When I graduated from high school, I enlisted in the Marines, which among other things broadened my vocabulary to include such classic and modern military acronyms as Fouled (to put it politely) Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR). Many Americans spend some of their lives in other countries, and if they haven’t realized that the […]
Hint: He probably didn’t mean to! In Concord, New Hampshire this month, U.S. District Court Joseph N. Laplante ruled that Leonard Dobens’ children could not defeat his ex-wife’s claim for his employer-sponsored life insurance policy under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974. Dobens named his then-wife, Kathleen O’Connor, as the beneficiary of the […]
The immortal Robert Plant and Jimmy Page This week, Judge Juan Sanchez ruled that a lawsuit can proceed against Led Zeppelin in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania. The Estate of Randy Craig Wolfe, founding member of the band Spirit, has alleged that Zeppelin stole the opening riff to “Stairway to Heaven” from the Spirit song […]
Every couple of months, someone asks me, “I really just have my house. And I know jointly-titled property avoids probate – wouldn’t the cheapest, simplest thing for me to do be to add my child to the deed, so she gets the house when I die?” The answer? Maybe. Technically, what you are doing […]
On March 9, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and Internal Revenue Service announced the guilty pleas of Cayman National Securities Ltd. (CNS) and Cayman National Trust Co. Ltd. (CNT) for conspiring with their US-taxpayer clients to hide more than $130 million in offshore accounts and to evade U.S. taxes on the income […]
All the Best in 2016 from the Sienkiewicz Family! Donald, Katja, Jana, Davina, Ellie & Elias
Every year, about half of Americans who die, do so without even a simple will. Many more become mentally incapacitated due to old age, illness or accidents – without a plan. Here are Five Reasons not to Join them: 1. Your children may not go to the person you want to care for them. Your Will […]
Dear Clients, Colleagues and Friends, You’ve been married before, and while you’re really excited about your new relationship, you’ve seen how things can unravel – and how expensive and difficult it can be to disentangle yourselves financially. Or maybe you’re looking forward to your first marriage, but you’ve got a valuable business that is your […]
Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, We often hear fatalistic comments about long-term care and the cost of nursing homes. When clients (or their adult children) are writing checks for eight to fifteen thousand dollars a month, it may feel like nothing can be done to preserve assets. But with proper planning, hundreds of thousands of […]
Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, If you’re a small business owner, you’ll benefit from attending the Business Fundamentals Bootcamp on February 13th at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, New Hampshire. This year, the program includes twenty speakers (lawyers, CPAs, insurance and HR professionals, etc.) from the area, leading sessions on marketing, finance, law, and human […]