Prove it!

Sometimes you write a check and it only shows up as a line item debit on your bank statement even though you get photocopies of your other checks on your statements. Many people do electronic transfers between accounts even for the payment of support. This creates a problem of proof. Many things can come back years later with a claim that you did not pay. Your bank only keeps records a certain number of years. You need to keep your own proof. Having all your statements online only, and not mailed, and/or with no copies of checks, is dangerous. If you had a support claim (for which there is no hard and fast deadline) or some other debt coming back years later claiming that you did not pay, you may find that there is no way for you to prove that you paid. Write checks for important and/or potentially disputed items and keep the photocopies of the checks. Relying on institutions is dangerous where they only keep things for a few years and the company changes hands or goes out of business. This happens even to large financial institutions as we've seen since the recession.

Cell charges

If you buy something using your cell phone, you may end up in a quagmire of regular charges. PC World did an article on various regular charges that started showing up after someone bought a ring tone or wallpaper and how hard it is to get these off your monthly bills. Click here for the article. You can turn off the ability to use your phone to buy extras. When you have multi-phone accounts with kids or employees, you should do this. There is a new service to allow you to waive certain phones over a store checkout machine and charge other things to your cell bill. You should keep things segregated and avoid this. It is easier to deal with a bad charge on your credit card bill and you have more consumer rights.

Loan Modification Scams

Here is a pamphlet on the growing problem of loan modification scams and how to avoid them. Click here.

Credit Cards Vary Greatly

Many people owe credit card debt. Rates vary from 7-30%. Click here for a Wikipedia article overview of credit card rates. You can greatly reduce your interest payments by getting a card with a lower interest rate. Click here for a comparison site (Bankrate.com).

Opening client/opposition files

Sometimes you cannot open a file emailed to you. They might have a newer version of Word, or Word Perfect or some other writing program. You could have them go back to their document, pick "Select All", "Copy" and then "Paste" into the email. There is a free solution to open the file from your side. Oracle's Open Office is a free download and is a fully featured office program. Click here to download it.

The Well Read Lawyer

There are two really nice ways technology helps us keep up on reading (besides your web browser). One is Amazon's Kindle which now comes in a $114 model which is partially subsidized by ads. The other is Audible.com with their huge collection of audio books and publications. With them, for a monthly fee, you get one or two books that you download to your music player. Many phones work but I find the Sansa brand players, like the Fuze, are the best since they always ask if you want to resume any file that you previously were listening to at the place that you stopped.

Consumer law

Some credit cards now have a passive radio signal (RFID) so that you can waive it over a machine to buy things easier. This can be read by someone walking close to you and saved on a laptop. There are many wallet and card holders with RFID blocking (which is done with a metal like aluminum foil). Amazon has a bunch that you can browse by clicking here.

State Bar Pamphlets

  The State Bar has many helpful pamphlets.  Click here to get the table of contents and/or to read them.

Family Law Issues

  The State Bar has a very helpful brochure on some basic family law issues.  Click here to read it.

Computers Die

  When your hard drive fails, there are three areas of concern.  Number one is your work data which should, of course, be backed up.  Number two are your program installs which could be restored to a repaired computer from a disk image (a total hard drive backup) made before the computer died and restored on a new hard drive on the computer that the drive failed on.  A product like Drive Image is good for that.  That doesn't work on a new computer since it might not accept your old windows installation which was done on another computer.  If you are replacing the hard drive or re-installing windows on an old computer, and you just want the drivers that you no longer have disks or copies of anywhere, there is a little utility for free that lets you, in seconds,  scan a computer for the windows hardware drivers and back them up on an external drive like a flash drive.  That freebie is called Double Driver and you can get it if you click here.

Computer Security

Lawyer's computers hold valuable and confidential data. A couple tools for some minimum protection should be on every attorney computer. If you have been lax on purchasing anti-virus and anti-spyware software, you might get the free AVG software. Click here to download that.  You should be backing up your data regularly at your place of business AND off site.  One good free way to backup your data off site is Dropbox.  You install the software at home and at your office and work from the dropbox directory or work elsewhere and have have that backed up to the dropbox directory.   Set up your home computer to see the dropbox directory so that you have access from there.  Click here to download dropbox.  A good basic automatic backup software is Second Copy for about $30 per computer.  Click here to check them out.  PC Magazine has a nice review of free anti-virus software programs.  Click here for that article.

Support

How is support calculated? A study determined what it cost monthly to raise a child. How much each person makes and how much time each person has with the child are calculated to come up with how much support should be. A rough calculator is on the right side of my page among the links.

Bankruptcy

Do you qualify to file a Chapter 7 "liquidation" bankruptcy? There are three main factors to consider. One is your income and living expenses. If your income is below the median income and you use it all for living expenses, you probably qualify. Do you have too much property? You are allowed a certain amount of equity in a home and basic furniture, furnishings and personal property. If you do not need to use the homestead exemption, you have a "wildcard" exemption ($18,350) that you could use on some item(s) that normally would not be exempt such as a car more valuable than the car exemption (which is $2775). And finally, are your debts of the type that can be discharged. Credit cards, personal loans and medical bills normally can be. Student loans and divorce obligations normally cannot be discharged. Some taxes can be.