The Federal Club positions is:

“Board of Governors member for The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) based in Raleigh, NC seeks an intern to assist with a major donor fundraising program to further the cause of equality for the LGBT community. Ideal candidate is energetic with strong organizational and detail skills, an outgoing personality, and consistent availability to handle tasks on a weekly and monthly basis. Event planning skills are also a must for 1-2 major fundraising events per year, and familiarity with social media is a plus. Duties include assisting in the creation and execution of an ongoing donor contact program, coordinating with members of the local and national HRC organizations, and occasional newsletter/web article writing, and some general assistant duties from time to time. This is a volunteer position for 5-10 hours per week (sometimes more in the lead up to events, sometimes less during off-event months) with an opportunity to network with movers and shakers in the NC LGBT community and beyond. Resume and any questions to nclawyer@earthlink.net.”

The two political positions are:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.–Margaret Mead.

Board of Governors member for The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) based in Raleigh, NC seeks two interns to assist with the political fight to defeat the anti-marriage amendment on the May 8, 2012 ballot. Ideal candidate is energetic with strong organizational and detail skills, an outgoing personality, and a strong desire to fight for LGBT equality. Duties include assisting in the creation of a volunteer recruitment, training, and mobilization strategy; assisting in the management of phone banking and door to door canvassing activities; and duties of note-taking, meeting minutes writing and distribution, and scheduling meetings in conjunction with the member’s business staff. This is a volunteer position for 5-10 hours per week with more time needed during late March, all of April and the first week of May (and must be 100% available on May 8, 2012). This is an incredible opportunity to network with movers and shakers in the LGBT and political communities and to learn from some of the top grassroots organizational people in NC and beyond. Resume and any questions to nclawyer@earthlink.net.”

There should be no second class citizens in North Carolina or in the United States, and this is exactly what the constitutional amendment would enshrine. As much energy and commitment as Mr. Marsocci has for equality, he cannot do it alone and needs help. Please consider volunteering or passing this along to people who may be interested.

“Every two months in 2012, our office will create a trust-based life and estate planning system for a domestic partner or married couple at a greatly reduced rate for new Federal Club members who live in North Carolina,” Mr. Marsocci said. “Normally, my office charges $3,000 to $3,500 for such a complete system, but with the $1,200 donation to the Human Rights Campaign our office will only charge $750. That’s more than $1,000 discount for this type of plan even with the donation to HRC.”

Because of the extensive work involved both for Mr. Marsocci and the rest of the office, only six plans in 2012 will be eligible for this discount. In addition, in signing up for the Federal Club program the clients have to state that the law office and Mr. Marsocci referred them. “This is a time when HRC needs all of the help it can get because it is giving all of the support to North Carolina that it can,” Mr. Marsocci said. “There are already so many committed members of the Federal Club, but we need even more help. Unfortunately, we can’t extend this offer to existing Federal Club members but only new members.”

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s most prominent civil rights group advocating for LGBT equality, and Mr. Marsocci is a member of the Board of Governors for HRC. In addition, he represents HRC as a member of the advisory board of Protect NC Families to fight the amendment.

Warning Signs of Unsafe Driving

Driving demands good judgment, quick reaction time and split-second decision making. Because of the progressive nature of Alzheimer’s, a person with the disease will eventually not be able to drive. It is often difficult to decide when to stop or limit driving. To help make this decision, get a driving evaluation from a certified professional. Contact the Alzheimer’s Association for referrals to organizations in your community that can perform these evaluations.

Warning signs of unsafe driving

The following behaviors may be signs that it is time to stop driving:

• Forgetting how to locate familiar places
• Failing to observe traffic signals
• Making slow or poor decisions
• Driving at inappropriate speeds
• Becoming angry and confused while driving
• Hitting curbs
• Using poor lane control
• Making errors at intersections
• Confusing the brake and gas pedals
• Returning from a routine drive later than usual

Tips to limit driving

Losing the independence driving provides can be upsetting and it may
be hard to give up the car keys. If the person with dementia insists on
driving, caregivers, friends or family members may need to take extra steps:

• Encourage law enforcement to issue a citation.
• Ask a doctor to write the person a “do not drive” prescription.
• Control access to the car keys.
• Disable the car by removing the distributor cap or battery.
• Keep the car out of sight. Seeing the car may act as a visual cue to drive.
• Have the person tested by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

It is important to learn about other modes of transportation before it is time to stop driving. Make plans for other modes of transportation, such as rides from family members, friends or community services.

“I wonder, what kind of music do my elderly parents listen to when they are in the mood for music……..”. “That’s the $64,000question” (an old saying from the time).

