Fill in the blank legal documents are a growing trend. You have probably seen them at Staples or Office Max or seen advertisements from “We the People” or Legalzoom.com. Some people get these generic forms, fill them out as best they can, and think that’s it – nothing else has to be done.

Well, if you attempt to complete a legal transaction or act without the advice of an attorney who knows if you have done everything you need to do? A common example is formation of LLCs and other business entities. Many people filled out their generic forms to create their entity and thought that was all they needed to do.

Those people are going to find a surprise in their mailbox soon.

You see, LLCs and other entities have to pay a “Business Entity Tax” in Connecticut. The generic forms sold at Staples and office stores might not tell you that, but I hope a competent attorney would. The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS) is catching up with everyone that created a business entity but neglected to pay their business tax the last few years. The DRS is sending out 23,000 letters to notify people of their non-compliance.

The lesson for today is: if your goal is to achieve a certain legal result or status it is generally a good idea to obtain the opinion of someone licensed to practice law. Sometimes a fill in the blank form just doesn’t tell you everything you should know before signing it.

Additional information: fill in the blank forms gone wrong in Florida.

*Self-Promotion Alert*

You never know who is watching. I was pleasantly surprised to see this post this post on HR 3170 has made its way to the online version of the Wall Street Journal. In a recent column post titled Calculating Federal Estate Tax, Tom Herman discusses some of the tricky tax questions everyone is facing as the Economic Growth & Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 approaches its sunset date. You can find their link to my post in the “Blog Posts About This Topic” section at the end of the column.

*We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.*

The clock is ticking for Congress to show a backbone and put in place a permanent solution to the estate tax. Until then, tax planning for individuals is a mess of “what ifs” and looking for an oracle to determine which year we will die in. The latest attempt to clean up the mess created by the Economic Growth & Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is HR 3170, currently pending in Committee in the House of Representatives.

HR 3170 would continue to increase the estate tax exemption in smaller increments from the $3 million mark in 2009 up to $4.75 million in 2014. The rate of tax would be linked to the capital gains rate, 15% until 2010 and then 20%. The deduction for state death taxes paid would be eliminated in 2010. And in an interesting move, the Executor of the first spouse’s estate could “give” any unused estate tax exemption to the surviving spouse. This would have an interesting impact on families that for some reason would prefer to not equalize estate values for tax planning purposes.

Who knows how far this Bill will get. Hopefully some meaningful resolution on the estate tax is not far off, although it could easily go unresolved until after the next presidential election.

“Are you a specialist?”

This question comes up fairly often as an attorney. The medical profession has an extensive established and well-defined structure for specialization. It is natural to assume and hope that a similar structure would be implemented in the legal profession. Unfortunately in Connecticut, there are some big gaps in legal specialization.

As of today, the Connecticut Bar has only completed recognition of five areas of law. These areas are:

Civil Trial practice;
Criminal practice;
Business bankruptcy;
Consumer bankruptcy;
Worker’s Compensation.

Obviously, that only scratches the surface of the many areas that attorneys concentrate their careers in. You’ll notice Elder Law and Estate Planning are nowhere to be found on the list of recognized specializations.

Since the Connecticut Bar does not recognize many specializations, the question “are you an elder law or estate planning specialist?” becomes something of a loaded question. As defined by the Connecticut Bar, no I am not an estate planning or elder law specialist and neither is any other attorney in Connecticut.

From a client’s perspective it is natural to expect a yes or no answer to this simple question. It is also natural to seek out an attorney that can answer “yes” to the specialization question. Unfortunately, the Connecticut Bar has put many attorneys in the position of trying to explain to potential clients why they must answer “no” to this seemingly simple question and immediately create doubt in the potential client’s mind.

If you are reading this as a consumer of legal services, certainly ask this question to the attorney you are considering working with but I encourage you to take this information into account when you receive your answer. If an attorney is not a specialist because the Bar does not recognize a particular specialization, consider the attorneys experience and knowledge with your type of matter. If you now know the Bar does not recognize a particular specialization and an attorney does claim to be a specialist in that field, ask yourself if they are being candid with you.

For additional information on Connecticut’s recognized legal specializations, click here.