Law Offices of Robert J. Ross

Home Appraisal Fraud

Joseph and Kimberli bought an unimproved lot in a subdivision and then engaged an architect and a contractor to design and build the home of their dreams on it. The lot and finished home together would cost them about $731,000. They borrowed most of the sales price from a bank, which sought and obtained an appraisal from an appraiser regularly used by the bank. Conveniently enough, the appraisal came in at about $731,000 when conducted under both a cost approach and a sales comparison approach. Read more

A former employee who refused to give up a domain name that he had registered for the benefit of his former employer has been hit with a sizeable damages verdict. The federal appeals court that heard his case looked unfavorably on his having held the domain name for “ransom,” and agreed that the employee had violated the federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). Meanwhile, an Illinois company was unsuccessful in bringing a claim against a Texas company under the ACPA. Although the Texas company had registered a domain name similar to one held by the Illinois company, there was not sufficient jurisdiction for the Texas company to be sued in Illinois. Read more

On December 17, 2010, the president signed into law an $858 billion federal tax package. The main elements of the legislation are a two-year extension of the reductions of income, capital gains, and dividend taxes enacted during the Bush Administration and a one-year extension on unemployment insurance benefits that had ended as of December 1. Although many parts of the package are of relatively short duration, below are some highlights of the new tax law:

Your Paycheck

Beginning in January 2011, a 2% drop in an employee’s share of the Social Security portion of the FICA tax, from 6.2% to 4.2%, will increase take-home pay for most workers. For example, this means an additional $1,600 in 2011 for someone making $80,000 a year. Read more

• Married Illinois residents whose estates exceed $2,000,000 (including investments, life insurance proceeds, real estate, retirement assets and other assets) can employ new trust language to defer payment of Illinois estate tax on the death of the first spouse and minimize federal estate tax on the death of the second.
• Married Illinois residents who have living trusts can now hold title to their marital home in their living trusts as “tenants by the entirety” to protect against the creditors of one spouse and avoid probate upon disability or death.
• We are pleased to announce that Illinois attorney Jason C. Tunquist has recently joined our firm as an associate. Please join Ilene, Liam, Colette, Andrew, Chris, Laura and Bob in welcoming Jason.

Attorney Bob Ross briefly explains the purpose of various estate planning tools such as Powers of Attorney for Property or Health care, and what might motivate one to draft an estate plan.

Bob has over 30 years of experience in business law and estate planning. If you would like assistance with your Illinois legal matters, please contact us.