The Thursday Report – 8.22.13 – Annuities, Statement of Authority and ICS
Could ketchup be considered a vegetable for school lunch programs? From Wikipedia:
The ketchup is a vegetable controversy refers to proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) regulations, early in the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that intended to provide more flexibility in meal planning to local school lunch administrators coping with National School Lunch Plan subsidy cuts enacted by the Omnibus Regulation Acts of 1980 and 1981.[1][2] The regulations allowed administrators the opportunity to credit items not explicitly listed that met nutritional requirements. While ketchup was not mentioned in the original regulations, pickle relish was used as an example of an item that could count as a vegetable.[3] Click here to keep reading.
Tax and Practical Planning with Commercial Annuities
Ken Crotty’s LLC Clinic – Statement of Authority – How to Prevent Theft or Having Unauthorized Managers or Officers Invade Real Estate, Borrow Money or Take Other Actions That Should Not Be Permitted
Insured Cash Sweeps: Insuring Your Peace of Mind for Large Deposits
Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements: An Interview with noted divorce attorney, Ky Koch and Judge George Jirotka – Part 3 of a 7 Part Series
Dali’s The Persistence of Memory: Persistently Memorable
We welcome contributions for future Thursday Report topics. If you are interested in making a contribution as a guest writer, please email Janine Gunyan at Janine@gassmanpa.com.
This report and other Thursday Reports can be found on our website at www.gassmanlaw.com.
Tax and Practical Planning with Commercial Annuities
This is the first of a multi-part series on planning with commercial, variable and fixed annuity products from a tax and business advisors standpoint.
The contents of this series will become the basis of the Notre Dame tax institute outline that we are preparing to be presented on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 3:30 p.m. at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Questions, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect all of the input that has been given to us by a great many advisors, carriers, and agents.
If you have clients that are involved with variable or fixed annuity products we urge you to become very familiar with the issues discussed in this series, and to express your own conclusions and opinions as appropriate.
INTRODUCTION
The financial services industry has caused variable and fixed commercial annuity products to proliferate despite tax and expense issues discussed in this article. In some cases these issues can be overcome with strategies and advantages, as herein discussed. In other cases the client comes to the advisors with the contract already in place and sometimes already laden with income that will be taxed upon eventual withdrawal. This article discusses several often overlooked strategies for handling those and other common situations. Furthermore, there is a diverse landscape across the United States in relation to creditor protection for annuity proceeds. The vast majority of states provide an exemption of some form relating to annuity proceeds against creditor claims, whether that is a full exemption or some maximum allowed exemption. However, six states, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Virginia, and West Virginia provide no exemption for creditor claims for annuity proceeds.
The vast majority of annuity contracts are with nationally recognized carriers and are regulated by state insurance commissioners and Federal law, but there is also an active offshore and “private placement” community that can provide more flexible and in some cases very creative planning opportunities for large investment portfolios or single purpose family or personal investments.
Separate and apart from tax and investment asset planning considerations are the asset protection and financial guarantee features of annuity contracts, which can be unique and attractive. Many states, including Florida have statutes that provide that annuity contracts are exempt from creditor claims, and many countries have such laws as well. The federal bankruptcy law will permit a debtor residing in these states to keep an annuity contract as an exempt asset while eliminating judgments against the debtor, unless fraudulent transfer statutes or other common exemption exceptions apply (such as the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission as “super creditors”).
A great many state registered carriers provide “minimum withdrawal right guarantees” that can give investors a degree of comfort with respect to the risk of losing investment value in underlying mutual fund investments if there is another stock market crash that is not recovered from, but these guarantees are commonly misunderstood, even by those who sell them, so great care must be taken to be sure that the “guarantees” are understood and not exaggerated or overused.
What we are referring to in this series are annuity contracts held by individuals and trusts, and not contracts that may be held as “IRA Annuities” or under pension or other qualified retirement plans or IRC 412(I) plans. Those annuities are subject to separate rules, and typically not deemed to be appropriate because of the lack of any tax benefit provided by an annuity product held under an IRA or pension arrangement that already offers tax deferral. A brief discussion of Section 412(I) plans will also be included in a later edition.
Separate and apart from annuities is the related world of cash value, universal, variable and whole life insurance, which can be structured similar to annuities in many ways, and can also be used (and misused) as an income tax planning tool, a creditor exempt investment, subject to certain maximum allowance limitations and other provisions, in all states, and an investment product with guarantees. The main differences between an annuity and a life policy are that life policies have large death benefits, life policies have large “mortality risk expenses,” and permanent life insurance often costs more and results in much larger commissions to agents who sell it, life insurance policy loans do not normally trigger tax to the policy holder, and if the policy holder is lucky enough to die while the policy is in place there will be no income tax imposed on growth within the policy.
