With Your Family in Mind

Hart High’s award-winning marching band and colorguard, Hart Regiment, received top awards in its first three marching band competitions of the season.
On October 10, the band competed in the West Ranch Wildcat Classic at Valencia High and was tournament sweepstakes winner and earned high music, high visual and high general effect honors from the judges.  The colorguard was also sweepstakes winner.  It was the first time Hart Regiment performed its winter-themed show, “Alpine,” in its entirety.

College marks the beginning of a person’s future as an adult.  It is a time of new possibilities, independence and responsibility.  However, that independence means the student is on their own in navigating a new educational system, setting a course, and coping on a college campus.  Parents are not welcomed to ask questions or give input to their child’s counselor or professor and suddenly the student is fully on their own, whether they are at a local community college or away at a university. 

Divorce is commonly thought of as a state law issue, which means that each state promulgates its own laws regulating divorce.  We live in a highly mobile society and it is relatively easy for people to move from state to state.  A child may be born in New York and move to California with one of its parents.  Questions often arise as to where the divorce action should be filed and in legal terms, which court has jurisdiction to make custody issue determinations.

The City of Santa Clarita recently launched a five-question survey to help residents determine their eligibility for its Residential and Property Rehabilitation Grant Program.  The short “Are You Eligible?” survey, available at santa-clarita.com/housing, allows prospective applicants to determine grant eligibility before completing a longer, more in depth questionnaire.

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.  Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.  — Carl Jung
More than half the numbers of marriages in California end in divorce.  The rate of divorce in second and third marriages is even higher.  The average length of first marriages is about eight years, second marriages about seven years and third marriages a mere three years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).

Whether it’s for your business or personal life, or a combination of both, the answer to simplifying the management of your insurance policies and saving money is far from complicated.  All you need to do is find one agent who is trustworthy and knowledgeable, and provides great service.  If he represents one leading insurance company and provide all or most of the coverage you need through that entity, all the better.  Here’s why.

The holiday season is a time to show compassion and raise the awareness of the need for every child in America to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  With 129,000 children currently in foster care, Children’s Bureau is seeking caring families to consider adoption.  The agency is holding the following monthly information meetings for those interested in learning more:  December 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at the Bethlehem Lutheran church located at 27265 Luther Drive in Canyon Country.

The Mobile Solutions Van from the Braille Institute will be available for the visually impaired at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, December 10, 2009.

While assisted living facilities can be the right decision for some, it may not be the right choice for homeowners who prefer the comforts of home.  And while caregivers can make a big difference, affordability and privacy may be a challenge.  Our goal at Adapted Living is to give individuals and families their independence back. 

Helping Seniors Experience the Joys of the Season

For most people, the holidays represent a wonderful time of year to share the joys of family and friendship.  But for some older adults, this time of year can be extremely difficult. 

Well, here we are in December!  What a year it has been for us all.  I think that as we bring this year to a close, we truly need to take some time to enjoy each other.  It seems that all too often, we get ourselves into a frenzy trying to meet the false expectations of other at this time of year.  Now, in the case of young children, this can hardly be avoided.  However, for the adults and seniors in our lives it does not have to be that way.

One of the most useful, easy to access, inexpensive and misunderstood legal documents is the Power of Attorney.
This document is used to vest another person with the right to do business on behalf of the grantor (i.e., the person who “gives” someone else his/her Power of Attorney).  It creates this right, for either limited or unlimited purposes.
For example:

Imagine waking up one morning with a frozen shoulder where you couldn’t move your upper arm more than a few inches in any direction.  How much would that impact your ability to do your job?  How much would that affect your ability to drive your car or even to dress yourself?  How much would that affect your ability to concentrate on anything other than your shoulder?

She ran the Santa Clarita HalfMarathon and finished first in the “old lady division” as she calls it, taking 12th overall out of 727 women.   She was also the first overall female finisher in the Castaic Mud Run held a few months back.  Dr. Clare Macaulay Lintereur, a Valencia dentist for nearly 15 years, supports numerous athletic and charitable events.  As a mother of six, she still finds time to enjoy the outdoors running and even get a little dirty at the Mud Run. 

Set aside time now to evaluate your tax situation before the window of opportunity closes on December 31.  There are many tax savings moves that can still be done to affect your bottom line for 2009. 

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the midst of the “giving season.”  The time of year, more than any other, when frenetic giving reaches a fever pitch and we are invited, pressured, obligated, and even shamed into spending beyond our means, giving business gifts, bringing treats to parties, hosting holiday events, contributing coats and blankets for the homeless, food for the hungry, toys for the children, care packages for the troops, and volunteering time to worthy causes.  All this is in addition to the heavy demands of daily living that keep most of us busy, and many of us stressed.

What happens to your pet if you become incapacitated or die?  To protect your pets, consider including a provision for your agent under a power of attorney to not only pay your bills while you are incapacitated, but care and pay for the needs of your pet.  The following language can be inserted in your power of attorney:

Students and staff at West Ranch and Golden Valley high schools are happy to be using their newly completed performing arts centers, which were dedicated in recent ceremonies with performances that clearly showed off the state-of-the-art visual equipment and surround sound technologies incorporated into the design.