It comes up often. Maybe more often than not. “Under Illinois law, a former spouse’s designation as a beneficiary to a life insurance policy is not automatically terminated upon divorce,” write Lauren J. Wolven and Ashley E. Crettol in the August 2010 issue of the ISBA Trusts and Estates Section newsletter. “Unfortunately, it is also a common occurrence that the named beneficiary is never changed following divorce." But death waits for no man. Or woman. Whether or not he or she has changed his or her life insurance beneficiary.
“As a result of these two factors,” they continue, “litigation is common in this area as a result of competing claims for the proceeds of life insurance policies – ex-spouses who remain the designated beneficiary claim that they are entitled to the proceeds while other family members or subsequent spouses assert that they are the intended beneficiary.”
They go on to discuss Illinois law on the issue and a recent case from the northern district, Richard v Martindale, No 09 CV 4159 (ND Ill, June 14, 2010). The husband in that case never got around to removing his ex-wife as the named beneficiary of his life insurance policy. The court held that a divorce decree that "waived a spouse’s beneficial interest to a life insurance policy trumped any subsequent inference that the spouse remained the intended beneficiary,” Wolven and Crettol write, a ruling that “confirms Illinois’ current law regarding the issue.”
A key practice takeaway, according to the authors: make sure your client’s divorce decree includes a waiver like the one in Martindale.
Practice News
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August 10, 2010 |
Practice News
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August 9, 2010 |
Practice News
I just finished reading The Plain English Guide by Martin Cutts this weekend. Good little book. A couple of his passages jumped out at me quoting complaints about legal writing from the 15th and 19th centuries. I thought they would be worth sharing.
- "In 1550, after only three years on the throne of England, Edward VI had become so exasperated with the law that he remarked: 'I would wish that the superfluous and tedious statutes were made more plain and short, to the intent that men might better understand them.'"
- "'Excrementitious garbage' was how Jeremy Bentham described legal English in the nineteenth century."
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August 6, 2010 |
Practice News
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald announced Friday that Gov. Pat Quinn has restored $20 million to the Supreme Court’s current budget to help fund probation services throughout the state. The governor responded to an appeal by the Chief Justice for the second year in a row to add funds for probationary services to remain a viable component of public safety. For Fiscal Year 2011, the legislature appropriated $36.4 million to the Supreme Court for grants and awards, including probation services. That is the same amount it appropriated last year, and less than half of what had been appropriated for probation services in 2002. In a letter to the governor last month asking to increase funds under the governor’s statutory budget authority, the Chief Justice noted that even with the additional funds last year 90 probation officer jobs throughout the state were eliminated because of a shortfall of funding. “I am compelled to once again write, with an even more heightened sense of urgency and concern for probation’s continued viability and capacity to promote public safety,” the Chief Justice said in a letter to the governor dated July 7, 2010. “Absent an additional allocation of funds in Fiscal Year 2011, there will be a compounded and an accelerated deterioration in probation services. This predictable sequence will begin with a loss of probation officer jobs and the attendant increase in caseload size, reductions in both frequency and quality of offender supervision, and heightened threats to public safety.”
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August 6, 2010 |
Practice News
A podcast that I listen to while driving is Mignon Fogarty's Grammar Girl. She makes this stuff fun. I thought her July 15th podcast was terrific in which she gives these three tips for clear and concise writing. (1) Front-load your copy so that the most important information is first or easy to spot. (2) Organize your copy for readers who skim. (3) Cut anything not pulling its weight. You can also print this episode, and if all you do is follow its advice, you're way ahead of the curve.
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August 5, 2010 |
Practice News
By Shamla Naidoo Many of us use numerous "free" services offered by Google. But we don’t always consider the hidden cost to our privacy. The obvious example is the Google search engine, which tracks every search you make. Other examples include Google Voice, a phone service that tracks every call you receive, and voicemail service that archives your messages. Gmail manages your email, your contacts, and your schedule. Google Maps shows your real-time position on a map, helps you find nearby points of interest, and provides driving and walking directions. It offers real-time traffic information and identifies nearby real estate for sale. Google Latitude lets you share location information, and to see where friends are from your computer or smart phone. While these services enable social interaction on many levels and may increase productivity, there is a cost. You give up your information in return for the “free” service. Google services are offered with terms and conditions, which I recommend reviewing periodically. They include details about what information is collected, how long it is retained, etc. From their Q&A: How does Google protect my privacy? At Google, we are keenly aware of the trust our users place in us, and our responsibility to protect their privacy. We believe transparency and choice are the foundations of privacy. To help you make informed decisions about your own privacy, we work to let you know what information we collect when you use our products and services and how we use that information to improve your service.
