– Est. –
1927
What Shark Would You Be?
As the child of a marine biologist, I find the Discovery Channel’s shark week especially entertaining. As this year’s shark week winds to a close, I wanted to leave you with this funny post from another funny legal blog. We were debating in the office which sort of shark we would be – I was
How do I Choose the Right Lawyer? Part 1: Finding a Lawyer
At last count, Oregon had around 12,000 active resident lawyers. This is a little over 30 lawyers for every 100,000 residents in the entire state. So, you wouldn’t think that it should be difficult to select a lawyer to help you with your legal questions. However, this is a question that people ask us all
Linden Dollars, Bitcoins, and the brave new (taxable) assets
It is a truism in the world of tax planning that dollars are fungible. That is, if I have two dollars in my wallet, there isn’t much between the dollar that I took out of the bank yesterday and a dollar that I took out of the bank today. If I use them to buy
Refund Opportunities and Joint Returns for Same Sex Couples
Several months ago, I wrote a quick post to alert our readers to potential refund opportunities if the Supreme Court found in favor of Ms. Edie Windsor’s argument that she should be entitled to receive a refund for estate taxes that she had to pay. Ms. Windsor had married her long-time fiancée, Thea Spyer in
Community Service: Junior Achievement
When I was a student at Lake Oswego’s Lakeridge High School, we were required to take a mandatory class on balancing a checkbook. I also had the benefit of learning other personal finance skills from family members, mentors, books, or by trial and error — and through the part time jobs I held in high
Possible refund opportunity: Windsor v. United States
As many of our clients know, the United States Supreme Court is hearing two cases related to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) next week. The high Court will hear oral arguments in Windsor v. United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. If the plaintiff, Edie Windsor, prevails, she will be entitled to a
Are you paying too much property tax?
This is the time of year that most of our clients receive their property tax statements. These statements will show a “Maximum Assessed Value” (“MAV”) and a “Real Market Value” (“RMV”). Oregon taxpayers pay real property taxes based on the lower of MAV or RMV. The MAV number is typically 3% more than MAV for
