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The o f f i c ia l publ i cat ion o f the Rhode I s land Paralegal Assoc iat ion,a f f i l ia ted wi th the Nat ional Federat ion o f Paralegal Assoc iat ions
Autumn 2012
Community Food Bank. As you may know, The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is a privately funded, non-profit charitable organization that relies upon public support and donations to operate and fulfill its mission of provid-ing quality food to people facing hunger. The Board decided to coordinate a Thanksgiving Food Drive at a few of our offices this year, and hopes to expand to more members’ offices next year.
Also, we held our first Rhode Island Paralegal Association Cookbook com-mittee meeting and our goal is to have the books ready for sale at the annual dinner in June. As a reminder, please e-mail recipes to either me ([email protected]) or Kandy ([email protected]) to be included. Please be sure to put your name and where you work on the recipe(s). We are still looking for people to work on this committee so if you are interested, let us know.
We are also planning on having our December Board meeting along with a social event at the re-opened Mile and a Quarter restaurant on South Main Street in downtown Providence – please keep checking back on the website for more information -- we would love to see everyone! And I must say, as I am writing this message and working from home today, it is snowing outside at my house in Woonsocket!
If you would like to join a Committee, please contact one of us – we would love to have you join us.
Happy Holidays,Carol
Hello Everyone –
I hope everyone is stopping by our website -- RIparalegals.org -- regularly. There is so much information. As the Holidays are fast approach-ing, be sure to check out our fundraising store where you can purchase $100 in restaurant gift certificates for $20 – perfect gift for an assistant, co-worker, day care person, paper carrier and just about anyone!
This year, we are working with The Rhode Island
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B O A R D O F
d i r e c t o r s
U P C O M I N G
b o a r d m e e t i n g s
Carol Blanchard | President(401) [email protected]
Melanie Catineault | Vice President(401) 462-7142
Adriana Santi-Lee | Treasurer(401) 831-2900
Connie McClurg | Secretary(401) 737-9720
Patricia Lyons | NFPA Primary(401) 254-5602
Kandy Marchand Benedetti | NFPA Secondary(401) 457-5294
Laurie Emond(401) 272-8080
John R. Fornoff(401) 276-6561
Susan Franconi-Salmon(508) 822-2000
Deb Medeiros(401) 276-2625
Kathleen Paul(401) 921-4162
Linda Sears(401) [email protected]
Diana Stratis(401) 223-0526
Elaine S. White(401) 272-7200
Kelly Lajoie-Burns | Advisory(401) 770-3190
Susan Cook | Advisory(401) 274-7400
Stephen Imondi | Advisory(401) 863-1104
Wednesday, December 5* - Thursday, January 3 - Wednesday, February 6
5:30 pm, Partridge Snow & Hahn, 180 S. Main St., Providence.
*At Mile and a Quarter restaurant, 375 South Main St., Providence
P A R A n o t e sOnlineIf we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.” - Thomas Edison
If you are interested in learning or upgrading your skills, this online training library may be a good choice for you: Lynda.com offers 1521 courses and 84,000 tutorials to help you learn software, creative and business skills including Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft and more. New courses are continuously added.
The videos are top quality and include narration, live action, charts, graphs, smart boards, screen shots and audio. Check out the free tutorials to start – the underlined topics are open to the public. There is a 7-day free trial for this online subscription with no long-term commitment. The basic plan is $25/month.
In Writing: E-mail Etiquette
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1971. The first message was sent between two machines that were side by side. Ray put the @ symbol in email. The technology market research company, Radicati Group projects there will be 2.5 billion email users worldwide in 2014.
Regardless of the size of your firm you may use email as a primary form of communication. Have you had any formal training in professional email etiquette skills? Ten tips to enhance your day-to-day email communications!
1. Subject Line: Keep your subject lines short yet explanatory. Use Title Case so it does not look too informal. In back and forth chains start fresh or edit back to a single “Re:” so it does not read “Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Fwd.”
For more, click here.
From TechnoLawyer’s blog article “BigLaw: The Top Ten Email Etiquette Tips for Large Firm Lawyers”
A N O T E F R O M
pub l i ca t ions
P U B L I C A T I O N SC O M M I T T E E
Laurie L. Emond | [email protected]
Wendy [email protected]
Susan [email protected]
John R. [email protected]
I iam pleased to announce that Susan Franconi-Salmon has joined the Publications Committee. Susan utilizes her sharp paralegal skills while focusing on the IT and
case management needs of Keches Law Group in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Susan created the Rhode Island Paralegal Association Group on LinkedIn, which we
hope you will find a resource for current events and discussion of issues of common interest. If you have not received an invitation to join the RIPA group on LinkedIn, please contact me at [email protected], or by telephone at (401) 272-8080.
If you would like to be added to our “Call List” to assist a committee on an as-needed basis, please let me know. This option allows for members to assist when they can.
Thank you,Laurie
Faces of RIPA
Patricia Lyons, RP, is the Director of Paralegal Studies at Roger Williams University in downtown Provi-dence. She has a Certificate and a Bachelor of Science
degree in Paralegal Studies from RWU, as well as an MBA in International Business from Johnson & Wales University.