Fixed annuities typically consist of contracts that are set to pay a fixed annual or more frequent amount to the owner for a period of time or life, or which in some cases pay an interest rate based on rate of return that may be fixed for a period of years or variable and based on what the investment results of funds will be and industry decision making is.
Variable annuities consist of contractual agreements between an insurance company and an individual, individuals, or other owners that meet certain requirements discussed in this article. The financial performance and payment rights under a typical variable annuity will be based solely upon the performance of underlying mutual funds that can be chosen and changed by the annuity owner or investment advisor, although usually the owner is guaranteed that on death the value passing to beneficiaries will at minimum be based upon the amounts invested less the policy expenses and withdrawals.
The owner contributes money to the insurance company, and these are placed into a contractual account, and invested in one or more money market and/or mutual funds that will perform based upon the market or markets in which they are invested. The law prevents creditors of the insurance carrier from reaching the invested funds or monies held under the policy. For offshore arrangements special account structuring can be used to assure that the financial institutions holding the assets for the carrier will not permit the carrier to draw upon the assets without consent from an independent appointed professional advisor to prevent theft by a family Carrier. It is of course very important to work with a reputable carrier that has signed legal opinions from U.S. based law firms who do comparable work for United States based nationally known carriers.
The annuity contract and company is required to be registered in each state where it does business, and to follow applicable disclosure and benefit laws that apply under state and federal law.
Insurance carriers registered only outside of the United States are subject to varying degrees of supervision and regulation. For example, a Cayman Islands, Bermuda, or Bahamas insurance carrier can invest annuity monies into private companies, individual stocks, or even real estate, subject to diversification rules that apply if the contract is to qualify as an annuity under the Internal Revenue Code.
Offshore annuity contract planning may include allowing the client or family members to sell appreciated assets to the variable annuity contract or other entity that it might own in exchange for an installment note or annuity payment in order to defer gain on the asset, and allow future appreciation thereon to be realized income tax free in the case of a life insurance policy or income tax deferred in the case of an annuity policy. For example, an individual owning stock with an income tax basis of $10,000 and a fair market value of $100,000 might sell that stock to a life insurance policy in exchange for a $100,000 annuity payable $10,000 a year for 11 years. The income tax on the $90,000 of gain would therefore be deferred but recognized over 10 years. If the life insurance policy later sells the stock for $1,000,000 it would pay no tax and if the insured dies while the policy is intact all of the policy proceeds will go to the beneficiaries tax free. These techniques are also used in the offshore life insurance arena with the goal being complete avoidance of federal income tax by maintaining the policy through the lifetime of the insured and permitting loans as allowed under the Internal Revenue Code Section 7872 and minimum corridor requirements for a non-MEC (modified endowment contract) policy.
As also described in greater detail in this series, an annuity can be “annuitized” whereby the tax basis of the annuity is applied to each post-annuitization withdrawal to be ratably credited over the expected life expectancy of the annuitant, which is an additional tax advantage. The annuitization usually means that the policyholder will only receive a fixed annual rate of return, and cannot have the contract invested in equities that might yield a greater rate of return, but the private letter rulings that will be discussed in this series may be structured to allow for what the author calls “synthetic annuitization,” which may be of interest to tax planners.
This article will provide a summary of annuity taxation rules, highlighting some of the important subsections of Internal Revenue Code Section 72. This section will also examine, from a planner perspective, the importance of certain subsections of Section 72 and many strategies that can be used, and traps to be avoided.
The items of tax discussion will include the following:
- Section 1035 exchange rules, exchanging for long-term care insurance and related issues.
- The i4LIFE private letter rulings obtained by Lincoln Financial Group with respect to “synthetic annuitization,” that allow periodic payments that have basis applied to each of them and nevertheless can be fueled by market based mutual funds. The article will examine how that rider works, the private letter rulings that made it permissible, and then examine the application of the i4LIFE Advantage technique and other approaches to handling the following situations:
- Inheritance rules, including where trusts are annuity beneficiaries;
- Non-married domestic partners application;
- Trusts as original owners; and
- Lifetime gifts of annuity contract ownership.
- Taxation of annuity contracts held under irrevocable trusts and the 10% excise tax issue.
