Roberson Law Specilizing in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law

Quarterly News

The Ohio Estate Tax Finally Dies 

Funeral

 

They say the two things you can't avoid are death and taxes--but starting on January 1, 2013, some Ohio residents will no longer have to deal with both at the same time. The Ohio estate tax, also known as the "death tax," has been repealed and will cease to exist beginning in 2013.


The current law will remain in effect for decedents who die before January 1, 2013. Under current Ohio law, a six percent estate tax rate applies to any net taxable estate valued above $338,333, and a seven percent estate tax rate applies to those estates with a net taxable value of more than $500,000.  

 

After the new law takes effect, Ohio residents will still need to consider the Federal estate tax, which currently taxes estates greater than $5 million at a rate starting at 35% (The current threshhold of $5 million will revert to $1 million on 1/1/13 unless Congress changes the law.)

 

While it might seem like with the elimination of the Ohio Estate Tax comes a decreased need for estate planning, that is certainly not the case. Smart planning is still essential to ensure your wishes are accomplished after your death.  

 

The repeal of the Ohio estate tax does not eliminate the need to practice prudent planning when it comes to the distribution of assets and the desire to avoid probate.  "Any qualified estate planning professional will tell you that regardless of the absence of the Ohio estate tax, the need to plan will still exist due to complex family relationships, health issues, new marriages, births of children, and deaths of loved ones," advises Nancy Roberson.

 

Written by Kim Cullman, Law Clerk for Roberson Law 

Elderly Woman

Elder Law Services

 

Did you know that we have an entire department dedicated to senior services?

  • Preserve your savings from nursing home costs
  • Keep your home in the family
  • Know when to apply for Medicaid
  • Receive help finding the right nursing home and managing your bills

Check out our blog and our new Elder Law page on our website! 


Click
here to view our informative, interactive website and our video on YouTube.    

 

Roberson Law Video
Widows' Support Groups

This is a reminder that two widows' support groups are now serving the Miami Valley.

The Young Widows' Support Group meets on the first Thursday of each month from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Normandy United Methodist Church, located at 450 West Alex-Bell Road, Centerville, Ohio.

 

The Widows' Support Group meets on the first Friday of each month from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Normandy United Methodist Church, located at 450 West Alex-Bell Road, Centerville, Ohio.

For more information about the Young Widows' Support Group, visit the website, call Pam Walker at 937.434.7981, or email DaytonYWSG@aol.com.

 

For further information about the Widows' Support Group, call or email Sherry Matsel at 937.878.9707 or imboo25@yahoo.com.



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Congratulations, Nancy
 Roberson, on your
 

new position as Chairperson of the Dayton Bar Association Probate Committee!

 

News You Can Use
In This Issue:
  • The Ohio Estate Tax Finally Dies  
  • Two Weddings and a Funeral (sort of)  
  • Up in Smoke: Surviving the Fire of Loss 
  • Estate Planning and Elder Law Advice...by Telephone?
  • Elder Law Services 
  • Nancy Roberson Keeps Busy Serving the Community
  • Widows' Support Groups

Two Weddings and a Funeral (sort of)  

 Two Weddings

This past spring, the halls of Roberson Law were filled with happy tears and laughter as not one, but two employees made the announcement of pending nuptials.

 

Attorney Kristina Rainer was the first to make the announcement that after three and one-half years of dating her boyfriend, Joe Womeldorf, Joe finally popped the question.  Joe and Kristina will be getting married on June 9, 2012, in Cincinnati.

 

Law Clerk Kim Cullman was second in line to announce that her boyfriend, Adam Estess, whom she met while attending law school at U.D., had gotten on one bended knee on the golf course to propose to her.  Kim and Adam will be getting married on May 19, 2012, in Centerville.

 

Now that we've made the announcement about the two weddings, you're probably asking, "Okay, now what about the funeral?"  The funeral pertains to the death of the dreaded Ohio estate tax. (Please forgive our dry humor; we are attorneys, so we can't help it.)  As the proceeding article of this newsletter states, on January 1, 2013, the pesky Ohio estate tax will have finally be put to rest. 

