With Your Family in Mind

Is it my imagination, or are there more economy-related murder/suicides in the news?  Decades of data suggest that deaths by suicide increase when unemployment increases.  Crisis hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from people citing financial reversals and job loss as reasons for their despair.  Believe it or not, those in the highest income brackets may be the most vulnerable during times like these.

The flu is a contagious disease caused by the influenza virus, which spreads easily from person to person.  Flu symptoms can range from mild to severe, and can also lead to pneumonia.  The flu can be very dangerous to the elderly, so it is important to understand what you can do to keep yourself healthy.

Is a car accident an “accident” if it is avoidable?  By definition, an accident is “an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss.”  As leaders in the driver training industry, we know many car accidents are avoidable and preventable, which makes them a crash not an accident. 

Porter Valley Country Club is the leading family-friendly private country club in the San Fernando Valley.  It is the proud home to a Ted Robinson-designed 18-hole golf course weaving through the homes in Porter Ranch, five tennis courts, a full fitness center with group exercise classes, a heated junior Olympic-size pool, clubhouse with dining and an extensive social calendar.  At Porter Valley, you will find friendly Members, memorable experiences and a home-away-from-home.

The bankruptcy code allows for the forgiveness (“discharge”) of all debt of an individual, except for 19 types of debt specifically listed in the bankruptcy code.  However, the exception is not automatic for all types of debt excepted from discharge.  Here we will cover some of the most common automatic non-dischargeable debt and some of the non-automatic non-dischargeable debt that require action by the creditor.

A level playing field.  That is what the legislature had in mind when it came to attorneys’ fees in family law cases.  Each party has the right to legal representation.  And since the monies from the marriage are community property anyway, the working spouse in a single income family should not be permitted an unfair advantage over the non-working spouse.

Santa Clarita Magazine readers send me questions every day about the voiceover business.  Here’s an interesting one:

Q:  Hi Marc: I’ve admired the articles you’ve written on voice acting, and as someone who is contemplating exploring the voice acting arena I’ve appreciated your valuable insights, wisdom and candor.  I noticed that you said to a singer, “the strength of your voice comes from your diaphragm and not your lungs.”  I’m sorry, but physiologically, the diaphragm is a muscle that (like all muscles) can only move one direction: down.  The sole purpose of that movement is to inflate your lungs with air. 

Who are Foster Children? Foster children are children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse, abandonment or neglect.  In addition, infants who test positive for drugs at birth are detained and placed into foster homes. 

Before making any decision, you need “information.”  When it comes to estate planning, I want my clients to truly understand what they are doing, not just sign a bunch of documents.  In order to understand what you are doing, I think information is key, which is why I offer the following information to anyone who asks for it.  Armed with this information, you can better make the choices you need to make when it comes to properly planning your estate. Also, with this information, you will have an easier time understanding your attorney’s recommendations.

How can you mend a broken heart? 

How can you stop the rain from falling down?

How can you stop the sun from shining?

Over the years I have worked with so many teens I am now a specialist and expert in treating them.
Let’s face it: Teens are a pain in the expletive!  They’re selfish, unappreciative, ungrateful, loud, messy, mean, mouthy, reckless and destructive and I better stop here because this article is limited in space.  I know this because not only do I work with them each and every day; I have one myself who is 15 (Ugh…driver’s license is next… oh, the humanity).

This economy has seen courts dealing more frequently with the question of which spouse receives the house or sale proceeds, or bears the loss of equity.  In the lending frenzy of the last few years, couples eager to get low interest rates accepted recommendations of brokers who suggested that they could get the best loan by only listing one spouse on the loan and title.

Lani Kerness met and married her husband, Bryan, after she graduated from Whittier College.  The couple had tried to have a child for one year and were told that in vitro fertilization would be the next approach to try.  They both thought this procedure was too invasive and decided instead to adopt a child or siblings from the foster care system.

Elder Law is an area of law that caters to the needs of the disabled, the incapacitated, seniors, and the elderly.   Most people think Elder Law only involves the frail elderly – that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Elder Law issues confronted my husband’s 52-year-old cousin, when he recently suffered a major stroke.  His issues were not defined by his age, but rather by his situation.

We are definitely in the midst of a shift in perception; our perceived notion of success is changing.  It is no longer enough to be successful at one’s job.  Success at climbing the corporate ladder didn’t prevent thousands from losing their jobs in the current state of our economy.  Nor is it enough to attain the material successes that were prescribed in the past.  Possessions such as real estate have become disposable as we have seen this past year with the bust of the housing market.   We need to look at success with different eyes; eyes that are attuned to the 21st century market.

The federal tax landscape has undergone a series of changes in the past years.  Prior legislation has left a complicated array of changing tax rates and benefit phase-out levels – to expire in 2010.  The new administration and Congress are quite likely to change all of this.   That leaves taxpayers with considerable uncertainty even before 2010, which makes planning difficult.

As an insurance agent, we’re too often saddened by client losses that could have been prevented.  For example, there are several concerns homeowners commonly neglect that can lead to fires and serious injury.  I would like to share some of the things that you can do to help prevent accidents and disasters in your home.

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” - Iraneus
Artistic expressions like dance, music, sculpture, all the visual arts and the like are great teachers, teaching us rich and varied lessons about God, His intentions in creation and His gift of creativity as it intersects the realm of human experience.
One of the great lessons that dance teaches us is the lesson of form and content.