Taxes

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Rodrigue  v. Rodrigue located here.  One of the key issues in the case was the lack of tax considerations by the chancellor.  The court cited some language in the case of interest from another case:

“Chancellors must consider the estimated amount of income taxes the respective parties must pay on their incomes when determining the provisions of a divorce agreement. Parsons v. Parsons, 678 So. 2d 701, 703 (Miss. 1996). It was incumbent for Leigh and Herb to rely upon their tax advisor or attorney to advise them of the tax consequences of the divorce agreement.”

The Court of Appeals ended up reversing the trial court for failure to consider the tax consequences of the transaction which essentially allowed the husband to get all the money he paid under the temporary order back.  If you look through the opinion, it is a good idea to advise the client to get the advice of an accountant.  My property settlement agreements have express disclaimer language to that effect in there.  It may even be worth a motion to reconsider if you can get an accountant to go through the order of the court to address the tax consequences post trial.  

Random Legal Issue

Was taking a look at a legal issue on a matter and thought this might help someone.  There is a ton of farm litigation in various forms in Mississippi.  What happens to the unharvested crop when a party dies?  It appears to be an estate asset by statute based on my reading of the below.

§ 91-7-169.
Growing crop
 The court or chancellor may, on the application of an executor or administrator, decree the sale of the crop growing at the time of the death of the testator or intestate, upon such terms and in such manner as may be deemed best. If the interest of the estate would be promoted by the cultivation and completion of the crop, on application therefor by the executor or administrator, it shall be so ordered by the court or chancellor; and in such case the executor or administrator shall take charge of the farm and manage the same until the crop be completed and gathered, retaining for that purpose so much of the property thereon as may be necessary. The proceeds shall be assets in his hands, the necessary expenses being first deducted; and, in either case, the executor or administrator shall render a true account of the crop. In case of the sale of the growing crop, the purchaser thereof may at all reasonable times enter upon the lands to cultivate and gather the same.

Proof the Court Can Consider

The Court of Appeals decided an interesting issue in Pruitt v. Pruitt located here.  The case came out earlier today.  The opinion dealt with whether a chancellor can do an investigation beyond the proof presented in a divorce case regarding valuations.  The Court of Appeals said today they cannot and that this was error.  The opinion more or less stated that the Court was bound by the proof of valuations provided by the parties and cannot speculate to determine what the chancellor believes the valuation to be.  From reading the case close, it seems to me that a fair and narrow reading of the case is that the chancellor can use their experiences and maybe some investigation of their own to determine valuations, however, they must have support in the record of some kind regarding what amount they determine that to be.

Admissibility of Electronic Evidence

Today, there is a ton of evidence dealing with emails and the discovery of electronic data.  Located here is Lorraine v. Markel from the federal court in Maryland.  It deals with the admissibility of the evidence and the laying of the proper foundations on the evidence.  At 101 pages, it does a pretty detailed job in explaining it and giving you the background needed to lay the proper foundation.

Tennessee Medical Bills

The law in Tennessee regarding the recovery of medical bills in a personal injury claim is a little different than Mississippi.  In Mississippi, the client can largely testify to past bills by statute.  In Tennessee, it has to be testimony by the doctor.  Located here is an article regarding Tennessee law on the issue.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse

This week has been a little bit emotionally draining for me.  Many of the current custody cases I am working on deal with issues where a parent has severe dependency issues and/or mental health issues.  These are areas a court has to probe into in a custody case or even a regular divorce case without children at times in order to prove grounds for divorce.  Unfortunately, many times these problems get progressively worse than better.  This unfortunately leads to problems down the road for children of these individuals and other issues for the individual themselves.  If you have a family member with these type problems, get them help.  If they refuse, in Mississippi visit with the chancery clerk in your county to see about getting an involuntary commitment of the individual.  Many counties, including DeSoto County now have an attorney paid by the county who handles these for individuals.   It can be the difference between life and death for the individual.  It can also prevent the cycle from repeating itself with children of these individuals. 

FLSA Counterclaims

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Tolley v. Good located here.  The issue in the case was whether counterclaims are appropriate in FLSA claims.  The court stated no with the only exception where wages have been prepaid.  I have a little bit of a hard time reconciling with cases where you have a counterclaim which is arguably a compulsory counterclaim if it arises out of the same transaction.  I think this may be the right ruling under the facts of the case only.