In the wake of the Great Recession, which, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, a flurry of federal legislation was enacted to provide support for consumers.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act, which became effective July 21, 2010, was amended to provide for “one-call fraud alerts.”  Under this amendment, if you believe you have become a victim of identity theft, you may call […]

Many high income earners believe they cannot contribute to a Roth IRA because of the income limitations imposed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  There is a backdoor route high income earners can take, however, to accomplish the same thing as opening a Roth IRA directly. For 2014, the income and contribution limits for a Roth IRA are as follows: Filing Status ModifiedAdjusted Gross Income ContributionLimit Married, Filing Jointly ˂ $181,000 Up to […]

As a result of the recent Supreme Court ruling to uphold the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), there will be some tax effects for workers and recipients of investment income. Beginning in 2013, an additional 0.9% in Medicare taxes are assessed on wages in excess of $200,000 for single filers, and $250,000 for married, filing jointly, or $125,000 each when married and filing separately. Further, […]

Firearms:  Open Carry is Legal in Michigan  Earlier this year Nicholas Looman walked into Aderdeen Elementary School in Grand Rapids, Michigan to vote wearing his holstered pistol on his hip.  The school officials contacted the police, and Mr. Looman was arrested for bringing a firearm into a school.  Later, William Forsythe, the Kent County Prosecutor, issued a statement that Mr. Looman had done nothing illegal because he possessed a valid […]

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Health Care Act as a Tax and Places a Cap on the Commerce Clause The United States Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare” as a tax, but not as a permissible federal power under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. This means the federal government may use the Commerce Clause to regulate activity that affects interstate commerce, but not inactivity, […]

U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Pharmaceutical Representatives are Not Entitled to Receive Overtime Pay At first glance, the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court seems to be fairly obvious and straight-forward: Pharmaceutical representatives have been restored to their previous classification as “outside sales employees” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), meaning they are exempt from the statute’s requirements regarding minimum wages and overtime pay. However, this case […]

The Michigan Supreme Court has discarded the 36-year-old doctrine that once prevented insurance companies from denying claims based on fraudulent statements made in an insured’s application.  Previously, the law stated that an insurer could not deny liability in the event of fraud found on an insured’s application if the fraud would have been “easily ascertainable” by the insurer.  Now, fraud, if proven, can serve as a complete bar to recovery.  Insurance […]

We have all heard the probate horror stories. A Will took five years to be probated, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees. All of the assets from someone else’s estate were stolen by the personal representative (executor), leaving the family with nothing. The probate judge was unfair. Such stories instill fear about probate administration, which can lead to estate planning decisions with unintended consequences. The following is a listof the top ten […]

Pension plans are quickly disappearing in both the public and private sectors.   As a result, traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and defined contribution plans under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code (401ks) will most likely become the most significant assets in many estate plans. These assets are typically “qualified,” meaning that the money is deposited into these retirement accounts on a pre-tax basis, with the income taxes being collected upon […]