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Roberson Law Staff Receive Two Prestigious Awards
For the second time in seven years, our firm was chosen as a finalist for the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Eclipse Integrity Award.
This award is one of the most difficult for a business to receive because of the rigorous process that a business has to go through after being nominated for the award. We estimate that about 40 hours of work went into submitting all of the evidence and substantiation to the BBB to prove that we operate with integrity and abide by strict ethical standards.
We thank all of our clients and peers who submitted testimonials on our behalf, but we especially thank our clients and cherished friends Pam Walker, Mike Crawford, and Kim Vesey, who came to our office and gave live testimonials about our firm to the BBB Eclipse Integrity Award judges. We are truly humbled by all of the support we received throughout the award nomination process, for we couldn't have become a finalist without the help of everyone who participated.
The second honor was received by our probate paralegal for the past 16 years, Jennifer Burkitt, who for the second year in a row was given a reputable award for her work in our profession. At the 2017 Law Day on May 1st, Jennifer was presented the award for 2017 Outstanding Paralegal by Montgomery County Clerk of Courts, Gregory Brush.
Jennifer was honored alongside notable attorneys in Dayton who were also given awards. Last year, Jennifer was given the award as the Paralegal of the Year by Sinclair College, so we feel extremely blessed to have had Jennifer's accomplishments recognized for two years in a row.
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Clients of the Month 
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| The clients of the month for May are the dear McElroy family. The McElroys were an absolute delight to work with not only because of their cheerful attitude and warm disposition, but also because they were so thorough with completing the estate planning "homework" that we gave them to do. They followed instructions, met deadlines, and did what they said they were going to do with regard to their estate planning goals. In summary, the McElroys made our job very easy. Thank you to Eddie, Della, Delores, and Angela McElroy for being a joy to serve! |
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News You Can Use
In This Issue:
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Roberson Law Staff Receive Two Prestigious Awards
- Recent Changes In Ohio Probate Laws
- One Attorney's Case Against Do-It-Yourself Estate Planning
- Think You're In A Common Law Marriage?
- Character Matters
- Trump And The Death Tax
- Elder Care Corner: Alzheimer's Patients URGENT Need For Legal Documents
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Clients Of The Month
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Upcoming Grief Support And Resources
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Need A Speaker For Your Next Event?
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New Office Hours In June Because It's A Girl!
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Recent Changes In Ohio Probate Laws 
Ohio House Bill 432, which went into effect on April 6, 2017, made some changes to Ohio's laws that are worth noting. Below are just a few highlights of this bill:
1. Ohio law previously allowed a surviving spouse to receive two automobiles valued at $40,000 or less without taking the vehicles through probate. Under the new law, a surviving spouse may now claim an unlimited number of vehicles having a total combined value of no more than $65,000.
2. The Ohio Transfers to Minors Act has been changed to allow distributions to a beneficiary to be deferred through a custodial account until age 25. (Previously, distribution was required to be made at age 21.) This is a great way to protect young adult beneficiaries from quickly blowing through an inheritance.
3. For our clients who serve as guardian of a ward through the probate court, there has been a very favorable change relating to the sale of the ward's real estate. A guardian is now able to sell a ward's real estate without going through the process of a land sale, which is often a long and expensive court proceeding, if the ward's spouse and "all persons entitled to the next estate of inheritance" consent to the sale of the real estate. More simply put, this means the ward's spouse and next of kin or beneficiaries under a will, if any, must consent to the sale of the real estate.
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One Attorney's Case Against Do It Yourself Estate Planning by Kim Estess, Attorney at Law Everywhere you turn these days, it seems you hear another advertisement for a company that can help you set up a simple will online, from the comfort of your own home. As an estate planning attorney, it's pretty common for friends or acquaintances to say to me, "We need to get a will. Can we do it ourselves or do we need to use an attorney?"
Regardless of the people asking, their financial situation, their marital status, or whether or not they have kids, my answer is going to be the same every time...
Read the rest of the article
here.