- Anti-abuse rules.
- How to avoid annuity tax treatment while retaining contractual and state law creditor protection rights.
Third, we will review the primary features of a number of presently available annuity products in order to assist the reader in developing fluidity and a sense of how to compare various products and opportunities and issues associated therewith. Additionally, within this section we will include a recent letter to a client along with charts to illustrate the practical implications that application of these different contract features can have on the decision making process and annuity performance.
ANNUITY TRIVIA
- When annuity monies are transferred to a long-term care policy does it carry out only income or ratable income and principal from the annuity contract?
- Does the “guaranteed income feature” guarantee minimum income to be earned on the annuity account principal, or minimum payments that will reduce the annuity account as low as zero?
- How does the new Florida law impact variable annuity sales, commissions, and surrender charges?
- How do the anti-abuse rules under Internal Revenue Code Section 72 affect multiple owned annuities?
- What is a flexible private placement variable annuity?
- Do the minimum death benefit provisions under Internal Revenue Code Section 72 allow for any designated beneficiary to be treated as the contract holder upon the death of the initial contract holder?
- Does Internal Revenue Code Section 1035 allow taxpayers to make a partial exchange of only part of an existing annuity contract for a new annuity contract, resulting in two annuities?
- When an annuity contract is “annuitized” normally, how much of the income payments are considered gross income for income tax purposes?
- Do same sex couples face any issues when entering variable annuity contracts in dealing with application of the Internal Revenue Code?
The above questions and many more will be answered in our newest series entitled Planning with Annuities.
Ken Crotty’s LLC Clinic – Statement of Authority – How to Prevent Theft or Having Unauthorized Managers or Officers Invade Real Estate, Borrow Money or Take Other Actions That Should Not Be Permitted
As discussed in the August 8th Thursday Report, the new Florida LLC Act introduces the concept of a Statement of Authority. Beginning January 1, 2014 an LLC will be able to file a Statement of Authority with the Secretary of State which can either empower or restrict the ability of the listed individuals or a class of individuals to take certain actions. For example, if the LLC owns real estate, it can file a certified copy of an appropriate Statement of Authority naming the only manager or managers who would be able to mortgage or transfer that real estate. The properly filed certified copy of the Statement of Authority will be deemed to have been provided to any third party with respect to the authority to deal with the real estate.
Some states have Statements of Authority available online which can be filed. Currently, Florida has not developed a Statement of Authority form. We have drafted a Statement of Authority that we believe will be sufficient until the Florida Secretary of State provides a standard form. You can see our sample Statement of Authority by clicking here.
Any LLC formed on or after January 1, 2014 will be governed by the new Act. Any LLC established before January 1, 2014 may elect to have the new Act apply on or after January 1, 2014, and the new Act will apply to such LLCs no later than January 1, 2015. To protect the LLC, it’s Managers, and it’s Members, practitioners may want to consider sending correspondence to their clients encouraging their clients to elect into the new Act, filing a Statement of Authority, and recording the Statement in the appropriate counties where applicable. Practitioners could draft Minutes for the Manager or Members of the LLC to elect into the new Act and also provide a Statement of Authority for signature. The documents could be signed effective as of January 1, 2014 and filed immediately after the end of 2013.
Insured Cash Sweeps: Insuring Your Peace of Mind
Insured Cash Sweeps: Insuring Your Peace of Mind
“It’s not return on my money I’m interested in, it’s return of my money” – Mark Twain
Like Mark Twain, bank customers are extremely interested in return of their money and how to insure against any losses. Many clients have much more than $250,000 in one bank, and this concerns them about bank failure and the FDIC $250,000 limit.
But what does a client who needs immediate access to cash and wants FDIC coverage do?
Here comes the ICS.
ICS does not stand for Intensely Complicated Stuff! It stands for INSURED CASH SWEEP, and it was developed by Promontory Interfinancial Network, LLC in order to allow large depositors to have the benefit of a small but positive rate of return and complete access without delay to monies deposited.
The ICS system basically works like this: Dave Depositor signs an ICS agreement and deposits a cash balance with a participating bank, referred to as a “relationship bank”. The relationship bank keeps up to $250,000 in this original transaction account, and the remaining balance is divided into portions of less than the FDIC-insured maximum of $250,000. Each of these portions are transferred to a different FDIC-insured banking institution and are then eligible for FDIC insurance.
