|
Adding an image to a law firm news posting or page is fairly easy once you know how. You will simply go into Contineo and insert a special code and an image location link.
Getting Started:
First, you will need to have a place online where you can store the image you will be linking into your firm news posting. There are many options on where you can store images online free:
Instructions:
1. Go to Contineo (Website Control Panel) and select Manage Your Website
2. Select Firm News and select Add New Story (if you have not added an article yet)
3. Add the Title of the article and the short blurb that will appear on the Firm News library archive page
4. Add the text for the Story – the full news article
5. Next go online and “right click” the image you want to use, then click on “copy link location”(if in Firefox) or “copy shortcut”(if in internet explorer)
6. Next go back to Contineo and your Firm News Story box
7. Click “Source” in the tool bar of the Story box
8. Then enter the following code where you’d like your image to appear, at the end of the news story is best: <img src=”http://www.domain.com/image.jpg“>
- Make sure to replace the example domain above with the correct domain/link location of the image
- Sample link might look like this: <img src=http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=451764444015&set=t.100000470779141>
9. Select source again to toggle out of the page code and back to how the page would look on the web.
10. Click on the submit (or save) option and check your website to make sure it appears as wanted.
SEO Tip:
If you would like to make your image more SEO friendly, you can add something called an “Alt” tag. Google in particular, is using image “Alt” tags more and more, thus increasing or decreasing your Search Engine visibility.
The words used within an image’s “Alt” attribute should be its text equivalent and convey the same information or serve the same purpose that the image would.
For example if you were to include this image on a page, the html code used to add an “Alt” image tag would look like this:
<img src=”http://www.domain.com/ SEObirthdayCard.jpg” alt=”Birthday”>
Troubleshooting Tips
If your image does not appear, make sure you did not alter the code for the image other than the url.
Web Department
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
Do you know where your firm’s money is at any given moment? This is a necessity because, as we all know, you can produce a profit and still be short of cash. If you’ve owned a firm for any length of time, you know that money is not a constant. It ebbs and flows, sometimes predictably and sometimes erratically.
The challenge as a business owner is to have strategies in place to make sure that you always have funds available when you need them.
Strategy 1: The first strategy you should employ, if you haven’t already, is to cultivate and maintain a good relationship with a local banker. Bankers tend to move from one financial institution to another as they advance in their careers, and it’s usually a good idea to stay with your banker when he or she moves. So, you’ll need to choose this relationship wisely. If you run into financial difficulty in the future, this person may just be your lifeline amid the nameless, faceless decision-making committees at your bank.
Strategy 2: Your second strategy is to make sure you have a line of credit that’s sufficient to cover any variations in cash flow and to bridge the gap between accounts receivable and accounts payable. This can be the key to your firm’s survival during tough times.
Strategy 3: Your third strategy involves developing another relationship, this time with a “numbers person.” If you want to get a handle on your firm’s finances, you need a relationship with a good CPA or bookkeeper who can track and, more importantly, interpret your firm’s numbers for you on a monthly basis. This means a meeting every month, no later than the tenth of the month, to make sure your firm stays on course.
Over the years, the Academy has developed several financial benchmarks specifically for the use of estate planning attorneys in evaluating whether they’re on track when it comes to their firm’s finances.
Sanford M. Fisch
CEO & Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
It has often been said that the path to knowledge begins with knowing what you don’t know. As usual, this year’s Heckerling Institute helps put the estate planning attorney on the path to knowledge by highlighting how much we do not know.
Section 2001(b)(1) calculates the estate tax in the year of death as the sum of the tax on the taxable estate and the tax on the amount of adjusted taxable gifts over the aggregate amount that would have been paid on the gifts if they had been taxed as part of the decedent’s estate in the year of death. Section 2001(b)(2).
This works fine in a situation of a rising applicable exclusion. However, in the situation of a declining applicable exclusion, as we may have in 2013, it may cause an estate tax on prior non-taxable gifts.
- Example: John has $6 million and gifts $5 million in 2011. He dies in 2013 with $1 million.
Section 2001 is intended to add back the prior gifts so that the $1 million is taxed at the rate of 50% rather than an effective rate of 34.58%.
Instead, Section 2001 could be read to tax the situation as a $6 million estate, or $2,940,800 less the unified credit of $345,800, which would result in $2,595,000 in tax.
The speakers at Heckerling were uncertain how the clawback issue would be resolved. However, they and I think it would be grossly unfair to give an applicable exclusion of $5 million in 2011 and 2012, only to have the decedent’s estate discover that those gifts resulted in an estate tax at the decedent’s death in 2013.
Of course, even if the clawback does exist, one would still be better off to use their $5 million applicable exclusion in 2011 or 2012. At least the appreciation on the asset would escape transfer taxes.
