § 206(a). An employee is engaged in commerce if he or she performs work “involving or related to the movement of persons or things” between state lines or overseas. See 29 CFR 779.103. However, the term commerce is defined so broadly under federal law that the FLSA covers almost every employee in Idaho. See 29 CFR 776.8. For example, the following employees are deemed to be engaged in commerce:
Real estate agents are a great asset when you sell your home. They can help you determine an appropriate price, market and show your home to potential buyers, negotiate the sales contract, and help you avoid problems and hiccups along the way. However, a real estate agent is not required, and some homeowners successfully sell their home without one.
The main reason people sell their homes “For Sale By Owner” is to avoid paying a real estate agent commission—typically six percent (6%) of the purchase price in Idaho. These savings are considerable, but they do not come without effort and risk. In addition to advertising and showing your home, it may take longer to find a buyer, and the ultimate sales price may be less than what a real estate agent could have obtained. If you feel comfortable with these challenges, consider the following advice.
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney
We all think that we are going to live a long life. We just can’t conceive the notion that our life could come to a premature end. However, a recent headline grabbed my attention and helped me realize once again the urgent need we all have to complete our Estate Planning to protect our children. The headline:
11 Children Left Behind!
By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney
There is a common misconception in Idaho that a surviving spouse is not required to go through the probate process. I suppose most people assume that the surviving spouse is somehow automatically entitled to receive and own all of the decedent’s property. The truth though is that property does not automatically transfer to the surviving spouse. The decedent is entitled to give his property away in his Last Will and Testament to whomever he wants which could include the surviving spouse, children, charities or even strangers. Unless special steps are taken to avoid probate, Idaho’s statutes and its courts require nearly all estates to be probated. There are, however, 3 ways you can avoid a Probate in Idaho.
1. Small Estate and No Real Property
By Fred J. Lewis
In 1917, the workers of the state of Idaho got some good news. The Idaho legislature passed the Idaho worker’s Compensation Act. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the Idaho Worker’s Compensation Act. The grand bargain that was struck between employers and laborers centered on the requirement to prove fault on the part of the employer in order to recover. In exchange for sure and certain relief, the injured workers of Idaho traded their ability to bring negligence actions against their employer and the Idaho Worker’s Compensation claim became their sole remedy.
The Idaho Worker’s Compensation Act is a no fault exclusive remedy by an injured worker against their employer. The Act was never intended to make an injured worker whole. However, it at least provides a subsistence amount of benefits that lessens the sting of devastating injuries that happen at work. Specifically, it provides the following:
By: Randy Budge, T.J. Budge
On June 30, 2015, a historic settlement agreement was entered into between groundwater users and surface water users to permanently end conflict over use and management of Idaho’s vast Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA). Nearly the size of Lake Erie, the ESPA supplies water to roughly two million acres of farmland and dozens of cities and industries across southern Idaho. About half of that farmland is irrigated with groundwater pumped from the ESPA while the other half is irrigated with surface water from the Snake River that is supplemented with groundwater that discharges from the ESPA into the Snake River via springs located primarily in the American Falls and Thousand Springs areas. The settlement resolved more than a decade of contentious litigation between surface water and groundwater users. It calls for increased aquifer recharge funded by the State of Idaho and diversion reductions by groundwater users designed to stabilize and over time improve groundwater levels
Groundwater levels in the ESPA have been declining since the 1950s due the conversion from flood to sprinkler irrigation, the advent of groundwater irrigation, and persistent drought. As groundwater levels declined, so have spring discharges from the ESPA into the Snake River, thus reducing the water supply available to senior surface water rights. This spawned a meteoric conflict as canal companies in the Magic Valley and fish hatcheries in the Thousand Springs area called on the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) to shut off junior groundwater pumping in an effort to increase spring and surface water flows.
By Fred J. Lewis
Good news for injured Idaho workers. In Hackworth v. Super 8 and Employers Workers Compensation Co., the Claimant injured her left wrist as she was lifting a box. A local orthopedic surgeon performed four surgeries on her left wrist. Claimant was able to return to work at or near her pre-injury wage. Therefore, she had little or no wage loss. However, her treating orthopedic surgeon gave her no permanent restrictions. Claimant was also seen by Dr. Bates, a physical medicine doctor from Meridian, Idaho, who believed she should have restrictions of 30 lbs. lifting, with no forceful gripping, and no pronation or supination of her wrist. The Commission was convinced that after four surgeries to her wrist the Claimant really should have some restrictions to prevent further injury to her wrist. In deciding that the Claimant was entitled to disability in excess of employment, the Commission stated the following:
Due to her functional limitation , her options for employment are more limited than younger, non-disabled workers who have more than high school educations and more transferable skills. It is important to note in particular the fact that due to the weakness of left hand, Claimant can no longer safely perform child care work, one of her most frequent past occupations, which is demonstrative of her reduced employability. The evidence, therefore, does not support Defendants’ contention that, merely because Claimant has had continuous employment since her industrial injury and has suffered no wage loss, she has also not suffered any disability in excess of impairment.
Idaho Law Blog