Through its network of banks, Promontory offers customers participating in the ICS program, such as Dave, two deposit options: a savings option and a demand option. Click here to find a participating bank. The savings option sends the funds to money market deposit accounts and allows customers to make up to six withdrawals every month from the invested funds. The demand option places the funds into demand deposit accounts and provides customers with unlimited withdrawals. Either or both of these options can be utilized by depositors.
To keep Dave informed about where his money is located, he will provided a statement listing the various banks which house each portion of his ICS account and the balances at those locations. Depositors are also able to utilize a Promontory website for online access to his account information.
For the investor of excess cash who values yield over liquidity, Promontory also offers a program called CDARS. This program is similar to ICS in that it uses a network of multiple FDIC-insured institutions to guarantee the security of a gross balance far greater than the $250,000 cap. However, unlike a ICS which deposits funds into money market accounts, the CDARS program utilizes time deposits such as CDs. Futhermore, whereas ICS offers almost complete liquidity, CDARS offers different holding periods corresponding to different yields.
For a further discussion on CDARS see our Thursday Report dated April 24, 2013 where we reviewed the CDARS program which allows banks to participate out CDs and other time required deposits with a system of participating banks.
Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements: An Interview with noted divorce attorney, Ky Koch and Judge George Jirotka – Part 3 of a 7 Part Series
This week we cover the important topics of how much disclosure is enough disclosure, whether both parties need to have lawyers, and questions to ask the lawyer or spouse you are not representing to document appropriate disclosure and circumstances by video taped interview or written correspondence.
- Part 1 presented on Thursday, August 8, 2013, the reader was introduced to the present overall status of prenuptial agreement statutory law and case law, and talks about prominent malpractice traps and how to get clients prepared for what they can encounter in the prenuptial agreement universe. Click here to be directed to the Thursday Report for August 8, 2013.
- Part 2 presented on Thursday, August 15, 2013, discussed the important topics of how much disclosure is enough disclosure and whether or not both parties need to have lawyers. Click here to be directed to the Thursday Report for August 15, 2013.
- Part 3, This week, Thursday, August 22, 2013, Questions to ask the lawyer or spouse you are not representing to document appropriate disclosure circumstances by video-taped interview or written correspondence.
- Part 4, On Thursday, August 29, 2013, the article discusses Castro v. Castro and Belcher v. Belcher, and what they mean for clients and lawyers who are involved in the pre and post nuptial agreement planning.
- Part 5, On Thursday, September 5, 2013, a discussion of alimony and lawyer fee obligations that may not be waivable in pre-nuptial or post nuptial agreements, and offset clauses and other ways to handle these.
- Part 6, On Thursday, September 12, 2013, Bifurcation – whether you can require the validity of the pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement be litigated or also before having to also litigate what the result could be if it is or is not enforceable.
- Part 7, On Thursday, September 19, 2013, How to keep marital and asset information confidential in a divorce scenario, arbitration, and the Roddy v. Roddy case.
Below is the next part of the interview:
Ky Koch: That brings up another point in drafting prenuptial agreements that I think lawyers miss out on sometimes, and that is you don’t necessarily need to have a videotaped signing ceremony every time you do one of these. Although I think that’s probably the preferred method, spouses typically don’t want to go through that. They hate that process and I can see why. It’s very sterile, it’s very distrustful, it’s very everything you don’t want to be thinking about as you’re preparing for a wedding.
What I recommend is whether I’m doing a signed videotape signing of a prenuptial or not, I do a list of questions that I want the other spouse to answer, and I send them to the other lawyer saying these are questions I’m going to ask your client at the videotaped signing. I just want you to be prepared for it, have a chance to go through it with him or her because this is what I’m going to ask on the record.
You don’t need to do that. You can do that same thing in the form of an interrogatory and send it to them. They have 10/12/15 days to answer it. They respond with all the appropriate answers and you got some additional corroboratory evidence in terms of supporting this agreement that you wouldn’t otherwise have.
Alan Gassman: What are some of those questions?
Ky Koch: Well, I’ve had this come up in a situation where there was no lawyer on the other side. One of those questions is: Do you understand that I’ve never met you before? I’m not your lawyer. Never have given you advice. Any communication between you and I is not my legal advice. If you think it is you’re wrong. You need to get yourself a lawyer. Do you understand all these things? That’s one of them.