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Strata Leadership is a company that focuses on a character quality each month, with the sole purpose of building character in organizations. Our office has subscribed to the Strata Leadership monthly bulletins for years as a tool to promote character within our law firm.
The character quality highlighted this month is humility.
According to Strata Leadership, the definition of humility is, "Recognizing the people and factors that have shaped my life. The act of humility creates a feeling of trust and approachability. It also engenders openness and good will on the part of others.
The action plan for practicing humility is:
1) Share the credit.
2) Ask for help.
3) Serve others.
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
-Micah 6:8
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Trump And The Death Tax
One of the issues that President Trump will mostly likely tackle this year is
tax reform pertaining to estate tax legislation, a topic of interest for estate planning attorneys. Estate tax repeal is one of the actions on the horizon due to House Republicans' desire to "eliminate the estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer tax, so that the death of a family member or loved one will no longer be a taxable event;" however, the 40% death tax affects only a minuscule number of people (individuals who die with $5.49 million and married couples who die with $10.98 million in 2017).
Changes in Medicaid are also on the horizon, so people who foresee that they will be applying for Medicaid in the near future need to be aware of how the program changes may affect their eligibility. Right now, we know that the Republicans are proposing that more of the costs of Medicaid be shifted to the states. Doing so could affect how much each state will be able to pay on behalf of recipients, which could eventually affect the eligibility requirements for Medicaid. As usual, we advise our clients to always seek legal counsel when devising a plan for long-term care provided by Medicaid. One wrong move with regard to asset transfers and gifting could disqualify a person from being approved for Medicaid in the future.
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Think You're In A Common Law Marriage?
Very few states adhere to the legality of common law marriage. Ohio is not one of them unless the common law marriage was created before 1991. After that date, in Ohio, if you want to gain all of the economic and legal benefits of being married, you must go through the formal process of getting married.
A myth that many people believe is that common law marriages are automatically recognized after 7 years of cohabitation. We couldn't definitively determine how the figure of 7 years was ever concocted, but nevertheless it is the figure that people often incorrectly assume is the "magic number." In Ohio, the magic number is 26 or more years as of this date.
So you are probably wondering why a firm that practices estate planning and probate law, and not family law, cares about the topic of common law marriage? The answer is simply because the validity of the marriage comes into play when determining how assets are distributed in a decedent's estate, especially when a will doesn't exist at death. That is why we ask all of our clients to provide us with a copy of their marriage certificates before we draft their estate planning documents.
According to an article that www.NOLO.com published about common law marriage, "Courts most often apply the rules of common law marriage in situations where one partner dies without a will and the other claims there was a common law marriage so as to inherit property under
intestate succession laws.
These laws automatically give a share of property to a spouse but don't recognize an unmarried partner."
In summary, if you desire for your partner to inherit your assets at your death, then your estate planning documents need to reflect your wishes. Without a will and a valid marriage, your longtime partner could be disinherited, and your assets could instead be distributed to your next-of-kin upon your death.
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If this is the first time that you have seen this picture, then you must not be our fan on Facebook!
Although our newsletter goes out only once a quarter, we make posts to our Facebook page once a week. That means liking our page gives you weekly access to what is going on at our firm.
We post everything from pictures of staff members to articles about the latest topics in our area of law.
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New Office Hours In June Because It's A Girl!
For the month of June only, our office will be closing at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. This is due to the birth of Attorney Kim Estess' baby girl Abigail Lee on May 8, 2017! Unless there is an emergency appointment that is scheduled for Nancy Roberson on Fridays, Kim is the only attorney who works in our office on Fridays. That being the case, due to Kim's maternity leave, there will not be any attorneys at our office on Fridays during the month of June. We will still have our administrative staff and 3 paralegals in the office until 1:00 p.m. on Fridays. We will continue to be open from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday. Our normal Friday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. will resume in July.
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| All material in this newsletter is Copyright © 2017 by Nancy A. Roberson. All rights reserved. |
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