Most of the time a short trip to the living room, den or garage may hold the key to elderly music. Sometimes there can be a shelf or shelves full of the answer…… long playing (LP) albums from Tommy Dorsey, Nat King Cole or many others.

At other times a quick look reveals nothing as the “Stereophonic” player was sold with the LPs long ago, thrown or given away to a neighbor as a moving away gesture.

As a caregiver to elderly parents, it is important to help them be as comfortable as possible when they are becoming more sedentary and listening and cognitive skills may not be what they were. Crafts for the elderly parent or games for the elderly can be enhanced with music from their era. Keep in mind that “their era” could encompass several decades of time, say from the 30’s,40’s, 50’s, and early 60’s.

A good game of Sudoku, bridge, canasta or putting together a puzzle while listening to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, by The Andrew Sisters or Sentimental Journey by Les Brown may be just the thing to make the game complete or the day go by. Personal preference plays a large role in the choosing of the selections to play. Some love the selections below and will be satisfied, others will want more “modern” music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin or Tony Bennett. Do not hesitate to ask as memories of one song or album may disturb or otherwise be objectionable to the elderly parent. Most elderly music however, will be a soothing and positive experience on its own or in combination with games for the elderly.

A partial list of Swing Era Hits include:

New San Antonio Rose – Bob Wills
White Christmas – Bing Crosby
Body and Soul – Coleman Hawkins
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – The Andrews Sisters
Deep in the Heart of Texas – Alvino Ray
Oklahoma! – From the Musical
Goodnight Irene – Leadbelly
Salt Peanuts – Dizzy Gillespie
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah – Johnny Mercer
This Land is your Land – Woody Guthrie

www.boomers-with-elderly-parents.com

To: The children of John Doe
From: The Internal Revenue Service
Re: Estate evaluation and Thanks
Date: November 30, 2013

We at the IRS would like to express our deepest condolences on the death of your father in January of this year. As a part of a new program, we are now required to give thanks to the heirs of decedents along with information on how the deceased party and their heirs could have saved on taxes. Of course, this letter is only sent after all opportunities to correct these mistakes have lapsed.

First, the U.S. Government is profoundly grateful for the $1,100,000 your father donated to it in the form of estate taxes. By using his real estate attorney to draft simple wills rather than a more experienced attorney focused on the field of estate planning, your parents lost out on a massive opportunity to utilize both of their $1 million estate tax exemptions. While there were no estate taxes due when your mother passed on, having a simple will meant everything went to your father without any estate tax savings provisions. Had your parents used credit shelter trust provisions, your mother’s half of the then-$2 million estate would have captured and applied her estate tax credits. Instead, the “extra” $1 million she could have sheltered became part of your father’s estate resulting in $550,000 in estate taxes. Again, the IRS appreciates this donation.

Next, the other $550,000 in taxes paid to the U.S. Government was from the additional $1 million that your father had in life insurance on top of the $2 million estate. While many life insurance agents are cheerful to say life insurance is tax free, what they mean is that life insurance is income tax free to the recipient. Owning and controlling the policy means that the payout value is included in the taxable estate. Had your parent’s inquired further about an irrevocable life insurance trust, they may have set one up to be the owner of the policy and avoided the 55% tax. So once again, the IRS thanks you for the more than $1 million in unnecessary estate taxes.

And speaking of income taxes, we also greatly appreciate your own donations totaling more than $150,000 in the form of income taxes. When your father named you as the direct beneficiaries of his retirement accounts, he intended to avoid probate. However, there were some significant income tax savings he could have passed on to you through an IRA Trust but did not. Instead, you did exactly what the U.S. Government hoped you would do and cashed the checks from the investment company and spent the money. If the funds had gone into an IRA Trust, then the funds could be set up in a tax-deferred account called an Inherited IRA and only small taxable portions would have to be taken out each year. Instead by cashing the check you provided the federal government with income taxes up front with no ability to have the accounts grow tax-deferred. So for the donation and especially for giving up decades of tax-deferred growth, the IRS thanks you.

As for using Wills instead of a revocable living trust, that has resulted in some indirect benefits for the IRS as well. Your parents’ estates have lost tens of thousands of dollars paying attorneys to handle the probate work that resulted from using Wills. While the probate court processes could have been completely avoided through use of a revocable living trust, there is now a lot more income going to the attorneys which will come to us in the form of increases on their income tax forms.

In summary, the IRS is extraordinarily grateful to you and your parents for not arranging your affairs in a more tax-friendly, tax-efficient, and bureaucracy-avoiding manner to the point we collected an extra (and unnecessary) $1,300,000 and more in taxes. In these tough economic times, we need all the tax money we can get to buy $1,200 hammers and $3,000 toilet seats. For this, especially during this time of Thanksgiving, we wanted you to know how thankful we are to you and your parents for arranging your affairs to provide maximum taxes to the federal government.

