| Volume 132 Number 7 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Even if you don’t pay rent, a landlord may not lock you out. A landlord may change the locks but must make a key available to the tenant to come and go 24-hours a day. Click here for more.
Scandal Fallout? Wells Fargo Checking Account Opens Down 31% In January
Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC)'s fake account scandal was one of the biggest business news stories of 2016, while the media backlash appears to have blown over, that doesn’t mean it hasn't affected the brand. According to the latest data from Reuters, consumer checking account opens in January were down 31 percent, a massive figure given the scope of the bank.
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Your Money
Filing separately could give some couples a lower tax bill. Virtually all married couples file their taxes jointly, but sometimes, splitting up those returns might make sense financially. While there are rules to follow for filing separately, some instances may make it worth your time. These include if you’re enrolled in an income-based student loan repayment plan, filing separately could reduce your monthly bill. High earners may also benefit from filing separately, especially if you and your spouse are high earners, because many deductions and credits phase out above certain AGIs. If you have high medical expenses, generally you can deduct medical expenses but only the portion that exceeds 10% of your AGI. Lastly, if your spouse brought overdue taxes into the relationship you may want to file separately so that the IRS doesn’t take your refund away and apply it to your spouse’s overdue bill. However, if you live in a community property state (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, or WI), state law may nullify most advantages of filing separately by requiring couples filing separately to each report half of the income of both spouses earned. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
The Sixth District Court of Appeals in Texas recently held a settlor's extra-contractual DTPA and Insurance Code claims were not barred by res judicata because he did not assign or relinquish his claims to the trustee when he created the trust, as he only assigned or relinquished those rights, title, and interest in and to the life insurance policies that constituted incidents of ownership for estate tax purposes. To accomplish this purpose Lee had to assign and/or relinquish all "right, title, and interest in and to said policies" which constituted "incidents of ownership" under Section 2042, and because the extra-contractual causes of action at issue here are not "incidents of ownership" of the Policies as defined by federal law, then Lee did not assign those extra-contractual causes of action to the Trustee, and he has standing to assert them in this litigation. Motion for rehearing disposed. Lee v. Rogers Agency (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2017). Click here for more.