The other is: Have we had fair negotiations back and forth. Have you had a chance to review this? Have you talked to your lawyer about it? Have you contemplated the possibility of alimony in a setting where you’re married for 7, 10, 15, 20 years, but recognize that you’re giving it up here. Do you understand that the waiver of alimony can never be changed, and you can’t come back to court later and say well I didn’t understand that I was giving that up? Another series of questions I’ve got in there relate to our prenuptial agreement by definition.
Judge Jirotka: So you’re sort of explaining to the other side…
Ky Koch: Explaining to the other side with the idea that this is going to be presented to you when he or she comes in and tries to contest this agreement.
Another series of questions that I ask in there relates to the definition of what a prenuptial agreement is, and that is it’s a contract that alters Florida law. As to this marriage, as to this couple this is now Florida Statute 61 as opposed to Florida Statute 61.
This prenuptial agreement is replacing Florida law and it’s an agreement between these folks and do they understand that. There’s a bunch of different areas.
Please email Ky Koch at kkoch@kh-pa.com for a list of questions he promised to share!
Ending the Patient-Physician Relationship
An excellent summary of rights, responsibilities, and strategies that we reprint with permission of the American Medical Association, Copyright © 2013
Erosion of the Physician-Patient Relationship: What to Do When a “Breakup” is Needed?
The patient-physician relationship is one based on trust and continuity in care. Because this is a fiduciary relationship, where a physician-patient relationship has been formed, a physician must ethically place a patient’s welfare above his own. However, a physician is free to terminate a relationship so long as his withdrawal is effectively communicated to the patient. Where a physician-patient relationship becomes too burdensome, the physician must follow specific protocol to minimize his exposure to litigation based on claims of patient abandonment. As shown by multiple reports, communication is key when attempting to avoid litigation. A lack of communication demonstrates a lack of concern for the patient’s welfare and causes erosion of the physician-patient relationship. As such, poor communication unsurprisingly increases the chance that a patient with adverse outcomes will file a malpractice suit.
Where the existence of a physician-patient relationship has become so difficult that termination must occur, the physician must take steps to communicate this termination to the patient in order to minimize his liability.1 However, there are some notable exceptions to this rule. Where a physician does not have a relationship with a patient, he cannot be held liable for abandonment. For example, where a specialist treats a patient, he will not be held responsible for all subsequent treatment, unless specifically agreed to. In other words, a physician may limit the scope of treatment by clearly communicating to the patient that no relationship exists. It is important to note that although the physician is under no duty to inform the patient of the specific reasons for withdrawal, he must always give the patient sufficient time to find a new treating physician before terminating the relationship. The following article outlines the specific protocol, based upon the A.M.A.’s Code of Medical Ethics, which should be followed when terminating a physician-patient relationship.
Ending the Patient-Physician Relationship
Once a patient-physician relationship is begun, a physician generally is under both an ethical and legal obligation to provide services as long as the patient needs them. There may be times, however, when you may no longer be able to provide care. It may be that the patient is noncompliant, unreasonably demanding, threatening to you and/or your staff, or otherwise contributing to a breakdown in the patient-physician relationship. Or, it may be necessary to end the relationship simply due to relocation, retirement, or unanticipated termination by a managed care plan and/or employer.
Regardless of the situation, to avoid a claim of “patient abandonment,” a physician must follow appropriate steps to terminate the patient-physician relationship. Abandonment is defined as the termination of a professional relationship between physician and patient at an unreasonable time and without giving the patient the chance to find an equally qualified replacement. To prove abandonment, the patient must show more than a simple termination of a patient-physician relationship. The plaintiff must prove that the physician ended the relationship at a critical stage of the patient’s treatment without good reason or sufficient notice to allow the patient to find another physician, and the patient was injured as a result. Usually, expert evidence is required to establish whether termination in fact happened at a critical stage of treatment.
A physician who does not terminate the patient-physician relationship properly may also run afoul of ethical requirements. According to the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, a physician may not discontinue treatment of a patient as long as further treatment is medically indicated, without giving the patient reasonable notice and sufficient opportunity to make alternative arrangements for care. Further, the patient’s failure to pay a bill does not end the relationship, as the relationship is based on fiduciary, rather than a financial responsibility. According to the AMA’s Code of Medical Ethics, Opinion 8.115, physicians have the option of terminating the patient-physician relationship, but they must give sufficient notice of withdrawal to the relatives, or responsible friends and guardians to allow another physician to be secured.
