Given the excitement surrounding all things social networking (see FaceBook’s IPO), it’s not surprising that many are looking for ways to raise capital funding through small investments from the masses of internet users. It’s even got a name: crowdfunding. While most agree that crowdfunding is a worthy and inevitable extension of the internet economy, there [...]
Scott Thomas, with Stewardship Matters, is presenting a Social Security workshop at the Maitland Public Library on Thursday, January 26, 2012, and Saturday, January 28, 2012. Click here for details: Social Security Workshop by Stewardship Matters
A big deterrent to business owners’ enforcing their contractual rights is the potential cost of litigation. Including an attorneys’ fees provision in your contacts can help. Typically, an attorneys’ fee provision will state that, in the event of litigation related to the contract, the prevailing party should be awarded his or her attorneys’ fees and [...]
A recent Florida bankruptcy case suggests that adding your spouse to an existing financial account does not result in a tenancy by the entirety (TBE) account. TBE accounts have special treatment when it comes to protection from creditors’ claims: they are not subject to claims against one spouse but not the other. A creditor with [...]
Florida elective share laws are notoriously thorny. The principle is simple: The spouse of deceased Florida resident is guaranteed an inheritance of 30% of the value of the estate–the elective share. What makes this so difficult is determining what should be included in the value of the estate (called the elective estate) and what should [...]
Our Food Packing Event was a huge success! Many of our clients and colleagues gave money or time or both to help us support this worthy cause. We appreciate all of your effort. As a result, we packaged over 8,000 meals to be sent to needy children throughout the world. Wonderful! You can see pictures [...]
In the case of federally recognized marriages (i.e., opposite sex spouses), the surviving spouse is allowed to roll-over the deceased spouse’s 401(k) and IRA balances into an IRA for the surviving spouse. The same is not true for same-sex couples or non-married couples. For them, the best they can have is an inherited IRA.
Hope for the Hungry Who: BrewerLong is partnering with Feeding Children Everywhere, gathering business professionals from all over the Orlando area to make an impact in hungry children’s lives. What: Business professionals and their families will have the opportunity to make a tangible difference by hand-packaging nutritious meals for children. The goal is to rally [...]
Florida’s durable power of attorney law has been updated, effective October 1, 2011. For most people, the new durable power of attorney law will have no effect on their existing Durable Powers of Attorney, which will continue to be effective after October 1, 2011. However, people with so-called “springing” powers of attorney—powers of attorney that [...]
What’s the Big Deal? ERISA. It’s the Federal law that governs most employee benefits plans, including retirement accounts. ERISA prohibits any court order or agreement from dividing employee benefits in connection with divorce, unless the division is according to a qualified domestic relations order (a QDRO). The Must-Haves. Every QDRO must contain: (a) the name [...]