In our example, let’s say John’s $5 million of gifts in 2011 appreciates to $10 million by the time of his death. Thus, without the gifts in 2011, John’s estate would be $11 million and the tax would be $5,395,000, after use of his exclusion. Even with application of the clawback, the John’s estate would have saved quite a bit by doing the gifting. The tax would be $2,595,000 rather than $5,395,000.
As the days and hours ticked down in 2010, we faced a great deal of uncertainty on the extension of EGTRRA. With the potential “clawback,” we likely will be facing at least as much uncertainty in the waning days of 2012.
Stephen C. Hartnett, J.D., LL.M.
Associate Director of Education
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
Martin Luther King made this statement about Hope: “We must accept finite disappointment, but we never lose infinite hope.” There is something about the New Year that echoes the thought of hope and new possibilities. As each year draws to a close we look forward to a fresh start. The things that seemed out of our grasp in December now have a new look and definition as the New Year begins.
In Greek mythology, hope was thought to be a young woman, Elpis, often shown carrying flowers. When Pandora opened her box, she let all the evils out in into the world. The only one left in the box was hope. The Ancient Greeks believed hope to be a dangerous thing, equal to the other evils of the world. However, without hope there is only despair, and Pandora finally released hope from the box as well.
It’s quite easy to become skeptical about the hope that a New Year might bring. The news brings tragedy and sorrow each day into our lives. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear of something that makes us stop and take pause. But somehow hope always seems to arise, and we respond with something like, “I hope everything works out, or, hopefully, things will get better.” Hope seems to be a part of our daily conversations and thoughts.
As we hope and plan for a New Year, we begin 2011 with the question, how will this year unfold? What will define this year as something special? As we all know, all the hope in the world without action is just meaningless. So as we plan for the New Year, we need to make sure that we add action to our hope.
We might want to lose weight, but if we don’t add the action of eating less and working out more then we will be having the same wish next year. We might want to market more to our community, but if we don’t take action by creating a marketing plan and executing it, then we will continue to be frustrated by our lack of productivity. Or, we might want to create a deeper relationship with our family, but if we don’t turn off the TV and spend some time together then we’ll continue to disappoint ourselves and those around us.
Make 2011 different by resolving to add action to your hope and really make an impact on the goals you set!
At Premier Planning and Legacy Safeguard, we resolve to build deeper relationships with the advisors we work with and work consistently to make a difference in the lives of others. We further resolve to work hard daily for those who entrust their clients to us to help them leave a lasting legacy for their families. Our desire for 2011 is that this year brings hope for a renewed spirit of community, partnership, and commitment to making a difference for those who have chosen to partner with us.
Bryan W. Adams is President & CEO of Premier Planning, LLC and Founder of Legacy Safeguard. Bryan is considered one of the nations’ leading experts on final expense planning, and he frequently speaks throughout the country about the importance of assisting clients to gain peace of mind through advanced funeral funding.
Bryan’s passion for helping families prepare for their final expenses came from being raised in the funeral business. His family still owns and operates several funeral homes, and he is constantly amazed at how unprepared families are when a death occurs. Bryan has worked tirelessly to help Americans plan for the inevitable and lessen the burden on their loved ones.
Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
Profit: most of us use it as a marker for whether our practice is thriving or just barely limping along. But, just glancing at overall profit without taking a deeper look can spell disaster for your law firm. Profit can be a false sign of health, masking deeper problems.
Did you know there are two types of profit? There’s intentional profit, and there’s accidental profit. Most law firm profit is accidental — you can’t point to precisely why it’s there, and you couldn’t replicate it next month or next quarter, but you’re really grateful for it! Accidental profit, though, is dangerous. If you don’t know precisely what you’re doing to generate a profit, and you can’t consistently re-create the profit, then you never know when you’ll turn a profit again. And a practice can’t thrive this way.
Intentional profit, on the other hand, comes from consistently doing the right things in the right way. You can pinpoint the actions taken to generate the profit and, more importantly, you can repeat those actions to replicate the profit over and over again. Intentional profit, generated repeatedly and in predictable amounts – if it’s used wisely – will fuel the growth of your practice. How?
- It provides investment capital;
- It provides bonus capital for your staff’s excellent performance;
- It provides operating capital to sustain your firm through shortfalls; and
- It provides you, the attorney-owner, with return-on-investment capital as a reward for taking risks and growing your firm.
So, in addition to figuring out how your firm can generate profit intentionally, it’s essential to have a plan for the appropriate and balanced use of that profit once it starts coming in.
Robert Armstrong
President & Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
Historically, states have had legal frameworks for dealing inheritance rights in the not uncommon situation where a baby is conceived during its father’s lifetime but born after his death. At common law, a baby born within 280 days after its father’s death was presumed to be the father’s child, and therefore entitled to inherit from the father’s estate. Of course, this rule was established during a time when it was only possible for conception to occur during the father’s lifetime.
