Return of the Taxes

Do you know where your old returns are?  Do you even have them?  Now is the time to check.

The IRS recommends keeping your returns for at least three years (more if you have under-reported your income, if you’re depreciating business assets, or made substantial investments or improvements).  But that is based on timelines for what the IRS may be interested in -- if you are facing divorce, even an amicable one, you may be asked to produce 5-10 years of returns.  

If you have gone paperless, you can (and should) keep those returns forever, just be sure that whatever your storage is (1) secure and (2) backed up.  I personally make sure that any document containing birthdates and social security numbers is password protected at least once.  Often I will password protect individual files and then store them in an encrypted drive.

What if you don’t have your old returns?  The IRS can provide you with either a copy of your actual filed return, or a transcript.  Actual copies are only available for the current year and the three previous tax years, and cost $50 each.  Transcripts are a print-out generated by the IRS that lists each line item and the amount for each -- i.e. Wages Tips and Salary, Federal Income Tax Withheld, etc.  These are available for free online for the current year and the previous three years.  Transcripts from earlier tax years are also available for request by mail.  

So if you do not have your old returns you should, at the very least, download whatever transcripts are available for your records.  If you know that you are facing a divorce or other legal proceedings, it may be worth your while to pay now for the copies that are available from the IRS.  I know that when I handle a contested matter, I want to see the signed returns.  And you may be able to request transcripts from earlier tax years -- although the best solution is to just keep copies (paper or electronic) every year as you file them.

Here’s the IRS page for ordering and downloading transcripts for recent tax years:  http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript

Form 4506-T for requesting older transcripts: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506t.pdf

Form 4506 for requesting copies of prior year returns: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

And: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tips-for-Managing-Your-Tax-Record

     -- Anna

W.J. Michael Cody and Memphis Pro Bono

While it comes a bit late - my household, like every other in America, has been plagued with colds -- I wanted to thank the Memphis Bar Association for honoring me with the 2014 W.J.Michael Cody award.  

Lawyers in Memphis know Mike Cody well.  Those who aren’t lawyers should remember his name from when he was the Attorney General for the State of Tennessee, and probably have heard about his legendary running career.  

Mike Cody is a lawyers’ lawyer (he even won the “Lawyer’s Lawyer” award), not just because of the way that he practices, but because of his lifetime of commitment to public service and upholding and improving the law.  He is an expert on ethics in government.   As a prosecutor, he was zealous and fair, a quality that is essential to justice and sorely missed in this country that first week of December.  

As I told my audience of lawyers that night, during that week I remembered a discussion in graduate school about the existential crisis facing us social workers -- at what point have we stopped advancing social justice, and instead become the duct tape supporting an unjust system that is doomed to fail?  And now I am  a lawyer, like every other man and woman in that room.  My very identity is tied to this ridiculous system that is so exclusive, expensive, and repressive.  Should I even keep going, or is my work the equivalent of trying to bail out the Titanic with my boot?

But it’s not just me.  Michael Cody is bailing too.  No, he’s not bailing, he’s reinforcing the hull and having the summer associates toss over all the poker chips to reduce the weight.  And it is not just us.  There are hundreds of lawyers in Memphis doing exactly the same thing.  I run into at least a dozen others like me every day, lawyers who are doing pro bono work, lawyers who are active in their churches and non-profits and neighborhood groups, lawyers who spend their evenings trying to make justice more accessible, even though inaccessibility and injustice is what pays their bills.  The commitment to pro bono and access to justice here in Memphis is unlike what I’ve experienced anywhere else.  Something about Memphis is different.

When Mike Cody was a young lawyer (younger than I am now) he approached his boss, Lucius Burch, about a request from the ACLU to represent Dr. King pro bono to lift an injunction so that he could lead a second march in support of sanitation workers on April 5, 1968.  In 2011, Mr. Cody wrote about that experience for the University of Memphis Law Review.  He writes about the legal and political issues the movement was dealing with at that time, about the legal work  by Burch Porter & Johnson and the Ratman, Sugarmon Firm, about his personal experiences working with Rev. Andrew Young and Rev. James Lawson,  sitting in meetings with other SCLC leaders including Ralph Albernathy, Jesse Jackson, and Dr. King himself.  Mr. Cody describes taking a break from preparing documents and going to the Mason Temple, where he heard Dr. King deliver what we now know as the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.

How many Memphians were in that church that night?  How many labored and sacrificed to organize the April 5 march, only to have their hearts crushed.  How many labored for the first march, and walked away feeling more a million times more discouraged than I felt?  Not just the civil rights leaders that kids read about in school now, but all the men and women who packed their lunches, rounded up their neighbors, rallied their churches, and put their lives on the line.  But they didn’t stop.  They marched again and again and again, generation after generation.  They didn’t give up on the system or tear it down.  Its still riddled with injustice, but it has changed and it will again.  They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it wasn’t destroyed in a day either.  In fact, it’s still standing, its just a different thing entirely.

That night in 1968, Dr. King called out to Memphis, called us by name, and said “either we go up together, or we go down together.”  I think Memphis still hears that call today as it echoes through the streets, and that’s how I like to explain this amazing thing we are growing here.  This town has welcomed me wholeheartedly, schooled me on what lawyers’ commitment to justice should really be, and I am honored to be a part of it.  Don’t stop now, Memphis, I want to see it through with you.