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August 4, 2010 |
Practice News
I hope you all read ISBA member Phil Hamilton's article about his turn at jury service in the June 2010 Illinois Bar Journal. (It's here if you missed it.) Phil describes his stint as a juror and the sometimes surprising lessons it taught him about lawyering. That got us at the IBJ thinking: what about lawyers who have played other nonlawyer roles in the justice system? Lawyer as deponent, lawyer as witness, lawyer as client, and so on. Wouldn't it be interesting to hear from ISBA members who have fresh experience of this kind, we wondered, especially if it gave them a new perspective on how to be lawyer? "I was the client from hell. Okay, not quite. But here's what I learned about serving clients -- about what matters to them -- that I didn't really understand before...." Have you done this kind of role-reversal lately? Did it make you a better lawyer? Are you willing to write about it? If so, and if you're an ISBA member, we'd like to hear from you. Send me an e-mail at mmathewson@isba.org.
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August 4, 2010 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. Everyone seems to be working hard in our firm but it seems like we are not making any money. Do you have ideas or tips on what we can do better? A. Regardless of firm size, focus is the key to success and improved profitability. It is hard to serve two masters – clients and the business of your firm. Here are a few ideas.
- Never eat lunch alone. Have lunch every day with clients, prospective clients, referral sources or members of your team.
- Take our time management self test. Begin working on your problem areas one behavior at a time. Time is money.
- Enter you time daily into you time and billing system - both billable and non-billable - as you work. Don't go home until you have accounted for an entire day. You may be dropping 10-25% potential revenue.
- Look for ways to brand yourself - dare to be different. With the internet you really can expand your base beyond your local community.
- Set a few goals and hold yourself and your team accountable.
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August 3, 2010 |
Practice News
By Barbara O. Slanker Are you finding yourself in a quandary? You've reached 65 and have the financial resources to retire. The cost of ARDC registration and professional association dues are expensive and MCLE costs and malpractice insurance coverage are increasing relentlessly. Plus the thrill of the challenge of tackling a new legal problem has dimmed. But when you face the reality of retiring and stopping practice altogether, you realize that you really don't want to stop practicing completely. Hence, the quandary. Recognizing this situation, the Supreme Court has provided a solution with Supreme Court Rule 756(j). This Rule waives payment of ARDC registration and the minimum continuing legal education requirement when the retired/inactive attorney does pro bono cases. The procedure for attorneys seeking pro bono services under the provision of the Rule is set out in paragraph (3). The authorization must be renewed annually, and the renewal procedure is in subparagraph (4). Rule 756(j) defines pro bono cases as ones the attorney takes without a charge or expectation of a fee, and the cases are brought by persons of limited means or organizations that provide services for persons of limited means. The attorney must work under the auspices of a sponsoring entity which is defined in the Rule as an appropriate legal service agency, government, law school or bar association program. This entity provides training and support for the attorney, and it screens the persons who are eligible for pro bono legal services.
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August 2, 2010 |
Practice News
As college expenses increase, so will litigation over who foots how much of junior's bill after the divorce. Kelli Gordon's article in the latest ISBA Family Law newsletter is a handy summary of the issues outlined in the IMDMA and the cases. For example, Kelli points out that while the courts used to favor in-state over out-of-state schools, the trend is to focus on the value of the training rather than the locus of the institution. Thus, she writes, "you may want to have a dean from the school testify regarding the specifics of the particular program the child wishes to follow." Read Kelli's article, entitled "Who is going to pay for college?"
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July 30, 2010 |
Practice News
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman announced Friday the formation of a judicial screening committee to help fill a vacancy in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Justice Garman established the screening committee to assess the qualifications of those persons who have applied for appointment to the Circuit Court vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Thomas Appleton to the Fourth District Appellate Court in June. Under the Illinois Constitution, the vacancy will be filled by Supreme Court appointment. After the committee has received public input, gathered information and interviewed each of the applicants, it will report its findings to Justice Garman, who will make a recommendation to the Supreme Court from among those applicants submitting their credentials to the committee. The person appointed will serve until the General Election to be held in November 2012.