But what happens when conception occurs months or even years after the father has died? Each state has its own way of approaching this very modern issue, and the outcomes can be vastly different.
In Florida, for example, the posthumously conceived children of parents who die intestate don’t have any inheritance rights. A child conceived after a decedent has passed away is ineligible to inherit from the decedent’s estate unless there’s a will specifically providing for that child.
Louisiana takes a much different approach, providing that a child conceived after his or her father’s death has inheritance rights, if two conditions are met: 1) The father must give written authorization for the use of his sperm for the purpose of conceiving a child after his death, and 2) The child must be born within three years of the father’s death.
The law often lags behind technology, and this is an area in which that gap is likely to exist for quite some time. The status of current legislation is unsettled at best, which presents an opportunity for attorneys, as counselors, to provide an invaluable service to our clients. Do you have provisions in your documents concerning posthumously-conceived children? How do you approach this issue in your practice?
Stephen C. Hartnett, J.D., LL.M.
Associate Director of Education
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
How fast the changes have come these past few weeks regarding the Medicare provision to reimburse doctors who discuss the options for how patients want to be treated in their final days.
The New York Times story on December 26 announced a Medicare provision to encourage end-of-life conversations during annual physical exams being instituted by regulation January 1. Then a “death panel” hue-and-cry erupted, crying foul since the provision had been dropped from the 2010 Affordable Care Act legislation. By January 5, the White House pulled the provision, saying there hadn’t been enough chance for all sides to comment on the change.
I’d like to add my comment about having end-of-life planning discussions. Yes, they are a tough conversation to start. But, just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about end-of-life issues won’t make you dead – and the family will benefit from the conversation.
The conversation is not about “pulling the plug on Granny.” It’s about how you want to be treated when you are older (as we know, Medicare’s for those over 65) and health is failing. It’s an opportunity to speak your wishes and get it in writing, so everyone’s on the same page about your care.
When you are unconscious, or delirious, or just not able to make your own health care decisions, it allows your family to know and carry out your wishes. In the fluorescent glare of the ER, it’s hard to remember what those wishes are.
My family’s experience is a lesson in the need for advance directives. My 82-year-old father-in-law had fallen and broken his hip, and he did have advance directives in place. The family was exhausted after his seven weeks of hospitalization, battling pneumonia and allergic reactions during rehabilitation after hip replacement surgery.
On his third ER admission with difficulty breathing, the doctors told us that my father-in-law’s body was tired and broken beyond repair. They recommended he be admitted under palliative care, where he would be kept comfortable, but not “fixed,” and nature would be allowed to take its course.
Dad incoherently rambled, refusing a DNR order. Mom, the named decision-maker, was sad and torn. The monitors beeped, the oxygen hissed, the doctors waited for an answer. She looked to my husband and me to help make the decision. Based on Dad’s advance directives, we agreed to the palliative care.
Dad died peacefully in the hospital a week later with the family gathered around him. But even with the advance directives in place, there was family conflict over his care.
My husband’s brother, who lived out of town, insisted steps be taken to make Dad better. Nebulizer treatments were ordered, but they could not help a man who literally inhaled everything he ate or drank. A feeding tube was inserted, against written wishes.
We had Dad’s statement that he wanted comfort care, not heroic measures, to guide us during his last days. Dad had made up these advance directives, under the advice of his doctor, after he barely came through his third open-heart surgery twelve years earlier.
Would Dad have made up these guiding documents on his own if his doctor had not told him to do so? It’s hard to say. I’m glad we had his advance directives, but real life is messy.
Even if something is written, if it’s not discussed within the family, conflict can erupt when the end is near. The one thing Congress or the president can’t legislate or regulate is families talking to each other.
Gail Rubin speaks to groups about advance funeral planning and gets the conversation going. She’s the author of the new book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die. Her “30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge” is chronicled on The Family Plot Blog.
Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
What financial goals do you have for your firm? More specifically, how much is your practice really capable of producing – and putting in your pocket – on an annual basis? Most attorneys have never really thought about this, but something as simple as having a concrete financial goal for your practice can do amazing things for your firm’s profitability.
So, take a few minutes to come up with a number… and, once you have it in mind, write it down.
Now that you’ve written down your annual goal, you can work on breaking it down further. The next step is to figure out how much revenue your practice needs to bring in on a daily basis to turn the number you’ve just written down into a reality.
Here’s how you do it:
- First, break the year into weeks. There are 52 weeks in a year, but you don’t want to be a slave to your practice, so give yourself four weeks of vacation. Plus, if your office is anything like most firms, things tend to grind to a halt around Christmas, so you’ll want to subtract another two weeks at the end of the year, bringing you to 46 working weeks.