I strongly recommend reading the University of Memphis Law Review Article.  It’s heartfelt, not too long, and timely.

http://www.bpjlaw.com/upl_docs/cody_mlklawjournal.pdf

- Anna

Conscious Co-Parenting: Holiday Tips and Tricks

I don’t do “Goop,” and I would eat a grilled steak every day if I could, but Gwyneth is right about some things, and one of them is adopting a new vocabulary for parents who do not live together.  And this is the time of year when a little mindfulness can go a long way.  So here is my co-parenting advice for this time of year.  Put these things on your iCalendar TODAY.

1. Take time for grief.  Maybe this is your first holiday as a separated or divorced parent.  Maybe it’s your twentieth.  Maybe you have never co-parented under the same roof at all.  Maybe the kids are waking up at your house on Christmas morning, or maybe you won’t see them until the second week of the Winter Break.  Chances are, something doesn’t conform to your ideal holiday.  Stop, acknowledge, and address.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to vent to your best friend for hours (although if you have to, please do), but you don’t want your stress and disappointment to pop up as a disparaging comment or short temper.  The other tips won’t be effective if you aren’t conscious of your own feelings.

2. Create new family traditions - for yourself and your kids.  You don’t have to abandon old traditions, but it is smart to make new ones that don’t revolve around a certain date.  Maybe it’s making treats for family or friends, watching a favorite movie, or visiting a Chinese restaurant.  Bonus points if you can incorporate a one-on-one activity with each child.  Also, plan ahead for what you will do when the kids are with the “other” parent. Maybe its volunteering, maybe its crafting or scrapbooking, maybe its binge-watching a really adult TV show, but make sure it’s something that you can look forward to.  Make your plan in advance, because if not, you’ll end up moping around.  

3. Incorporate the other parent.  If you are able to preserve or adapt any “together” traditions, great.  But make it a point to acknowledge your co-parent(s) at least once during the holiday, and your kids will appreciate it.  An easy one is to help your children pick out their holiday gifts for their parent and/or step-parent.  Maybe go out for hot chocolate all together after the school or church program.  If your co-parent is overseas or far away, help your child put together a card or care package.  Take this opportunity to share in your child’s appreciation for the other parent.

4. Plan ahead on presents.  I don’t know what I hate more -- when parents give gifts that the child can’t take to the other home (and therefore can’t enjoy) or when parents are jealous and resentful because the other spends more.  I can understand that a PlayStation may be a gift for the entire household (and therefore can’t travel) but if you’re buying a pricey gift and you don’t want your child or your child’s other parent to loose / break / pawn it, then maybe you should rethink the gift.  Think about the presents from your child’s point of view.  If you can, make a plan together about how much to spend, what to get, etc.  But be flexible.  If one parent is spending more than the other, or scores the “best” gift, it may be ego-inflating or annoying to you as a parent, depending on which side you’re on.  But to the kids it is just awesome.  And a normal part of life.  And probably fleeting.

5. Enjoy life, but don’t erase all limits.  Sing in the car.  Enjoy holiday treats.  Stay up late watching your favorite movie, sleep in a little.  But please, please don’t let the kids stay up until midnight every night or sleep in every day or you will regret it.   Make it a “treat” so it’s not “at Mom’s house we get to do XYZ.”  And this goes for the adults, too.  Watch those celebratory drinks.  After all this hard work, you would hate to be churlish and hung over while getting ready for church, or worse to make some derisive comment while boozy that your kids remember forever.  

Enjoy yourself, stay safe, plan ahead, and pay attention!

- Anna

Understanding and Treating Hoarding seminar at the Pickering Center on November 13, 2014 at 9:30AM.

Let’s talk about hoarding.  It’s all over the TV.  As an attorney I have dealt with it in many cases.  And so many of us now are dealing with it in our loved ones, especially with our aging family members.  It seems like hoarding is a greater problem among senior populations, and some academic research suggests that although hoarding behaviors can start in adolescents and young adults, symptoms can become more severe as patients age.   Of course as individuals age and grow less independent, their hoarding is more likely to be detected.  

When we think about hoarding, we often think about junk.  The most common feature of hoarding is compulsively acquiring items that are useless or unused, and that clutter the environment to the extent that it impairs the living space.  For example, overstuffed closets that can’t be opened, or filling the sink or oven so they can’t be used.  Sometimes the hoarder engages in excessive shopping, so the objects don’t look like “trash,” and yet are not actually used and impinge on the quality of life in the home.  And of course it's not always objects - animal hoarding can lead to especially horrific living conditions.  Another common feature of hoarding is the inability to discard, sell, or otherwise let go of the hoarded items, which can be even more harrowing when we are dealing with pets.

I don’t think that there is any dispute over whether hoarding is harmful and whether loved ones should intervene when they see the signs.  The real question most of us have is how to intervene before it becomes a disaster, and how to best help those who are struggling.  In terms of mental illness, hoarding is most commonly associated with obsessive-compulsive disorders, but it can be a symptom of other disorders as well.  Dr. David Dia of Cordova will present the seminar at the Pickering Center, and hopefully will share some of his expertise on the clinical response to hoarding.

If you are concerned that you or a loved one is suffering because of hoarding, please take advantage of this free seminar.  If you can’t make it, I would urge you to connect with resources online.  

Link to Event Notice

International OCD Foundation:  http://hoarding.iocdf.org/fact_sheet.aspx

Tennessee 2-1-1:  http://tn211.mycommunitypt.com/

Dr. Dia's page:  http://www.drdaviddia.com/Home.html

National Association of Professional Organizers (Memphis Chapter): napomemphis.com