Prior to her position at RWU, she was a practicing paralegal for approximately 30 years. During that time, she was employed by Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge (now Edwards Wildman), Adler Pollock & Sheehan, CytoTherapeutics, Inc., Fleet Bank, Coffey McGovern Noel & Neal, and has practiced in the areas of civil litigation, personal injury, medical malpractice, construction litigation, real estate, and corporate law. She also finds time to do pro bono work.
Pat has served in many positions on the Rhode Island Paralegal Association Board, including President, Vice President, Secretary, NFPA Primary and Secondary, Education Chair, and Telethon Coordinator. Pat served 3 years as NFPA Secretary and Director of Operations from 2003-2006 and also served as the NFPA Host Coordinator when RIPA hosted the 2003 Annual Convention.She currently serves as the Northeast Director of the American Association of Paralegal Associations and was recently chosen to be the Education Coordina-tor for the NFPA.
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Often times people will ask “Do I really need a will? I don’t have much to leave, and anyway, it will still go to my family if I don’t have one.” The answer is
unequivocally YES, you do need a will! The primary reason for having a will prepared is to ensure that your assets pass the way you intend and to the persons you desire to inherit from you.
If you don’t have a will, what will happen? As everyone is aware, by means of a will you can pass your estate to any-one you choose, however, if you do not have a will, the laws of your state will typically designate the persons who are to inherit your estate. These laws are designed to be indiscrimi-nate and distribute the assets to the persons who are your blood relatives, often with surprising results. For example, under the laws of the State of Rhode Island, when someone dies leaving a surviving spouse and children with no will, and all assets are in that decedent’s single name, contrary to popular belief, the surviving spouse does not inherit the entire estate. The children are actually entitled to the largest share under that state’s law, which most persons will agree they do not want.
Estate Taxes: Beyond ensuring that your assets pass to the people you would like to receive them, another major reason why someone should have basic estate planning documents is to ensure that his or her estate is subject to the least pos-sible estate taxes. Estate taxes are levied by the federal gov-ernment1, as well as in some states, against the assets left by a decedent. For example, in 2011, Rhode Island will have an estate tax exemption amount of $859,350 and Massachu-setts’ exemption will be $1,000,000. If your gross estate is over the state exemption amount, it could be subject to estate tax. To determine whether or not your estate is subject to es-tate taxes you must first calculate your total estate. To do so, you must calculate the value of all your assets, including life insurance proceeds, less your current debts. All assets pass-ing to a surviving spouse pass totally estate-tax-free, regard-less of the value of these assets. A simple revocable trust can be drafted to include the appropriate tax language, so that when a person passes away, his or her estate can be divided in such a manner to at least defer the payment of an estate tax until their spouse dies.
Let’s look at an example: Our fictitious person - Mary - died, leaving a spouse and two children surviving, as well as leaving assets consisting of a home, a vacation home, bank
accounts, investments, life insurance, an automobile and various personal possessions having a value of approximate-ly $1,000,000. Mary was a resident of a state that imposed an estate tax, with an exemption of $850,000 during the year of her death. Mary was in her late seventies and had no sig-nificant debt at the time of her passing. Both homes were in Mary’s name with her children. Mary had her children’s names on the deeds as she wanted to be sure they received the homes at her death and she knew that her children would take care of her husband. Her bank accounts were in joint name with her husband, however all other assets were pay-able to her children. Mary did not have a will as she thought that the joint tenancy on the deeds to her home as well as the bank accounts and other forms of death-time transfers to her children would accomplish what she wanted. What she overlooked was the estate tax cost of that transfer. Due to the fact that Mary’s husband did not receive enough of her estate, her estate was subject to more estate taxes than was necessary. Had Mary met with an estate planning attorney, he or she would have recognized this problem and suggested an alternative plan which could have substantially reduced the estate tax.
Probate: Another very common misconception about estate planning is the fear of probate. Most persons fear that the Probate Court will charge a large fee when an estate is pro-bated. This is simply not true and sometimes through the effective use of the Court, estate taxes can be eliminated or drastically reduced. The primary function of the Probate Court system is to transfer assets, keeping in mind that this Court is granting the authorization for assets to pass from a decedent to a surviving person. Without the Probate Court, we would not have the legal mechanism to transfer such as-sets.
Estate Planning is a simple process: Although many people do not like the idea of facing their mortality and creating an estate plan, it is actually a very simple process. In most law firms that focus on an estate planning practice, the plan-ning starts with the client completing a very simple estate planning questionnaire which provides the attorney with the basic family and asset information that is needed to suggest what type of a plan might be appropriate. The most impor-tant part of preparing for your first meeting is completing the form and thinking about the way you might want your estate to be distributed if you were to pass away. This will allow the attorney to formulate an estate tax savings plan around your ideas for the distribution of your estate.
Continued on next page.
E S T A T E P L A N N I N G :
Do I Real ly Need To Do I t?By: Anthony R. Mignanelli, Esq.
