Features
Recent Bankruptcy Trends
The era of 'easy money' may be coming to an end soon, as there are signs of increasing economic pressure in certain sectors of the economy. At the same time, the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), the principle provisions of which became effective in October 2005, is fundamentally changing certain aspects of the Chapter 11 process. Although no one is able to predict with certainty what will happen in the restructuring field in the near future, here are some of the signs that the bankruptcy field is about to undergo a substantial change.
Features
Decisions of Interest
Recent rulings that may affect your practice.
Features
Divorce Lawyers' Obligation to Children
Do divorce lawyers have an obligation to disclose client confidences when it is in the best interests of the client's child to do so? The short answer of the rules of professional responsibility is 'no' because a 'yes' answer is deemed to be fundamentally inconsistent with the premises of the adversary system in which the divorce lawyer functions. The longer answer is that the rules encourage ' but do not require ' a divorce lawyer to counsel the client to authorize the disclosure because it is in the best interests of both parent and child.
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FERPA, Custody, and Access to Education Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 USC ' 1232g), more commonly referred to as FERPA, is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. FERPA applies to all schools that receive public funding. FERPA's terms contradict the commonly held belief that a non-custodial parent's right to a child's education record is defined only by the text of the stipulation of settlement or court order.
Domestic Abuse Victims
Battered women and men suffer not only at home, but often at their places of employment, where the stresses they are under may affect their work. These people might be prone to increased absenteeism due to emotional stress, injury or controlling domestic partners who do things like turn off the alarm clock, refuse at the last minute to watch the children or take the car when it's needed to get to the job. The abuser may also come to the workplace, or threaten to do so, requiring the employer to increase security, deal with ugly scenes, or worse. Consequently, it is not hard to see why a victim of domestic violence or emotional abuse is not going to be an employer's top choice to fill a position or get a promotion. However, even though the employment situation for victims of domestic abuse is not always optimum, there are some statutory and common-law protections available.
Features
Court Tosses Federal Tax Statute covering Emotional Damages
It is not every day that a Circuit Court of Appeals sets aside as unconstitutional a federal tax statute. When the taxability of untold millions of dollars of personal injury settlements and verdicts is affected, people generally take note. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Aug. 22 struck down as unconstitutional an amendment made to Code ' 104(a)(2) (All references to the Code are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended). If the decision stands, it could be one of the most significant tax developments in decades.
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