Blog

The Grant, Konvalinka and Harrison, P.C. law firm is pleased to announce that Gwen Kennedy has joined the firm as an Associate.

With the mass shooting on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the debate over gun control currently led by our nation’s children, the issue of the safety and well-being of our nation’s children has been at the forefront of our collective concern and media attention. Recently, the issue of child marriage and related legislation has been in the news in Tennessee, along with a surprisingly controversial bill to ban child marriage.

Lately, I have had multiple cases where the parties are in their late 30s to 40s and the wife is making significantly more money than the husband. To me, this seems to be the new trend. The typical viewpoint of the wife in these cases, is that not only are they earning more income than their husbands, but they are also primarily handling everything in the home place. The wife in these cases almost unanimously advise me that they are the primary caregiver to the children, the primary person to maintain and clean the home, and the person to primarily purchase any necessities for the home, such as food and prepare the meals.

For typical family-based immigrants attempting to obtain a green card, the petitioning relative must sign a form I-864 Affidavit of Support. By signing this Affidavit, the petitioner is agreeing with the U.S. Government that if the immigrant obtains federal governmental benefits, the government has the right to seek reimbursement from the petitioner. Note that this is only with regard to federal governmental benefits for the immigrant only, and does not include any state benefits. It also does not include any benefits received by the immigrant's family members. This agreement is in effect for the shorter period of (1) the immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen, (2) the immigrant dies, (3) the immigrant works 40 quarters (which would be 10 years straight employment), (4) the immigrant permanently leaves the U.S., or (5) the immigrant receives a green card based on a new Affidavit of Support. Note that divorce does not terminate the petitioner's obligations under the Affidavit of Support.

Recently, the Tax Court held that gifts of limited partnership interests made by a decedent during his life were gifts of present interests that qualified for the annual exclusion, currently $13,000.00 per person per donee. Estate of George H. Wimmer, TC Memo 2012-157. Internal Revenue Code Section 2503(b) provides that the first $13,000.00 of gifts made to any person are free of gift tax if they are not gifts of future interest in property. Under regulations, a present interest is an unrestricted right to immediate use, possession, or enjoyment of property or the income from property. Treas. Reg. § 25.2503-3(b).

On January 9, 2012, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("CIS") announced a proposed rule, Provisional Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens. The proposed rule would streamline the adjudication process of waivers of inadmissibility for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens by allowing aliens to file waiver applications and wait for adjudication in the U.S. This could be beneficial to tens of thousands of families with an immediate relative that entered the U.S. illegally; whereas the alien previously would have had to leave the U.S. for an extended period in order to get a green card, the alien can now wait in the U.S. for preliminary approval and have a much shortened wait abroad.