- Next, break those 46 working weeks down into working days. If you worked seven days a week, that would be 322 working days, but I’m assuming you’ll want weekends and national holidays for yourself. There are 11 national holidays and 46 weekends (92 days) each year, leaving you about 219 working days.
- So, let’s assume the dream number you wrote down at the beginning of this exercise was $ 2 million. Divide that by 219 days, and your daily revenue number is $9,132. If your operating expenses run at 50% of gross, then this number puts $1 million in your pocket annually, before taxes.
Of course, everyone’s daily number will be different. Once you find yours, write it down and let your entire team know what the number is. Make sure they understand that, in order for your practice to be a success, this is the number that has to be brought in on a daily basis. And in a successful practice, team members get bonuses.
Keep track of the “number” on a daily basis. Come up with incentives for hitting goals on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis and watch what happens. Once your team is in on the game, you’ll be amazed at how focused and efficient your practice will become.
Sanford M. Fisch
CEO & Co-Founder
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
As I write this, the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others on Saturday is still fresh, and shocking.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Rep. Giffords and all the injured persons, and of course to the families who lost loved ones so senselessly. Having spent a little bit of time working on Capitol Hill, I’ve also been thinking about Rep. Giffords’ staff and the effect this event may have in the offices of elected officials throughout our country.
Though painful, this event does create a “teachable moment” for you with clients and prospects. Please understand that I do not mean any insensitivity or disrespect by raising this subject so soon, but as you will see shortly, the timing is part of my point.
This tragedy illustrates all too well the importance of advance care planning. It reminds current clients why they have executed a health care power of attorney (HCPOA), and why all their loved ones and your prospects need to get one – now. Because sometimes serious medical events are completely unexpected. For the same reason, it also illustrates to clients the importance of talking to their HCPOA now about their wishes, so that their designees can function more capably as health care agents in the event of a sudden medical challenge down the road.
Many medical experts believe that stories are the best way to start conversations about advance care planning. You may have also found this to be true in your practice.
In 2005, the controversy surrounding Terri Schiavo caught the public’s attention and held it. Ms. Schiavo’s story was compelling enough to override the natural tendency to put off that which is unpleasant. During and shortly after Ms. Schiavo’s case, completion of health care directives jumped markedly. But the focus didn’t last.
While we keep the victims of this tragedy in our hearts and prayers, you can also try to make a nugget of good from it — by using this story to reach people emotionally in a way that is otherwise often hard to achieve.
Randi J. Siegel, MBA, is the President of DocuBank, the largest advance directive registry in the U.S., which ensures that the healthcare directives of its 175,000 enrollees are immediately available 24/7/365. Working with estate planning professionals since 1997, Randi frequently speaks at national estate planning conferences and has appeared on radio and television as an authority on registries. She is active in health policy pertaining to advance directives and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Jefferson School of Population Health in Philadelphia. Randi is an ongoing contributor to the Academy blog.
Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
Just last month I wrote about how Medicare would begin reimbursing physicians to have voluntary discussions with patients about the patients’ health care wishes, as part of patients’ annual wellness visits with them. But just last week, the administration reversed itself. This provision has now been removed from new Medicare regs that went into effect January 1.
According to the Obama administration, the change is because of a procedural error. Specifically, it had not included the advance care planning provision in the proposed Medicare regulations, and explains that it feels it did not give interested parties sufficient opportunity to comment on it. (There were, however, comments submitted about its absence from the proposed regs).
The reversal is also thought by some to be part of a political calculus: that the administration did not want this issue to be a lightning rod as the House considers repealing the health reform law. As you may recall, the charge that the health reform law would create “death panels” was levied against a provision in the original House bill that is similar to the provision that was just removed from the new regulations.
Even with this reimbursement provision removed, doctors and their Medicare patients can still have voluntary discussions about advance care planning – including whom patients want as surrogate decision makers and how their patients think about the care and the qualities of life they want to have if they can’t voice their own opinions. It’s just that doctors can’t be reimbursed specifically for doing so with patients who want to have this important discussion.
If you’d like to be kept abreast of new developments on this topic, please let me know at rsiegel@docubank.com.
Randi J. Siegel, MBA, is the President of DocuBank, the largest advance directive registry in the U.S., which ensures that the healthcare directives of its 175,000 enrollees are immediately available 24/7/365. Working with estate planning professionals since 1997, Randi frequently speaks at national estate planning conferences and has appeared on radio and television as an authority on registries. She is active in health policy pertaining to advance directives and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Jefferson School of Population Health in Philadelphia. Randi is an ongoing contributor to the Academy blog.
Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd., Ste. 240
San Diego, CA 92124
858-453-2128
www.aaepa.com
|
