What’s New?

Legal Update – Massachusetts Adopts Additional Foreclosure Requirements

The Massachusetts legislature recently enacted emergency legislation which requires lenders to comply with new rules before foreclosing on a residential property.  The new law essentially (i) expands existing pre-foreclosure notice requirements and (ii) creates a new statutory chapter granting additional protections to tenants impacted by foreclosures. Pre-Foreclosure Notice Requirements. The new bill, S 2407, (Chapter 258 of the Acts of 2010) temporarily revises G.L. c. 244, §35A (the revisions expire on December 31, 2015).  The law now requires that lenders

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Tax Update – Small Business Jobs Act

On September 27, 2010, the President signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, passed by Congress the prior week.  The Act’s title “Small Business Jobs Act of 2010” does not reflect its true scope; its provisions impact businesses of many sizes. In addition to the many non-tax provisions related to small business lending and access to capital, tax provisions in the legislation include a retroactive extension of bonus depreciation, a doubling of the Code Sec. 179 expense limit, a

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Legal Update – CORI Law

On August 6, 2010, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law long-promised amendments to the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information law, commonly referred to as the CORI law.  The amendments are generally effective as of February 6, 2012.  However, the amendments relating to written employment applications become effective on November 4, 2010.  These changes will have important ramifications for employers that use criminal offender record information to learn about criminal charges, arrests and incarceration of current and prospective employees. Initial Written

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Back to School Time

It’s that time of year where students head back to school.  If you’re like me and your oldest is heading off to college, you might want to take some time to familiarize yourself with FERPA.  FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99).  It is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.  The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of

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Estate Planning – Estate Tax Marital Deduction

First, an explanation about why this letter discusses the estate tax marital deduction at all. Technically, the estate tax marital deduction is no longer available for 2010 because there is no estate tax, period, currently on the books for 2010. Consensus, however, is that this interim 2010 period with no estate tax will be repealed by Congress retroactively, to January 1, 2010. In its place, the estate tax will be revived and the estate tax marital deduction once again becomes

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