• managerial positions;
• positions with the Justice Department;
• law enforcement positions,
• a position for which the information contained in the report is required by some other law to be disclosed or obtained;
• a position which involves regular access to bank or credit card information, social security numbers, and dates of birth;
• a position involving making banking transactions and financial contracts for the employer;
• jobs which involve access to confidential or proprietary information; and
• a position that involves regular access to cash totaling ten thousand dollars or more of the employer, customer or client, such as a bank teller.

The complete text of the new law is available on California’s Legislation website.

Out of the mouths of babes:

So, when I saw this joke, I knew we had to include in our Friday Funnies posts!

A woman walked into her attorney’s office asking for an estate plan.  He said he would be happy to assist her, but he required a $5,000 retainer.  She wrote the check and gave it to him.  He thanked her and asked her to tell him about her estate.  She replied, “You just took it.”

From “The Complete Book of Wills, Estates & Trusts” by Alexander A. Bove, Jr., Esq.

A CONTRACTOR IN HEAVEN

A contractor dies on a fishing accident on his 40th birthday and finds himself greeted at the Pearly Gates by a brass band.

Saint Peter runs over, shakes his hand and says “Congratulations!”

“Congratulations for what?” asks the contractor.

“Congratulations for what?” says Saint Peter. “We are celebrating the fact that you lived to be 160 years old.”

“But that’s not true,” says the consultant. “I only lived to be forty.”

“That’s impossible,” says Saint Peter, “we added up your time sheets.”

The practice of law (especially a family-oriented practice like Robinson – Thatcher, LLP) is so frequently filled with such emotionally draining issues like divorce, custody battles and bankruptcy) that I decided to bring back the Friday Funnies on a slightly bigger scale.   Instead of limiting my post to Facebook, I’m bringing it to the Robinson – Thatcher blog as a whole.  So tune in on Fridays for a little bit of levity.

For the first post in this feature, I thought I would put up a tried and true bit of humor that I found around the web.  Thanks to Maxine for the image.  I think my Aunt Julie would have got a kick out of it – she was always the life of the party.

If you think you may need to file bankruptcy, you’ve got lots of company.

According the Bankruptcy Data Project at Harvard University, during calendar year 2009, 1,016,105 individual Chapter 7 petitions were filed. In 2010, the figure climbed to 1,101,534. Most Chapter 7 individual petitions were filed by people who primarily had consumer debt. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a debtor’s assets are liquidated and the nonexempt proceeds are distributed to creditors. With California’s unemployment crisis continuing, it seems likely the figure will continue to rise in 2011. The following are some common reasons people end up needing to file bankruptcy.

With that frame of mind, when I recently read an article on the importance of elder care, and selecting the right provider, it started me thinking about my dad’s illness and the lessons I learned from the examples he and my mom set.

Living Trust

My parents had a “living” trust to take care of the financial aspects of death.  I previously discussed Living Trusts and other necessary estate planning documents, here.

Advance Health Care Directives

My both my mom and dad had advance care directives and medial peers of attorney allowing each other to make necessary medical care decisions. Just as important as having the legal documents in place, my parents discussed their wishes with each other (and me).

Before giving someone the power to make decisions on your behalf, make sure that person knows how YOU would make the decisions.

Long Term Care Insurance

My parents invested in long term care insurance. This insurance became vital in my dad’s illness. When they first purchased the insurance, I thought it was a great idea to help me when it came time to paying for a nursing home for them!

As it turned out, they needed the insurance sooner than expected, because my father passed away when he was only 65 (in no sense of the word was my father “elderly”). However, he did fight a ten year battle with cancer. When we learned that the cancer has spread to his lungs and liver and that the chemotherapy was more likely to kill him than save him, dad insisted on coming home (despite the fact that most of the hospital staff thought he should go to a rehab facility or nursing home).

Dad was too weak and ill to care for himself, my mom arranged for his care through a combination of hospice care and a wonderful in home care provider Visiting Angels in Orlando, FL.   As you might imagine, 24 hour, in home care can be costly.  Although, medicare covered some of the expense, my mom was able to pay for Dad’s care because she and my dad had the foresight to invest in long term care insurance.

At Robinson – Thatcher, LLP our mission is to bring peace to your family. Part of that mission is to ensure that our clients, friends, and neighbors have the necessary tools in place to enable their peace of mind knowing that their families are taken are of as they would wish.

Wishing you peace.