Appropriate steps to terminate the patient-physician relationship typically include:
- Giving the patient written notice, preferably by certified mail, return receipt requested;
- Providing the patient with a brief explanation for terminating the relationship (this should be a valid reason, for instance non-compliance, failure to keep appointments.);
- Agreeing to continue to provide treatment and access to services for a reasonable period of time, such as 30 days, to allow a patient to secure care from another person (a physician may want to extend the period for emergency services);
- Providing resources and/or recommendations to help a patient locate another physician of like specialty; and
- Offering to transfer records to a newly-designated physician upon signed patient authorization to do so.
Following this protocol may be easier in some situations than others. For example, if a physician has signed a covenant-not-to-compete, chances are the employer will not hand over the patient list upon notice of departure. In instances such as these, you (in consultation with your attorney) may want to provide a model patient termination letter to the party withholding your patients’ addresses, and request that the addresses and letter be merged for distribution to your patients. Ideally, you should not be in a contractual arrangement that makes contacting your patients difficult. However, if you find yourself in this situation, work with an attorney to ensure that appropriate steps are taken.
Dali’s The Persistence of Memory: Persistently Memorable
If you want to stretch your imagination and also enjoy a world away from our own spend a few hours at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida with a good docent, or someone who knows Dali’s art and is willing to describe it.
The term for the style seen in Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory, “paranoiac-critical,” seems a particularly apt description of the scene, even if you know neither the definition of paranoiac-critical nor meaning behind the painting. The primary facet of this Dali-pioneered technique is to link objects to completely disassociated qualities or elements. Does your mind try to find some link between the soft watches and your billable hours? The result of this elegant precursor to the modern mash-up can be haunting, humorous, disturbing, fantastic, or, most likely, all of the above.
The 1931 painting’s setting is actually from Port Lligat (or Portlligat), a small fishing village on Spain’s Mediterranean coast near the French border that today houses a Dali museum (and in 1931, housed his house). The inspiration for the rest of the elements is less straightforward: take a little “horrible traumatism of birth,” temper it with prenatal “feelings of timelessness,” toss in a pinch of anxiety about when your wife will return from a night out, add a healthy slice of smooth, creamy camembert cheese, and finish with an amorphous self-portrait “abandoned on the beach.” Waa-la – masterpiece! (quotes from Dali, by Paul Moorhouse)
Applicable Federal Rates
Please click here to view a chart of this month’s, last month’s, and the preceding month’s Applicable Federal Rates, because for a sale you can use the lowest of the 3.
Seminars and Webinars
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – AUGUST 444 SHOW
Join us later today at 4pm for The 444 Show. This month we will be speaking on the new legislative update with Sandra Diamond, Aimee Diaz Lyon and Jim Daughton. The webinar qualifies for 1 hour of continuing education credit.
Date: Thursday, August 22, 2013 | 4:00 p.m (50 Minutes)
Speakers: Sandra Diamond, Aimee Diazlyon and Jim Daughton
Sponsor: The Clearwater Bar Association.
Additional Information: To register for this webinar please click here or email Janine Gunyan at Janine@gassmanpa.com
WHAT CLIENTS ARE AND ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE
Date: Thursday, August 29, 2013 | 5:00 p.m.
Presenter: Rob Cochran
Location: Online webinar
Additional Information: To register for the webinar please click here.
AVOIDING THE TRAPS IN EMR/TECH CONTRACTS….NOW YOU TELL ME I’M STUCK WITH THIS FOR 5 YEARS!
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 | 5:00 p.m. and Thursday, September 12, 2013 | 12:30 p.m. (Each webinar will last 30 minutes)
Presenter: Sandra Greenblatt, Board Certified Health Lawyer
Location: Online webinar.
Additional Information: To register for the Tuesday, September 10, 2013, 5pm webinar please click here . To register for the Thursday, September 12, 2013, 12:30 p.m. webinar please click here.
NIP & TUCK: MAKING THE CALL ON OFFICE-BASED SURGERY
Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Presenter: Cheryl White, RN, BS, MSHL, LHRM, LNCC, MSCC, DFHRMPS and Lester Perling, J.D., MHA
Location: Online webinar
Additional Information: To register for the webinar please click here.
NORTH SUNCOAST FICPA MONTHLY MEETING
Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Topic: Alan Gassman will be speaking on Estate and Asset Protection
Location: Chili’s in Port Richey
Additional Information: To attend this seminar please email agassman@gassmanpa.com
WEDU ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR
Gassman Law Associates meets Big Bird – Sesame Street vs. Wall Street?
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of ASSET PROTECTION – ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND HOT TOPICS
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013 | 7:30 am – 11:30 am
Location: WEDU PBS Berman Family Broadcast Center
Additional Information: If you would like to sign up for this seminar please click here.