Sincerely,

Irving Robert Sinclair
IRS Agent

We talk about A Thank you letter from the IRS (Fictional, of course) and our new site www.EZNCWills.com

The newsletter can be accessed here.

“These days, people are often too busy to spend time at an attorney’s office and are reluctant to pay legal fees to get basic life and estate planning information when they can get the information online in the comfort of their own home,” Senior Attorney Jeffrey G. Marsocci said. “To do their own research, people are more and more searching the Internet for answers, and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to get this information all in one place.”

In addition to making things easier to get the right information, using the www.EZNCWills.com website cuts down on costs for the client without sacrificing the personal knowledge and skill of having an attorney in the process… something lacking in computer-generated document services like Legal Zoom. “By cutting down on the personal time the attorney has to spend reviewing the basic legal information, the attorney can instead focus on actually providing legal advice to the client and not charge as much as most other law firms. Plus, we can eliminate the possibility of the documents not being signed properly because the signing of the documents can be done at the Raleigh or Asheville offices with no additional cost.”

A Simple Will Package through www.EZNCWills.com includes a Simple Will, a Healthcare Power of Attorney, A Financial Power of Attorney, a Nomination of Conservator document and a Living Will/Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death. The price for an individual is $275 and the price for a couple (married or not) is $500 to get these documents for both people. But until December 31, 2011, when providing payment information, simply tell the caller there is a coupon code “NCBASIC” and the price will be lowered to $249 for an individual or $449 for a couple. If more than a Simple Will Package is needed, for example the desire to avoid probate using a revocable living trust, then we would refer people to our main firm website at www.livingtrustlawfirm.com.

Ever notice how an older adult sometimes refuses to respond to your questions and suggestions, instead giving you a knee-jerk “No!” Partly, this is a control issue. At a time in life marked by losses (of independence, strength, help, peers, social status), refusal to give in can be the only measure of control a person may feel he or she has.
Especially when pressed to go along with something, your loved one may feel needlessly cornered. What works better: Back off. Raise the issue and then, before giving your own opinion, ask your loved one to think about it. Don’t insist or badger. Present options. Ask, “What do you think?” Let it rest and come back to it later

Set up began Thursday evening in The Girls Club’s cafeteria by hanging black plastic sheeting for walls in a horseshoe pattern that would take the children on a tour from the back door of the cafeteria around the kitchen counter and then across the back of the room to an entrance leading into the main part of the Girls Club. Friday afternoon brought more volunteers to cut out panels in the sheeting and setting up props and scenery for the “Area 51” alien-themed adventure. By six o’clock, the students were in costume, complete with make-up, and for the next two hours provided a scary experience for the children, parents, and staff of the Girls Club.

“For many years, the students of NC State Circle K have helped the Girls Club provided a safe, fun, Halloween alternative for boys and girls in the community,” Raleigh Kiwanis Club Circle K Committee member Jeffrey G. Marsocci said. “With a lot of creativity, imagination, and hard work, the haunted house is always one of the most enjoyable and impactful Circle K events of the year.”

Nearly 20 Circle K members, Jeffrey Marsocci, as well as Kathy Marsocci and Melissa Hallman from the Kiwanis Young Professionals of Raleigh worked on the haunted house and helped the night of the event.

As part of the body overseeing HRC’s activities in North Carolina, I come into this position just in time to help fight the constitutional amendment on the May 8, 2012 primary ballot. In conjunction with Equality NC and many other allied groups, HRC will take a prominent role in fighting the Anti-Marriage Amendment. Already, HRC devoted significant resources in the fight to keep the amendment off the ballot in the first place. Here’s what HRC has done so far and will do in the weeks to come:

• Provided $100,000 in donations to Equality NC for its lobbying efforts against the amendment
• “Loaned out” six paid HRC staff members to work on the lobbying efforts under the supervision of Equality NC
• Be a part of the coalition of non-profits known as Protect North Carolina Families who will fight the amendment in May
• Raise additional funds to defeat the amendment, either through direct contributions to the new collation

or by providing research and assistance that would otherwise have to be paid for by the coalition
Aside from fighting the constitutional amendment, one of my main duties will be advancing HRC’s Federal Club program to bring in donors who will commit to donating $100 per month or more. And considering the probable cost of fighting the amendment, a lot of help is needed in this area. Plans are already underway to strengthen donation efforts, and a critical part of this will be providing information to Federal Club members on what HRC is doing to help fight the ballot measure.

To quote President Obama, “The battle ahead will be long, but remember nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” I plan on being there for HRC and North Carolina.