Facebook’s IPO and Family Law

While Facebook’s recent IPO looks like a flop, the same can’t be said of company founder Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to marry. Zuckerberg wed his college girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, last Saturday, May 19, a day after the IPO, and California family lawyers believe that this arrangement is more than happenstance.

First, if Zuckerberg and Chan never married and continued to live together as boyfriend and girlfriend, upon a breakup Chan could potentially claim that an agreement existed to pool finances. If a court found that such an agreement existed, Zuckerberg’s $20 billion fortune would be at risk.

Second, when a couple decides to divorce, California courts follow the community property regime. This doctrine holds that any property created during a marriage is community property, and should be split evenly after divorce. Only a small number of states, including California, Nevada, Idaho, and Texas, abide by this regime if there is no prenuptial agreement that waives community property rights. In most states, equitable division rules reign: the property acquired during marriage is not divided fifty-fifty, but distributed to each spouse according to what a judge deems fair.

Considering Zuckerberg’s wealth, he and Chan likely signed a prenuptial agreement before marriage that would set out the division of the couple’s assets in the event of a divorce. If the two waived community property rights, Chan would have no claim to Zuckerberg’s holdings in Facebook stock that vest during marriage, nor would she be able to go after Zuckerberg’s previously-held stock if it increased in value during the union.

Pennsylvania follows equitable division rules, and the relevant statute can be found here. In deciding how a married couple’s assets are to be distributed upon divorce, the court considers a number of factors, including the length of the marriage, prior marriages of either party, the age and health of each party, the opportunity for each party to acquire future capital assets and income, the current sources of both parties’ income, and the standard of living of the parties established during marriage. In consideration of these factors, the court does not take into account any alleged marital misconduct.

Both the community property and equitable division regimes are supported by valid policy reasons. The community property doctrine is more administrable, as its simple fifty-fifty rule decreases the possibility that a judge unfairly prejudices one party. But, while the equitable division doctrine seems more complex in its factor-weighing approach, is it fair for a non-working party to receive half the assets acquired by the breadwinning party during marriage?

Trayvon Martin, Stand Your Ground, and the Law of Self-Defense in Pennsylvania

In the past few months, the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin has raised a number of legal issues. One of the most discussed is the value of Stand Your Ground laws. In essence, a Stand Your Ground law allows you to use force in self-defense when there’s a reasonable threat of another using that level of force against you—without you having to retreat first.

Stand Your Ground laws replace the historical “duty to retreat” principle and supplement its exception, the Castle Doctrine. The “duty to retreat” principle requires you to first try to retreat from an attack, but, if retreat proves impossible or dangerous, self-defense becomes a legally justified option. The Castle Doctrine generally holds that, on your own property, there is no legal penalty when you use force against a person whom you reasonably think will inflict serious bodily harm or death to you or others located on that property.

Because of the public uproar over George Zimmerman’s reliance on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, Governor Rick Scott appointed a task force to examine it and the state’s other gun laws. Florida enacted its Stand Your Ground law in 2005 in response to the NRA-led campaign to put these laws on state statute books. The NRA continued to find success in other states – PA became the 27th state to adopt a version of the law in June 2011. Some key features of our law, found under Title 18, Chapter 5, §505 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, are as follows:

• You are allowed to use force against another person when you believe it is immediately necessary in order to protect yourself against the use of force by that other person.
• However, the use of force is not justifiable if:
•           You are resisting arrest by a peace officer, although the arrest is unlawful.
•           You are resisting force by an occupier of property who is using force to protect that property.
• The use of deadly force is not justifiable if:
•           You do not believe that such force is necessary to protect yourself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat.
•           If you provoke the use of force by another with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury.
•           You can avoid the use of such force with complete safety by retreating (the “duty to retreat” principle)  unless you are in your dwelling or place of work (the Castle Doctrine).
• And the Stand Your Ground additions: If you are not engaged in a criminal activity, are not in illegal possession of a firearm, and are attacked in any place where you would have a duty to retreat, you have no duty to retreat and the right to stand your ground and use force, including deadly force, if:
•           You have a right to be in the place you were attacked.
•           You believe it is immediately necessary to use force to protect yourself against death, serious bodily injury,  kidnapping, or sexual intercourse by force or threat.
•           The person against whom you use force displays or uses a firearm, a replica of a firearm, or any other weapon  readily or apparently capable of lethal use.