NOTRE DAME TAX INSTITUTE
Jerry Hesch and Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of INTERESTING INTEREST QUESTIONS, PLANNING WITH LOW INTEREST LOANS, PRIVATE ANNUITIES, DEFECTIVE GRANTOR TRUSTS, AND PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL ANNUITIES
Date: Wednesday, October 16 through Friday, October 18, 2013
Location: Notre Dame College, South Bend, Indiana
Additional Information: Professor Jerry Hesch’s Notre Dame Tax Institute will once again emphasize the importance of income tax planning and implications in addition to estate, estate tax, and related concepts. Also Paul and attorney Barry will be discussing stepped-up basis tools and techniques, including our JEST Trust. Please click here to register.
We welcome questions, comments and suggestions for the presentation that we are assisting Jerry in preparing and presenting.
PINELLAS COUNTY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL HALF-DAY SEMINAR
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of HOT TOPICS FOR ESTATE PLANNERS
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 | 8:00 am – 12:00 p.m. (60 MINUTE PRESENTATION)
Location: TBD
Other Speakers: Other speakers include Barry Flagg on Insurance and Estate Planning; Sean Casey, SR. VP Fifth Third Bank on an Economic Update, and Sandra Diamond on a topic to be determined.
Additional Information: To attend the meeting or to receive information on joining the Council please click here or email agassman@gassmanpa.com
2013 MOTE VASCULAR SURGERY FELLOWS – FACTS OF LIFE TALK FOR FIRST YEAR SURGEONS
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of ESTATE, MEDICAL PRACTICE, RETIREMENT, TAX, INSURANCE, AND BUY/SELL PLANNING – THE EARLIER YOU START THE SOONER YOU WILL BE SECURE
Date: October 25 – 27, 2013 | Times TBD
Location: TBD
Additional Information: Please contact agassman@gassmanpa.com for additional information.
DECODING HEALTHCARE SEMINAR
Alan Gassman will be moderating the Decoding Healthcare Seminar hosted by Fifth Third Bank.
Speakers will include John Harding, President and CEO of Adventist Healthcare Systems, Stephen Klasko, Dean and President of USF Health College of Medicine, David Lewis, CEO of United Healthcare of Florida, Nancy Templin, CFO of All Children’s Hospital and a mystery speaker (other than Colonel Sanders) to be identified.
We sincerely thank Fifth-Third Bank, President Brian Lamb, Ryan Sloan and the Tampa Bay Business Journal for hosting this important public “town hall” discussion that will hopefully lead to improvement of our healthcare systems in the Tampa Bay area.
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Location: Grand Hyatt, 2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa, Florida
Additional Information: For more information on this event please email agassman@gassmanpa.com
NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION (ICLE) HEALTH LAW SYMPOSIUM – AN ALL DAY SEMINAR
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of WHAT HEALTH LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FLORIDA LAW
Date: Friday, November 1, 2013 | 9am – 5pm (Mr. Gassman speaks from 1:10 pm until 2:10 p.m.)
Location: Seton Hall Law School, Newark, New Jersey
Additional Information: Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey was founded in 1856, and they have remodeled since. Today, Seton Hall has over 10,000 students in its undergraduate, graduate and law school programs and is in close proximity to several Kentucky Fried Chicken locations.
NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION (ICLE)_SPECIAL 3 HOUR SESSION
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topic of WHAT NEW JERSEY LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FLORIDA LAW – A 3 HOUR OVERVIEW BY ALAN S. GASSMAN
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2013
Location: Wilshire Grand Hotel, West Orange, New Jersey | 9am – 12pm
Additional Information: Please tell all of your friends, neighbors and enemies in New Jersey to come out to support this important presentation for the New Jersey Bar Association. We will include discussions of airboats, how to get an alligator off of your driveway, how to peel a navel orange and what collard greens and grits are. For additional information please email agassman@gassmanpa.com
SALT LAKE CITY ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL’S FALL ONE DAY “TAX AND DEDUCTIBILITY OF YOUR SKI TRIP” INSTITUTE
Alan Gassman will be speaking on the topics of PRACTICAL ESTATE PLANNING, WITH A $5.25 MILLION EXEMPTION AMOUNT, ESTATE TAX PLANNING SOFTWARE AND HOW TO USE IT, CREDITOR PROTECTION FOR THE ESTATE PLANNER, and other topics to be determined.
