When estate planning, consider whether taxes will turn an inheritance into a burden for your beneficiaries. In a just-published article on MainStreet.com, SmolenPlevy Co-founding Principal Jason Smolen discusses various tools used to transfer wealth while limiting the impact of estate taxes. Read more »
There’s a chill during January. Not just outside, but in many a marriage. As just reported on WNEW radio, SmolenPlevy Principal and family law attorney Kyung (Kathryn) Dickerson says January is a busy time for divorce. Read more »
According to media reports, the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman didn’t leave any money to his three children directly because he feared they would become “Trust Fund Kids”. While his concerns were understandable—many people worry about giving their children too much money too soon—there are a number of estate planning strategies that he could have used to better provide for his family after his death. Hoffman died in February 2014, leaving an estimated $35 million estate to his long-time companion, Marianne O’ Donnell. Read more »
Major life events—marriages, birth of children and deaths—should make you re-consider and update your estate plan and change of beneficiary designations. SmolenPlevy Principal Daniel Ruttenberg recently appeared on TV’s Money Matters with Tom Spottiswood to discuss his role in tackling this very issue last year before the U.S. Supreme Court […] Read more »
Casey Kasem was the iconic voice of American Top 40. Mickey Rooney was a celebrated actor. But as they aged, the news became about their medical, financial and legal end-of-life issues. For Kasem, it was the battle between his children and their stepmother over his care as he suffered from […] Read more »
Divorce often brings out the worst in people, but ‘cyberspying’ shows how low they can go. SmolenPlevy principal Kyung (Kathryn) Dickerson discusses the disturbing new trend on air with WTOP. Cyberspying occurs when one parent uses technology to spy on the other parent while he or she has custody of the […] Read more »
“Cyberspying” by a parent, who uses technology to monitor what their kids are doing when they’re with their other parent, is a disturbing trend among divorced couples and parents who do not share a home. Parents use these tactics to try to keep an eye on their children or the […] Read more »
Article from SmolenPlevy’s Winter 2014 Report from Counsel Many people don’ t realize that they’re victims of domestic violence because they don’ t understand the sometimes insidious form that domestic violence takes. While physical abuse is what one initially associates with the term, emotional and financial abuse can also be […] Read more »
While no one can predict the future, it is safe to guess that the New Year will bring change: new opportunities, new friends, new diets, and possibly a divorce. Divorce is a common New Year’s resolution. According to Kyung (Kathryn) Dickerson, principal at SmolenPlevy, a number of people begin the process of divorce in January and February — mainly […] Read more »
It’s difficult to think of a more intimidating situation for an attorney than arguing in front of the United States Supreme Court, but this past April, SmolenPlevy principal Daniel Ruttenberg did just that. Ruttenberg argued the case of Hillman v. Maretta before the nine Supreme Court justices – a challenging undertaking for an […] Read more »
A business can only be successful if it capably handles its legal issues. This is especially true for small businesses, according to Jason Smolen, co-founding Principal of SmolenPlevy, in a just published interview with Bank of America’s Small Business Community. Smolen stresses the importance of having a legal advisor for your […] Read more »
It’s a battle over children and billions of dollars. Rupert Murdoch’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Wendi, just hired a new divorce attorney (her second). Alan Plevy, Co-founding Principal of SmolenPlevy in Vienna, VA, notes that he regularly has clients come to him after first starting off with another attorney. “They may be […] Read more »
The things people think they know about the laws affecting marriage and divorce are more often wrong than right. It is not uncommon for the attorneys at SmolenPlevy to spend the first half-hour of a consultation with new clients correcting misunderstandings and dispelling misinformation they have picked up from friends, […] Read more »
On Monday, April 22, SmolenPlevy Principal Dan Ruttenberg presented an oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States. In the case of Hillman v. Maretta, a husband had life insurance through the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Plan and named his then-wife as his beneficiary. When he divorced […] Read more »
A recent article in the Washington Business Journal described a precedent setting case that SmolenPlevy Principal Dan Ruttenberg will argue before the United States Supreme Court. At issue is what happens if following a divorce, a person dies without updating his or her beneficiary designations and the widow sues the […] Read more »
