Lancaster Law Blog : Lancaster PA Lawyer & Attorney : Russell Krafft & Gruber Law Firm : Pennsylvania : Lancaster's Legal Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 Russell, Krafft & Gruber is proud to be exhibiting, for the third year in a row, at the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO) Annual Conference held on April 4- 5, 2011. This event will feature keynote speaker Tim Delaney, Esq. of the National Council of Nonprofits and 11 workshops. The workshop topics include:

Monday, April 4, 2011

• (Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know About Nonprofit Law in One Meeting
• Focus on Mission: Getting More Bang for Your Buck - Collaboration Panel
• Raising More Money from Your Local Business Community

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

• Lobbying & Advocacy: The Most Important Tool in Your Mission Toolbox
• The "New Normal" - Panel
• Which IT Trends Will Impact Your Organization in 2011 - Technology Panel
• Yes, Chicken Little, the Sky is Falling! Are You Positioned to Respond to the New Financial Reality
• Federal & State Legislative Briefing
• Making Friends with Facebook
• Succession: You Can Do It! - Panel
•  The Pollyanna Principles: A New and Revolutionary Way "Nonprofits" Can Change the World!

If you are attending please stop by our booth and enter to win a door prize. We are looking forward to participating in the workshops and being able to support this great event. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In my previous article Full Tort vs. Limited Tort, is it worth the extra money?, I discuss the differences between full tort and limited tort coverage. The world of automobile insurance coverage can be complex and many times confusing. In this article I wanted to talk about another aspect of automobile insurance coverage which, is the importance of and the difference between, uninsured motorists (UM) benefits and underinsured motorists (UIM) benefits.

What is Uninsured Coverage?

Uninsured benefits are similar to underinsured, in that it allows you to recover from your own insurer in a case where the driver at fault for the accident did not carry any insurance coverage. When purchasing an automobile policy, it is easy to assume that every driver out there both has insurance and has sufficient coverage because the law requires everyone to have automobile insurance. However, the reality is that many drivers are not even covered by automobile insurance and many that are covered have the minimum coverage allowed by the law, which in many cases, especially where there has been a serious accident, will not even begin to compensate a victim for his or her injuries, lost wages and other damages.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For most tax professionals and many taxpayers, April 15^th stands out every year as the day when tax returns and any related tax payments are typically due. However, this year we will have three extra days to file returns and make payments. 

The filing deadline for 2010 returns has been pushed back to Monday, April 18, 2011. Why? It turns out that Friday, April 15, 2011, is observed as Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. Relevant laws state that District of Columbia holidays affect tax deadlines just as federal holidays do because the offices of the Internal Revenue Service will be closed. The April 18^th deadline applies to any return or payment normally due on April 15^th, as well as to the deadline for requesting a tax filing extension and to making 2010 IRA contributions. Moreover, taxpayers who request an extension will have two extra days to file their returns because October 15, 2011, falls on a Saturday.

As an interesting side note, Emancipation Day celebrates the day in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act for the release of slaves in the District of Columbia. This occurred approximately nine months before President Lincoln issued the famous Emancipation Proclamation. For more information on Emancipation Day, please see the District of Columbia website. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Do-it-yourself projects, like remodeling your bathroom or building a deck, can save money and provide a sense of accomplishment by doing something on your own that you would ordinarily hire another person to do. With any do-it-yourself project there are risks involved, such as increased cost if you have to hire a professional in the end or if your inexperience causes other damage. 

The internet has allowed individuals to perform some legal functions on their own. Many government websites, for example, offer forms with detailed instructions that can be very helpful for people seeking to help themselves with certain issues. There are also websites that offer forms and additional services for a fee. These websites are required to stop short of offering legal advice because they are not law firms, which is made very clear on LegalZoom's website: "LegalZoom is not a law firm, and the employees of LegalZoom are not acting as your attorney….if you need legal advice for your specific problem, or if your specific problem is too complex to be addressed by our tools, you should consult a licensed attorney in your area." Because these sites are not law firms, they are also not subject to the rules that govern lawyers. This is why they are able to do things lawyers can't do, such as use celebrity endorsements.