Pennsylvania’s law is similar to the Florida statute. However, last month House Judiciary Committee Counsel David McGlaughlin stated that, in Pennsylvania, a shooter like George Zimmerman would likely have been immediately arrested.

Why? See the second and third bullet points of the Stand Your Ground additions to the statute, relayed above: according to some accounts, Zimmerman pursued Trayvon although told not to by the 911 dispatcher, and Trayvon was unarmed.

But does our stricter law still justify the increased violence it condones?

If you’ve turned on a TV lately, you already know that there’s no shortage of debate that can be had on this point.

In any case, the ongoing criminal proceedings and media analysis may serve not only as a trial for Zimmerman but as a referendum on Florida’s—and perhaps the rest of the country’s—laws regarding self defense.

Learning Opportunity This Friday

On Friday, April 27, at 9:00 am, Elliott & Davis will be hosting Grant Writing 201: Winning Grants in Southwestern PA with Eric Davis, Owner Procopio Fundraising and Managing Partner, Elliott & Davis, PC.

Grant seeking in Southwestern Pennsylvania has never been more competitive than today. With information on grant opportunities so broadly available, most grant making foundations and agencies receive hundreds more worthy grant proposals for each funding cycle than they could ever fund. It is critically important that nonprofit organizations to learn how to set themselves apart by preparing winning grant applications.  Give your proposals the competitive edge of a serious grant seeker. If you’re ready to get serious about grant writing, invest a day honing your skills with proven techniques for generating support.

Here are the details on the event.  Please consider attending and sharing this information with others.  Seats are still available.

Kony 2012, Charitable Giving, and Your Estate Plan

Kony 2012 is the flavour du jour. We all know its basic premise: to make Joseph Kony, the corrupt leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group once present in Uganda, famous. If Kony becomes enough of a talking point, especially in Washington, it could bring about more U.S. involvement in the campaign for his capture and prosecution before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

The Kony 2012 video, with almost 100,000,000 hits on YouTube, sends a powerful message. By its end, it’s hard to fight the urge to dig deep into your pockets and donate to the Kony cause. However, this Forbes article from the beginning of March can make you think twice about more than just giving fifty bucks to the movement – it considers the implications of including charitable contributions as part of your estate plan.

The article notes the immediate backlash concerning the legitimacy of the video’s efforts. There’s been questioning of Invisible Children’s (the NGO behind the video) spending tactics, support of military action, and neo-colonial approach to the issue. To make things worse, Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell got in trouble with the law mere weeks after the Kony 2012 video went viral. How can you support a movement when one of its main proponents seems unable to handle himself, let alone the logistics of the campaign?

The Forbes article also mentions Charity Navigator and GuideStar, two websites that, using respective sets of criteria, help you evaluate what charitable programs are most worthwhile to contribute to. One key aspect of Charity Navigator is its reporting of an organization’s financial performance metrics and accountability/transparency metrics. Once established, Charity Navigator uses these numbers to rate the organization on a 70-point scale. GuideStar also lists data reflecting a charity’s finances, but includes other information, such as IRS documentation and leader biographies. Both sites require registration to access all material.

Here are some other ideas on how to ensure that you are making the right choice when it comes to picking a charity to include in your estate, and some guidance on how to incorporate these donations into your estate plan.

First, when it comes to selecting a charity it’s important to look beneath the surface and make an informed decision.  As the Kony 2012 story indicates, nonprofit websites and glossy fundraising brochures often hide stark facts that might make donors nervous.  Ratings systems, such as the ones mentioned above, are a great way for donors to dig deeper.