 

While the death of the Ohio estate tax is a big deal, in an office full of women, having two employees getting married within two weeks of one another is an even bigger deal.  That being said, if you see either Kristina or Kim while you are visiting our office, please don't forget to offer them your congratulations!

Fire

Up in Smoke: Surviving the Fire of Loss 

 

 Nancy Roberson is a contributing author for Living With Loss Magazine.  In the magazine, Nancy has a column titled, "You Don't Know What You Don't Know," for which she biannually writes an article.  

 

The most recent edition of the magazine featured Nancy's latest article titled, Up in Smoke: Surviving the Fire of Loss, which is about her close friends' journey through the tragedy of losing their home of 40 years to a fire.  

 

With the help of her friends who were affected by the fire, Nancy wrote the following article.  Although losing a home to a fire is certainly not the same as losing a loved one, Nancy gives some tips in her article about what helps and what doesn't help when a person experiences a loss of this nature.   

 

On a side note, after this article was written, Nancy's friends re-built their home on the same location and will be celebrating moving into their new home soon!

Estate Planning and Elder Law Advice...by Telephone? 

Telephone

 

Have you ever had a legal question that didn't require an hour-long meeting to get answered?  Are you frustrated because you called our office to schedule an appointment and were told that it would be months before you could get in to meet with an attorney?  Do you have transportation issues that prohibit you from coming to our office?

 

Fret no more...

 

Starting September 1, 2011, the attorneys at Roberson Law have launched a new consultation service, for established clients only, that allows for one-on-one telephone appointments with an attorney within 48 hours (some restrictions apply) of the request for an appointment.  Just call the office and mention that you would like to schedule a telephone appointment, and our staff will attempt to find a convenient time for you to speak with one of our attorneys.

 

Legal advice has the same value whether it is given by telephone or in person, so we charge the same fee for a telephone conference that we do for a face-to-face consultation.  The only difference is that you are in the comfort of your own home or office.  By having a telephone appointment, you don't have to allow time to travel, you don't have to get a sitter for the kids, and heck, you don't even have to take the rollers out of your hair!

 

As a reminder, whether you have a consultation with us in person or by telephone, we only bill for the time spent discussing your legal matters.  We do not bill you for time spent chatting about your upcoming vacation, your new grandchild, your new addition to your home, or any other exciting news that you wish to discuss with us that is not related to your legal matter.  In addition, unlike many law firms, we do not round up the time we spend in consultations to the nearest quarter or half hour.  We bill our time to the exact minute.

 

To encourage clients to utilize our new "advice by telephone" service, we are offering 10% off any telephone conference scheduled for the month of September.  Please just make sure to mention this offer when you schedule your appointment.

Nancy Roberson Keeps Busy Serving the Community... Speaking

 

Summer is traditionally a slow month for speaking engagements due to vacations and summer activities.  However, Nancy would like to thank Bethany Village, the Alzheimer's Association, and Sinclair Community College for inviting her to speak at their facilities these past few months.

 

In the last newsletter, we wrote about the unique topics about which Nancy has been asked to speak.  In this newsletter, we would like to highlight a new workshop that Nancy is offering to give (once again, for free) to the community.  The new workshop is specifically about Health Care Directives due to the increasing demand that our office has had lately for these documents.  To read more about this workshop, click here

 

If you would like to have Nancy speak at your next event, please call or email Amy Cary at acary@dayton-attorney.com to book your event.  As always, we never charge a fee for our professional speaking services, and we only require a minimum of ten people to attend in order to book an event.  You may also go to our speaking engagements page on our website to read some testimonials from past attendees and to obtain more information about speaking engagement opportunities.
Roberson Law Dayton Ohio
Staff 
 

Our mission is to  provide excellent, compassionate legal services to help people plan for the unexpected and prepare for the inevitable.
All material in this newsletter is Copyright � 2011 by Nancy A. Roberson. All rights reserved.