Date: Thursday, November 7, 2013
Location: Hilton Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
Additional Information: Please support this one day annual seminar conveniently located near skiing and tourism opportunities. If you would like to attend this event or receive the materials please email agassman@gassmanpa.com
THE FLORIDA BAR – REPRESENTING THE PHYSICIAN
Date: Friday, January 17, 2013
Location: The Peabody Hotel, Orlando, Florida
Additional Information: The annual Florida Bar conference entitled Representing the Physician is designed especially for health care, tax, and business lawyers, CPAs and physician office managers and physicians to cover practical legal, medical law, and tax planning matters that affect physicians and physician practices.
This year our 1 day seminar will be held in the Peabody Hotel near Walt Disney World, which is world famous for its daily “march of the ducks” through the lobby (wear easy to clean shoes) and maybe we will have peking duck for dinner.
A dinner for the Executive Committee of the Health Law Section of The Florida Bar and our speakers will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2013, whether formally or informally. Anyone who would like to attend (dutch treat or bring wooden shoes) will be welcomed. Your tax deductible hotel room to start a fantastic week near Disney, Universal, Sea World and most importantly Gatorland can include a room at the fantastic Peabody Hotel for a discounted rate per night, single occupancy.
1st ANNUAL ESTATE PLANNER’S DAY AT AVE MARIA SCHOOL OF LAW
Speakers: Speakers will include Professor Jerry Hesch, Jonathan Gopman, Alan Gassman and others.
Date: April 25, 2014
Location: Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida
Sponsors: Ave Maria School of Law, Collier County Estate Planning Council and more to be announced.
Additional Information: For more information on this event please contact agassman@gassmanpa.com.
NOTABLE SEMINARS PRESENTED BY OTHERS:
THIRD ANNUAL FEDERAL TAX INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND
Date: September 27, 2013
Location: Hartford Marriot Farmington Hotel, Farmington, Connecticut
Sponsor: Connecticut Bar Institute
Additional Information: Chairman Frank Berall will be using part of an earlier Thursday Report article on same-sex planning in his presentation. You can also catch an early dose of Jerry Hesch’s talk on Income Tax Ideas for Estate Planning here before the Notre Dame Tax Institute in October, and Bruce Stone will be speaking on Assisted Reproductive Technology Children. For more information or to register please visit the Institute’s site here.
MEDITATION, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability – An Experimental Workshop by the Bridge and Maulik K. Trivedi, M.D.
On Saturday, September 28, 2013 from 10 am to 1pm the Bridge, a not-for-profit organization that promotes ecocentric living, social justice and personal development is providing a 3 hour workshop on Meditation. The session will be administered by integral psychiatrist and Yogi, Dr. Maulik K. Trivedi and will be accompanied by accomplished sitar player, Douglas Werner.
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2013 | 10am – 1pm
Location: Carrollwood Cultural Center, 4537 Lowell Road, Tampa
Additional Details: The cost for attending this workshop is $45 and you can register by clicking here. or call 813-416-3069 for more information.
48th ANNUAL HECKERLING INSTITUTE ON ESTATE PLANNING SEMINAR
Date: January 13 – 17, 2014
Location: Orlando World Center Marriott, Orlando, Florida
Sponsor: University of Miami School of Law
Additional Information: For more information please click here.
16th ANNUAL ALL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL ESTATE, TAX, LEGAL & FINANCIAL PLANNING SEMINAR
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Location: All Children’s Hospital Education and Conference Center, St. Petersburg, Florida with remote location live interactive viewings in Tampa, Sarasota, New Port Richey, Lakeland, and Bangkok, Thailand
Sponsor: All Children’s Hospital
THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA TAX INSTITUTE
Date: February 19 – 21, 2014
Location: Grand Hyatt, Tampa, Florida
Sponsor: UF Law alumni and UF Graduate Tax Program
Additional Information: Here is what UF is saying about the program on its website: “The UF Tax Institute will provide tax practitioners and other leading tax, business and estate planning professionals with a program that covers the most current issues and planning ideas with a practical, informative, state-of-the-art approach. The Institute’s schedule will devote separate days or half days to individual income tax issues, entity tax issues and estate planning issues. Speakers and presentations will be announced as the program date nears to ensure coverage of the most timely and significant topics. UF Law alumni have formed the Florida Tax Education Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, to organize the conference.”
For details about each event, please visit us online at gassmanlaw.com/newsandevents.html
Thank you to our law clerks that assisted us in preparing this report.