Another way to do this is to look directly at an organization’s IRS filings. The IRS recently increased filing requirements for nonprofits, requiring more organizations to file 990 forms.  These forms filed with the IRS are public record and give donors greater access to important funding-related considerations such as the organization’s mission statement, financial information, and information on the board of directors.

Our Nonprofit practice works with a variety of nonprofit organizations and private foundations on issues ranging from entity formation and obtaining 501(c)(3) status to nonprofit governance and due diligence on behalf of foundations.

Second—regardless of whether your estate plan includes charitable donations—it’s incredibly important to have well-contemplated estate planning documents in place.

As part of our Estates & Trusts practice, we work with clients to create wills, trusts for children, durable powers of attorney, and advanced directives.  We meet with clients to discuss their particular needs, answering any questions they might have about planning for incapacity and death, drafting appropriate estate planning documents, and executing those documents.  Basically, we handle everything necessary to get your affairs in order.

Please visit our website at www.elliott-davis.com for more information.

 

Pittsburgh Cyberlaw

We love working with technology companies in the greater Pittsburgh region and beyond, and we’re always looking for new ways to add to the services we provide.

More and more, businesses that wouldn’t consider themselves tech companies are encountering legal problems that involve technology and intellectual property.  The same goes for individuals who wouldn’t consider themselves tech-savvy people.  As of December, 2011, Americans spend, on average, almost 30 hours a month using the Internet.  Of those hours, 1 out of every 6 minutes online is spent on social networking websites.  Email, social networking, and e-commerce are becoming more and more essential to our daily lives, and our firm is concentrating its efforts on providing high level service in this area for all our clients.

Photographic evidence of how kids played before computers

Elliott & Davis is very excited to announce that we recently rolled out a new website, Pittsburgh Cyberlaw, and with it launched a new practice area in Cyberlaw—one of a handful in the Pittsburgh area.

Our Cyberlaw practice specializes in legal issues related to cutting-edge technologies, e-commerce, blogging, and intellectual property (IP).   Our firm recognizes the importance of understanding the technology behind the legal issues and strives to deliver services that combine our top-notch legal expertise with real-world technology experience.

The Cyberlaw practice at Elliott & Davis includes the following services:

· Drafting Important Online Legal Documents

o Terms of Service Agreements (TOS Agreements)

o Privacy Policies

o Clickwrap Agreements

o Technology Licensing

· Web, Software, and App Developer Tools

o End User License Agreements (EULAs)

o Software Licensing

o Intellectual Property Services (Copyright and Trademark)

o Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Compliance

o Cybersquatting and UDRP Help

· Blogger and Social Networking Resources

o Free Speech Issues

o Online Defamation

o Censorship

If are interested in learning more about our cyberlaw services or our Cyberlaw Team, please visit our website at www.pittsburghcyberlaw.com or visit our cyberlaw blog at: http://www.pghcyberlaw.tumblr.com.

Referrals are critical to the ongoing success of our business.  Please feel free to forward this post to anyone you think might be interested in learning more about our Cyberlaw practice.

Eric Davis on Allegheny County’s Property Assessment Appeals

As we make our way out of a very mild winter and into spring, I know most of us probably have things on our minds other than taxes, but I wanted to reach out to you to offer help and guidance for dealing with the recent county-wide property tax assessment.  Below is a picture from happier, less taxing times.

My mind on millage and my millage on my mind

If your recent property tax assessment is higher than you expected, you should consider calling us for a free consultation about how to best appeal your property tax reassessment.  We can explain to you how the process works, help you to determine whether it makes sense to file an appeal and decide whether it makes sense for you to spend money on getting an appraisal or hiring an attorney to represent you through the process.

I was shocked when I received my property tax assessment paperwork in the mail.  I purchased my home in Highland Park for $148,500 in 2002.  My current assessed value is $169,100 ($154,100 with the Homestead Exemption).  The new assessment is $265,900!

