Features

The income tax effect of cash payments made by one spouse in a divorce proceeding to the other is determined under section 71 of the Internal Revenue Code. To be taxable to the recipient of the payments as alimony, and deductible by the payor, the payments must meet the four requirements of section 71(b)(1). Of these requirements, the one that has caused the most difficulty is found in section 71(b)(1)(D): there can be "no liability to make any such payment after the death of the payee spouse ... " nor can there be any liability to make a substitute payment.

Features

As reported on these pages late last year, on Nov. 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided <i>Goodridge v. Department of Public Health</i>, holding, in a 4-3 decision, that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts violated the state's constitution.

Features

In-house counsel focused on complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be wary of falling into a trap that could increase the business risks and liability exposure of their company and its executives.

Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.

The latest rulings of interest to your practice.

Features

Are ethics programs no longer optional but mandatory? If the program is not good enough, is that fact itself the basis for liability? A recent civil case filed by the creative health care prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia asserts that a company's "ineffective" compliance program satisfies the scienter requirements of the civil False Claims Act (FCA).

Recent hearings of a subcommittee of the Senate Committee Governmental Affairs have again focused a harsh spotlight on the abusive use of tax shelters. As if to stress the point, On Dec. 29, 2003, the Treasury Department proposed changes to Circular 230 that "set high standards for the tax advisors and firms that provide opinions supporting tax-motivated transactions."

A guide to everything in this issue.