Richard D. Lyons Law Blog

During 2010, in accordance with the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the inheritance tax disappeared for the estates of those U.S. Citizens dying between Dec. 31, 2009 and Jan. 1, 2011.  As of Jan. 1, 2011 the one year hiatus for the estate tax goes away and the law generally reverts back to the exemptions amounts and tax rates of 2001.  However, due to various political and economic causes, there is uncertainty as to whether U.S. Citizens can rely on... Read More

Our office has recently been made aware of a major risk to your business's privacy.  Tens of thousands of images from copies made on copy machines are stored on hard drives within the copiers.  If you are unaware of this major concern, I urge you to follow this link and watch the CBS news video.  

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=641257 2n

The risk to your business's privacy, as... Read More

Owning a home with the full benefits of homestead, while not having your name appear in the public records is possible.  A client approached me recently regarding the client's desire to buy a southwest Florida home and make it his homestead.  However, for very serious reasons, he could not have his name in the public records.  He was prepared to give up the benefits of homestead if that was necessary.  Our office was able to structure the ownership so that it complied with... Read More

There is a report today in The Economic Times that US mortgage applications fell for a second straight week, with a slump in demand
for government loans driving activity to its lowest level in three months.  The suggestion is that housing demand is down.  I believe that may only be a part, even very small part of the reason for the diminishing demand.

The issue that is not raised in news reports is what percentage of loan applications ever get accepted, or... Read More

Our law office saw increased volume in the last half of 2009, which was the first significant volume in transactions since October of 2005.  We believe this is a significant indication that the market has hit bottom and is in recovery.... Read More