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1 At the end of 2010, Congress passed legislation which set the Federal Estate Tax exemption amount at $5,000,000 per person for 2011 through December 31, 2012.
2 0 1 2 N F P A
annual conventionS E P T. 2 7 - 3 0 | A N C H O R A G E , A K
Continued from previous page.
The old saying that the two certainties in life are death and taxes is certainty true, but that does not prevent any-one from preparing a plan to ensure that whatever assets they leave behind will incur the least amount of taxes and ensure your assets pass to the people who you want to receive them. Having an estate plan in place will not only give you peace of mind, but is the most important finan-cial plan you will ever make.
Anthony R. Mignanelli, Esq., the founding partner of Mignanelli & Associates, Ltd., a law firm located in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning, estate settlement and trust administration. In addition, he lectures frequently before both professional groups and social service organizations regarding estate planning, as well as estate planning for persons with disabilities. Attorney Mignanelli may be contacted through his website at www.mignanelli.com or by telephone at 401-455-3500.
RIPA Salary Survey Update
In the Summer 2012 issue of the ParaJournal, we pro-vided a link to the Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals/Legal Assistants and Managers, released
on May 29, 2012. ALM Legal Intelligence and the In-ternational Paralegal Management Association conduct the survey annually. The survey results indicated pay raises again in 2012 and increases in bonuses for half of the positions. Law firm average billing rates increased or remained relatively the same.
RIPA’s own Salary Survey for 2012 is in its final stages of editing. With the holidays and year-end fast approaching, we recognize how busy everyone’s schedules can be, so we decided to hold the survey until January 2013.
U P C O M I N G events
12.05.12 | Social at the new Mile and a Quarter
5:30 p.m., 375 South Main St., Providence. Short Board meet-ing, followed by complimentary appetizers and a cash bar.
12.08.12 | Day Trip To New York City
Bus leaves at 6:00 a.m. sharp from the Park ‘N Ride on Airport Rd. in Warwick and departs NYC at 7:00 p.m. $40 per per-son and must be paid in full prior to departure (checks payable to RI Paralegal Association). Contact Deb Medeiros, [email protected].
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By Pat Lyons, RP
The NFPA Annual Convention was held in Anchorage, Alaska from September 27 through September 30, 2012. The Alaska
Paralegal Association hosted the event and did a great job! There were approximately 20 vendors who provided materials for attendees. In addi-tion, local Alaskan artisans sold native crafts. On Wednesday, a beading class was provided that was enjoyed by many attendees.
Thursday’s Continuing Legal Education sessions were offered and each session was worth 1.25
hours of CLE credit, including ethics. The keynote luncheon featured the Honorable Morgan Christen of the US Court of Appeals.
Region meetings were held on Friday together with workshops. To sup-port the Alaska Paralegal Association’s charity “Blue Jeans for Bison,” attendees could wear jeans to the region meetings when a donation was made. Proceeds benefited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) where NFPA adopt-ed one of the bison.
The convention’s social event was held at The Anchorage Museum and brought the best of Alaska to the world and the best of the world to Alaska. Through a combination of art, history, and science, the Anchorage Museum created a rich, deep understanding of the human experience and offers something for everyone. The event included a scrumptious buffet dinner, entertainment, and access to the Alaska History Gallery and the Arctic Study Center.
The Awards Luncheon took place on Saturday, and the Policy Meetings on Saturday and Sunday concluded the Convention activities.
The 2013 Annual Convention will be held in Hartford, Connecticut.
To read Pat’s full report, visit the “NFPA” page at RIparalegals.org.
P A I D A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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2 0 1 3 R I P A
Do you like to cook?Do you have a favorite recipe?Do you think you could be on
Top Chef... Providence?
RIPA is putting together a cookbook and we need your help!
Pull out your old recipe cards, ask your mom for that
special family recipe, or ask your co-workers for their
favorite homemade dishes... then send them to us.
We will be gathering recipes throughout the next few
months from members of the Rhode Island legal com-
munity and will be offering the cookbooks for sale early
next year, with all proceeds benefiting the RIPA Schol-
arship Fund.
We need recipes in all categories: Appetizers, salads,
side-dishes, entrees, soups, meat, seafood, dessert, veg-
etarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, cocktails, etc.
Please send your typed recipes* either via mail to:RIPA, PO Box 1003, Providence, RI 02903
or e-mail to: Carol Blanchard, [email protected] or
Kandy Marchand Benedetti, [email protected]
*Please include your name and place of business with each recipe.
P A I D A D V E R T I S E M E N T
LEGAL DOCUMENT SERVICES
eDiscovery and Web based Hosting
Forensic Collections Legal Copy Scanning
Bates Labeling/Coding Trial Exhibits
Media Duplication CD/DVD Color and Oversize
Closing Binders
SERVING 200+ FIRMS in RHODE ISLAND
FREE PICK UP and DELIVERY
RUSH/SAME DAY TURNAROUND AVAILABLE
43 ADDITIONAL FACILITIES NATIONWIDE
143 WESTMINSTER STREET PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
Phone 401-454-3170