Your assessed value directly relates to the amount of property tax that you pay.  Generally speaking, for every $10,000 in assessed value assigned to your property, you pay approximately $300 in annual property taxes.  Even a moderate reduction in your assessed value could result in hundreds or even thousands of dollars in annual property tax savings.

The county has a website to help taxpayers.  http://www.alleghenycounty.us/opa/appeals.aspx.

We recognize that property taxes are necessary and pay for important services such as our schools, parks, roads, etc.  However, there is no reason to pay more than your fair share.  If your new assessed value is in excess of what your house is worth, we recommend requesting a FORMAL HEARING by filing this form http://www.alleghenycounty.us/opa/2013NewAppealForm.pdf before April 2, 2012.

To confirm that your appeal form was received, contact the Office of Property Assessments Public Information Line at 412.350.4600 or visit  http://www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/Default.aspx and search your particular property.  While on the website, it is also a good time to confirm that you are receiving the $15,000 Homestead Exemption.   Everyone should seek this exemption for their primary residence.  If you have any questions about the Homestead Exemption, please feel free to ask us.

You can represent yourself at the formal hearing or have our firm represent you for a fixed cost of $350.  To be best prepared for the hearing, it is important to bring evidence regarding what your property is worth.  We recommend getting an appraisal done by a certified appraisal service.  In my opinion, this is the best evidence as to a home’s value.  We can recommend a few appraisers that have a relationship with our firm.  Most charge approximately $350 for single-family homes and $450 for duplexes and multi-unit properties.

If you are not satisfied with the Board’s decision after the formal hearing, you have the right to file an appeal with the Court of Common Pleas.   You should definitely consider hiring an attorney to assist you with an appeal to the Court of Common Pleas.  Our law firm has significant experience litigating property tax assessment appeals in Allegheny County.    The cost for an appeal is fixed at $500.

I hope you found this blog post helpful.  If you could use some help figuring out what to do about your property tax assessment, do not hesitate to call me at 412.434.4911 ext. 11 for a no cost, no obligation consultation.

Please consider Elliott & Davis for all your legal needs.  For more information about our firm, please visit www.elliott-davis.com.

This land was made for you and me…

Occupy Cincinnati Protestors have filed suit against city and police officials for violating their first amendment rights. The source of the suit is the refusal of the city to issue 24-hr permits to protestors in Cincinnati’s Piatt Park, which has resulted in over $20,000 worth of citations against protestors violating the 10pm park curfew.

The outcome of the suit may very well re-shape the occupy movement’s national strategy.

Unlike most occupy camp sites, Cincinnati’s Piatt Park is city-owned. In New York, Zuccotti Park, the epicenter of the Occupy movement, is privately owned by Brookfield Properties. Here in Pittsburgh, Mellon Green is, not surprisingly, owned by BNY Mellon. Though open to the public, these parks are private property, and, so far, the protestors remain there at the largesse of the parks’ respective owners.

Protest organizers worry that park’s owners could revoke their permission to stay at any time. Any resulting legal battle would, most likely, not go in their favor. That is certainly true here in Pennsylvania, where property laws tend to favor owners.  Most importantly, the first amendment’s state action requirement means that such claims could not be advanced against private entities.  Even if the legal claims of the protestors were successful, it could result in a temporary eviction, or to clashes with law enforcement, both of which protestors are dead set on avoiding.

If Occupy Cincinnati is successful in their claim, it may inspire other protestors to de-camp to city owned land. Alternatively, it could severely undermine confidence in the movement’s staying power. Either way, it looks like protestors may have a new home, albeit temporary, at Occupy Courthouse.

Immigration Law Basics

There’s been no shortage of news on immigration law recently.  But rather than get into politics, let’s talk about the facts.

First, how many people are emigrants (those leaving a country) and immigrants (those moving into a new country)?

The answer?  Well, a lot of us. 

According to The New York Times, nearly 190 million people, (roughly 3% of the world’s population), lived outside their country of birth in 2005.  Check out this incredibly cool interactive graphic at the Times website.  It tracks the flow of migration, how different countries stack up in terms of their share of total migrants, and the flow of money sent home by migrants.

