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Estate planning ensures that: Final property wishes are honored Health care issues are clarified and honored Loved ones are provided for in your absence Estate planning resolves these (and other) legal questions when someone dies: State of their financial affairs Who gets what? Guardianship of minor children How much tax will need to be paid to transfer property Appropriate funeral arrangements What An Estate Planning Attorney Does For You We will help you plan your estate. At the Law Offices of Lowell Steiger, we can advise you and then prepare, your legal documents: Wills Trusts Powers of Attorney Domestic Partnership… Read More

I was absolutely blown away by the CBS News Report on the danger of digital copy machines to your security. Digital copy machines manufactured after 2002 all contain hard drives which take a picture of every document that they scan, print, copy and e-mail. When the machine is put on the used copier market, it can be purchased by anyone. The data on the hard drive can be read by generic software which is found free on the Internet. The data can include anything from copies of a grocery list to your social security number and sensitive medical information. Encryption… Read More

What is ChatRoulette?  Sam Anderson describes it perfectly as “a new website that brings you face-to-face, via webcam, with an endless stream of random strangers all over the world” in his New York Magazine article The Human Shuffle.  I stumbled upon www.chatroulette.com quite by accident when perusing www.oddee.com and found 18 Funny ChatRoulette Screenshots. While I don’t think they were necessarily funny, they were quite interesting. Screenshots ranged from a justifiably angry African-American fellow being linked up with a young Arian whose room was adorned with a Nazi Swastika flag (not funny) to a young woman screaming in horror when her chat partner donned a humorously terrifying mask. What is this… Read More

Sources report that the suit O.J. Simpson was wearing when he was acquitted of murder will be going on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.  Officials said they hoped the tan Armani suit would be ready for display by October, which would be the 15th anniversary of the acquittal. Read the Associated Press Article

Great public service video from my friend and colleague, North Carolina Personal Injury Attorney David Daggett. Life’s dreams can be shattered in a single moment. Don’t drink and drive. Simply put: There are options. Take a cab; have a designated driver; don’t drink.

BAKERSFIELD – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that his office has secured back pay for more than 200 workers who were “routinely denied” fair wages and overtime pay by Charles Evleth Construction, Inc., a Bakersfield-based drywall company. “To boost its profits and underbid competitors, Charles Evleth Construction routinely denied its hardworking employees a fair wage and overtime pay,” Brown said. “Today’s judgment secures back pay for more than 200 employees and prohibits this company from violating workers’ rights.” In addition to providing back wages for more than 200 construction workers, today’s settlement prohibits Charles Eleventh Construction from:… Read More

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the law but it has everything to do with humanity. I hope you are as touched by this as I am.

What follows is a blog post written by my colleague,David N. Stonehill, Tax and Real Estate Attorney. I’m @HRMargo on twitter. As an HR and Social Media Consultant in his firm, I see sad stories like this every day. Employees are drowning in debt, particularly after the recession of 2009. Below is a case study, and a real story about one of Stonehill’s clients. He has since helped her out of this awful jam, but the fact remains clear. Our tax code has to change. It is my hope that those who read this post will become as outraged as we did. There is… Read More

Is my case worth $1 million? $10 million? We’ve all heard the stories. “My friend broke her fingernail and got $150,000.” “My brother-in-law’s friend’s cousin’s son’s wife got $4 million when she fell at the A & P and broke her wrist.” “Bob Hartman got $2.7 million because he was rear-ended by a drunk driver and the drunk’s insurance company was afraid to go to court.”  How are these crash-to-riches cases possible?  Well, in a word, they’re not! Are there multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements? Of course there are but they are based on major injuries, good liability and deep pockets. Click here for… Read More

Note: This story has been fictionalized and all persons appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, places or events is entirely coincidental. What If I Want to Change Lawyers? Dan P. called my office and asked to speak with a lawyer – he got me. We chatted for a few minutes during which time he scratched the surface of his difficult, painful and frustrating story. Mr. P. is a South American immigrant who, along with his wife and other family members, came to this country to raise his family of four. For many… Read More