Congress passed the “Stephen Beck Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience” Act in 2014 to expand the types of assistance available to help disabled individuals maintain health, independence and quality of life without interfering with access to means-tested government benefits. The most beneficial change to result from these legislative efforts was the establishment of 529 […]
The US Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair. Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, et al. In 2016, South Dakota passed a law that requires out of state vendors to collect its sales tax if those vendors had: (1) $100,000 of sales into the […]
Large and small heavy equipment rental providers throughout the state of Oregon recently scored a huge victory when Governor Brown signed HB 4139 into law earlier last month. The new law replaces Oregon’s existing personal property tax system for heavy equipment with a 2 percent tax on every heavy equipment rental transaction starting in 2019. While many states have either eliminated personal property tax or have exempted certain manufacturing and construction businesses from ad valorem property tax, Oregon was one of the few remaining that offered no relief or reform of any kind for heavy equipment rental providers. Critics often cited the compliance costs associated with the business personal property tax as complex and burdensome in a way that discouraged many companies from accurately reporting. The old system was a location-based tax, meaning that a company would be taxed on heavy machinery it owned based on where it was sitting on January 1 of that year. Heavy equipment rental businesses often rent their equipment out all over the state and beyond, so tracking location of constantly moving equipment for tax purposes proved difficult and also created the potential of requiring companies to pay additional tax in multiple counties or states on the same equipment where assessment dates varied.
In late April I attended a Portland Women in Leadership symposium, “Women Blazing Trails, presented by The Pacific Northwest Diversity Council”. The five speakers and moderator were both educational and inspiring, and when listening to how intelligence, emotions and adaptability are an important combination for strong and successful leadership, it dawned on me that one should be looking for that same recipe when choosing a lawyer. Learning more about this alphabet soup of intelligence and ability puts a new focus on the characteristics you may want for your legal team.
A recent article broke down the often daunting and ignored tasks that make for good planning decisions when you or a loved one ages – – well in advance of when one’s ability to make such decisions may be taken away by changing physical or mental health – or the involvement of a court, in some cases. The article breaks it down into three categories.
As with many important decisions in our lives, knowledge is power, so arm yourselves accordingly. Naturally, the legal documents to effectuate your ultimate decisions are also a necessary part of the planning process, so make sure your estate planning attorney knows your plan, to make sure everything is in place to meet your legal needs.
The 2018 edition of Administering Trusts in Oregon is set to be released this month, and many of the authors are familiar. Of the prestigious group of contributors for this new edition, Samuels Yoelin Kantor was well represented. Attorneys Eric Wieland, Walker Clark, Caitlin Wong, and Valerie Sasaki were all contributing authors, and both Stephen Kantor and Jeffrey Cheyne, prior to his passing, were editors for this edition.
The new version of Administering Trusts in Oregon is a guide for lawyers in the areas of estate planning, elder law, family law, and general practice. This is the first update since the last edition was released in 2012.