Second, if you are someone who is hoping to come to the United States legally, what are your options?

There are a variety of ways to gain lawful immigration status, and if you are seeking advice on these questions, we’d love to get you in touch with one of our immigration law attorneys here in Pittsburgh.  Here are two basic options in terms of visas:

K-1  Visa (Fiance Visa)
A Fiancee Visa (also known as a K1 Visa) is a travel document that allows a foreign Fiancee of a U.S. Citizen to enter the United States for the sole purpose of getting married. Fiancee Visas are generally considered the quickest vehicle to legally bring a foreign fiancée to the U.S. with the intentions of marriage and immigration.

Employment Based Labor Certification and Green Card – The PERM Process
A permanent labor certification issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States. In most instances, before the U.S. employer can submit an immigration petition to the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the employer must obtain an approved labor certification request from the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The DOL must certify to the USCIS that there are no qualified U.S. workers able, willing, qualified and available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for that occupation in the area of intended employment and that employment of the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

Please visit our Pittsburgh Immigration Law website to get more information about the immigration process.

 

 

He Gets the Baseball Team, and She Gets $130 Million

OK, so that’s not the headline for most divorces.

But when the Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt began their divorce proceedings, ownership of the club (to say nothing of the equitable distribution of such a substantial amount of assets) was obviously one of the big issues on the table.  The Los Angeles Times reported recently that the McCourts have reached a divorce settlement under which she would get roughly$130 million and waive any ownership interests in the Dodgers.

And while you may not have the future of a Major League Baseball team hanging in the balance when you look ahead to the divorce process, it should go without saying that going through a divorce or custody matter can be one of the most challenging and uncertain times in your life.

At Elliott & Davis, we’re proud of our Domestic Relations practice group, a group of caring attorneys who are committed to working with clients to help them navigate the process.  Our family law lawyers offer professional services for a number of legal issues including: divorce, custody, child support, spousal support, equitable distribution, settlement agreements, step-parent adoption and protection from abuse.  Feel free to call us today for a free phone consultation – 412-434-4911 ext. 25.

 

 

Lawyers as Innovators: What Law Firms Can Learn From Steve Jobs

When Steve Jobs passed away last week, the world mourned the sudden loss of a great innovator.  The Apple co-founder revolutionized the way we view technology and communicate with one another.

There a lot of lessons that can be taken away from Jobs’s life– personal and professional.  And conversations have already started in the legal community about what lawyers can learn from Steve Jobs.  As Patrick J. Lamb writes in the ABA Journal:

” [...] I wondered if there was a lawyer in private practice anywhere in the country who could be described as a “user-experience savant” in the same manner Jobs is. Probably not. The better question is whether that person is needed. It probably does not surprise you to know that my view is that such a person is needed, now, more than ever.”

And as Elliott & Davis revives Res Ipsa Blogger with this post, we can use this opportunity to reflect on what we offer in terms of “user-experience” and what we aim to deliver in the future.  Lamb throws out a couple of suggestions:

“Transparency. Easily understood fee structures. Cost benefit analysis, showing risk of not doing certain tasks versus cost of doing them. And so on. All in an easy to use, no training needed, cool ‘package.’”

Check, check, check, and– er– getting there.

Yes, we offer simple fee structures, including flat fees wherever we can.  We love them, and so do our clients.  We’re transparent about the services we offer and try to work closely with clients at every step of the way.  And we try to explain risk to our clients in a way that makes sense to them.

As for “coolness,” we try our best– we even have a koi pond.  But we’re lawyers, after all.  Give us some time.

Please feel free to contact Elliott & Davis, PC with all of your legal needs.  We are a full service law firm with expertise in the areas of nonprofit law, civil litigation, corporate law, real estate law, estates & trusts, immigration law, entertainment law, criminal law and domestic relations law.  For more information about these, or any of our other practice areas, please visit our website at: www.elliott-davis.com or call us for a free consultation at 412.434.4911 ext. 25.