MEDIATOR CONFIDENTIALITY - HAUZINGER AND BEYOND

CARL VAHL, PRESENTATION OUTLINE


Supreme Court Decision Upholding Validity of Mediated Separation Agreement 5/11/2009

Court of Appeals Decision June 26, 2008.

Brief to NYS Court of Appeals, 4/21/2008 Steven L. Abel, Esq. and Robert Thaler, Esq.

Appellate Division 4th Dept. Decision 9/28/2007

Record on Appeal - Notice of Appeal 8/6/2006

Supreme Court Decision Deny Motion to Quash Subpoena 7/12/2006

Contested Spousal Support Provision of Hauzinger Separation Agreement dated 12/2004

New York Law Journal 10/25/2012

The Daily Record 9/18/2008

ADR World 10/18/2007

Mediator Confidentiality Agreement, Long Form.

IBA MEDIATION COMMITTEE Sub-Committee on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation (“MLICC”) Singapore, October 2007

ITS YOUR MONEY, COLLECT IT AND PROTECT IT.

Dividing Retirement Benefits in Divorce

Often the most significant assets to be divided in a divorce are retirement benefits. These valuable assets come in several forms.

1.     DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION plans such as teacher's retirements, state and local governments pensions, autoworkers pensions and other large corporate and union pensions.

2.     DEFINED CONTRIBUTION plans such as 401-k, 403-b plans and IRA's.

3.      MILITARY, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THRIFT SAVINGS PLANS.

A Judgment of Divorce and/or divorce agreement will state the manner in which these assets are to be allocated or divided and direct that one party must pay a certain portion to the other spouse, judgments and agreements do not, by themselves, cause the distribution to take place.

After a  divorce is final a special court order is needed to actually cause the distribution. A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) or a Domestic Relations Order (DRO) is needed to legally and administratively transfer a portion of a pension or 401-k earned from one spouse to the other spouse.

For defined benefit pensions a QDRO or DRO is needed to insure that when the pension plan participant retires, five, ten or more years in the future, the spouse or alternate payee actually receives their share directly from the pension administrator.

Also, be aware that just because you retained an attorney to represent you in your divorce, does not mean that your former divorce lawyer is responsible for or will actually prepare these special post-divorce orders. Many divorce lawyers do not prepare these orders and if they do they require a separate retainer agreement and payment.

If you have questions regarding the preparation of a DRO or QDRO please call me. I have been preparing these orders for many years and have the experience needed to do so competently, efficiently and sometimes most importantly promptly. www.vahllaw.com.

DO NOT wait until your former spouse retires because so many things can happen before that occurs that will make the preparation of the order more difficult or impossible.

Your former spouse may remarry, relocate, change jobs, take an early retirement incentive plan in a lump sum or your former spouse may even die. If your former spouse dies before retirement and has designated a new spouse or other person the beneficiary, a costly lawsuit may be needed and there are so many different circumstances that a lawsuit may not even be successful.

CARL R. VAHL, EMAIL:  CARLVAHLESQ@MSN.COM

DEATH PLANNING EVERYONE NEEDS

Even though growing old and ultimately death is an absolute certainly, we live in a society where most people fail to plan for old age and death. It is a topic that we are reluctant to discuss even though there is no connection between talking about death and death.

The vast majority of people can competently plan for both for a few hundred dollars. What's more, spending that relatively modest sum while you are healthy and conscious may result in saving thousands of dollars down the road.


The three most important planning documents are the following:

1. Simple Last Will and Testament,
2. Durable Power of Attorney and
3. Health Care Proxy with Advance Directive aka "Living Will"

With these documents in place most people of middle class means are fully prepared. If you are a multimillionaire there is additional legal planning that may be important.

1. A simple will provides for the distribution of your property after your death.

2. A Durable Power of Attorney allows a spouse or other trusted family member or friend to assist you in handling your personal, financial and business affairs when you are living but need assistance.

3. A Health Care Proxy designates a health care agent to make health care related decisions if you are unable to do so. Advance directives provide important guidance to your Health Care Agent, family and medical care providers so they know your wishes and can confidently carry out your wishes if you are unconscious or otherwise unable to make your own decisions.

None of these documents take power away from you if you are able to decide or act for yourself. All of them can be easily modified or terminated if your situation changes and they are not expensive.

In my office most will cost $250.00 or less. A Durable Power of Attorney goes for $50.00 to $100.00 when it accompanies a will and I  typically prepare the Health Care Proxy with Advance Directive at not additional cost. www.vahllaw.com.

WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG!

Welcome to my new blog. I plan to use these pages to discuss legal topics relevant to individuals and smaller businesses in the Southern Tier of Western New York, focusing on Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties.

Enchanted Mountains of Western New York

Cattaraugus County Courthouse
Little Valley New York

The types of legal issues to be addressed over the coming months will include personal and family related legal issues such as divorce, elder law and planning, real estate, wills and estate law and general practice matters such as Health Care Proxies, Powers of Attorney and estate planning.

Allegany County Courthouse
Little Valley New York

 I will only discuss areas of the law which I have focused on during my 30 years of legal practice.  During those 30 years I have represented literally thousands of clients and tried cases in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties as well as numerous appeals in Rochester New York.

We have a great deal to be thankful for in our community. There is beautiful scenery, numerous places of worship, a large number of parks and recreation areas and many wonderful people. We have establishments of higher education, major manufacturing facilities and active Chambers of Commerce and business groups.

St. Mary of the Angels

 But whenever and wherever people live, work and play important and significant legal issues arise which unless addressed, typically do resolve themselves.

 Also I encourage readers to ask me questions which I will try to answer within 48 hours. There will be no charge for having your question answered so feel free to email me. carlvahlesq@msn.com

Do not hesitate to check out my websites which provide important information of the areas of law which I handle and how to best protect your legal interests.

 VAHLLAW.COM 

PEACEMAKER MEDIATION

Again, welcome to my new blog and please subscribe to receive new posts immediately.

Carl R. Vahl