With Your Family in Mind

In a decision filed on February 27, last year, the Court of Appeal of California reversed the orders of the trial court, wherein the court had included Respondent’s depreciation of his rental properties as an expense, in calculating his net income available for child support.

Some people see the wisdom of estate planning when it comes to probate avoidance or saving taxes.  However, estate planning can serve other purposes as well.  Every client has goals and each estate plan can be drafted to help meet those goals.

One of my recent clients came to me after just having gone through a divorce.  He had about $200,000 in assets and some life insurance. 

One of the most important tasks in divorce is the creation of an agreement that describes the arrangement between parents and their minor children.  This agreement is called a parenting plan.  The plan addresses issues of custody and visitation. 

When should you hire a financial planner and for what purpose?  Should it just be for an hour or two every couple of years when a specific question or need arises?  Or should you develop a long-term relationship with a planner that entails regular consultation and planning across the spectrum of your financial life?

Santa Clarita Magazine readers continue to send in great questions about the voiceover business.  Here’s the most recent one:

Dianna Theresa had considered adopting a child for quite some time.  Then while driving to work one day, she noticed four Children’s Bureau billboards asking for foster and adoptive parents.  For days she passed by the billboards and in her heart knew that it was time for her to make a call to Children’s Bureau.  

Alan Shawn Feinstein, founder of the Feinstein Foundation, is giving $1 million dollars to hunger-fighting agencies throughout the country.  Hunger Defense Fund invites you to join us in this effort to support the needy in our community. 

Can you feel it in the air?  No it’s not springtime yet, but it is the perfect time to make the switch from your old PC to a new Mac.  Apple Inc. is perhaps the hottest company right now as far as personal computing goes. 

If you are one of the thousands of people in Santa Clarita who have been given a free bottle of water on your way out of the gym, a free newspaper as you board the Metrolink or free candy while you watch the Christmas tree lighting, you have probably wondered, “Who are these people?”  Well, that would be us.  Real Life Church is a group of people who truly want to serve, rather than be served.  It’s our hope to show God’s love in a practical way.

The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States is $75,190 a year, or $206 a day, according to the 2006 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home and Home Care Costs.  This is a 3.9 percent increase over last year, when the average daily rate for a private room in a nursing home was $74,095 a year, or $203 a day, according to MetLife.  In Los Angeles, the average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home is $199 a day.

Under California law, employers with two or more full-time employees, including the owner are guaranteed group coverage should they choose to purchase it, regardless of the health status of the employees. 

The other day at work I walked by a pond in our complex, and lo and behold, there was a Great Egret standing in all its beauty and serenity looking, I am guessing, for lunch.  I felt blessed to see this beautiful bird looking like something out of a Japanese watercolor.

1.  Understand that young people, like all of us, are doing the best they know how to do with what they have to work with.  When they have more options available to them, they will make better choices.  You, as the adult, are the teacher, which means that your child will model you.  If you are flexible and open to learning new ways of thinking and behaving, your child will be open as well.

Most elderly persons want to be independent and remain in their homes as long as possible.  Many times, they resent their adult children trying to help them.  In the elderly parents mind, they are still independent and completely able to handle their own affairs.  Mom resents her daughter suggesting it is time for an assisted-living facility.  Dad resents his son’s insistence that dad is an unsafe driver and the car must be sold. 

More and more senior citizens are living together without getting married.  According to the U.S. census data, the number of cohabitating seniors nearly doubled between 1989 and 2000.  For some seniors, marriage isn’t financially worthwhile because they do not want to lose their former spouse’s military, pension or Social Security benefits. 

A group of at-risk kids recently visited The Gentle Barn for the Peace Enhancement Program.  The children were excited about being with the animals, except one boy named Billy.  He looked so defensive.  You could almost see the anger oozing out of him.

A revocable living trust is a particularly useful estate-planning device.  If drafted and funded properly, it can help insure the implementation of our wishes for the after-death disposition of our property while avoiding probate and possibly federal estate tax.

Kids have so many opportunities to learn and, believe it or not, they learn a lot through play.  Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) is celebrating learning through play with its 11th Annual Annabelle’s Play Day event.