Legally Easy is a free source of legal help, news and information from Charley Moore and the legal team at RocketLawyer.com. Rocket Lawyer is the easiest way to make a legal document, find a lawyer and get free legal advice for yourself and your business.
How to Write a Letter of Intent
When you consider entering into a meaningful business transaction, a Letter of Intent is a good idea. A Letter of Intent is a legal document that outlines the important issues, people and organizations involved in the transaction. Often, negotiation of the Letter of Intent can be done primarily by the principals involved in the deal, helping clarify and define what they want sufficiently to save a lot of time and money when the time comes to create the formal contracts.
Thus, having a Letter of Intent drafted before going to the expense of creating what are called "definitive agreements" can be a very smart move.
As healthcare reform continues to dominate the news, now is a good time to look at your legal rights under Medicare, the biggest government program that affects millions of Americans. Pictured here is Attorney Joseph S. Carp, whose practice includes Medicare legal issues.
Medicare is a health insurance program run by the U.S. government. It is a single payer health care system that covers people over the age of 65 and others who meet special status criteria. In our opinion, the websites run by the government, like medicare.gov, can be pretty confusing, so we're working on delivering the simple information and easy tools you need to exercise your healthcare legal rights. Medicare consists of four parts - Part A through Part D.
Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) covers hospital care, limited post-hospital skilled nursing facility care, part-time home health services, and hospice care. If you are 65 years old or over, you can receive Medicare Part A insurance without having to pay a premium if you are currently receiving or eligible to receive but have not yet filed for either Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits or if you or your spouse had Medicare-covered employment by the government. If you are under 65, you can receive Medicare Part A insurance without having to pay a premium if you have received either Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits for twenty-four (24) months or if you are a kidney transplant or kidney dialysis patient. If you have been denied a Medicare Part A claim, click here for a Medicare Part A Appeal Denial Form.
Medicare Part B (Supplemental Medical Insurance) covers physician's services, certain outpatient hospital services (including emergency room visits), ambulances, diagnostic tests, laboratory services, certain preventive care services such as mammography and pap smear screening, outpatient therapy services, durable medical equipment and supplies, and home health care services not covered by Part A.
Medicare Part B pays 80% of approved charges for most covered services. The beneficiary is responsible for paying a deductible each calendar year as well as the remaining 20% of the Medicare approved charges. The beneficiary may have to pay additional charges if the doctor providing the care does not agree to Medicare's approved charges. If you have been denied a Medicare Part B claim, click here for a Medicare Part B Appeal Denial Form.
Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage plans) gives Medicare beneficiaries the option of receiving their Medicare benefits from private health insurance plans.
Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug plans) makes those eligible for Medicare Parts A or B, eligible for certain access to funded prescription drug benefits.
With breaking news of the largest identity theft scam in U.S. history, everyone should take a moment to learn how to protect their credit and good name from ID Theft. The Identity Theft Legal Center is here to help you learn about how to protect your identity with a credit freeze and more.
Think you may be a victim of Identity Theft or Credit Fraud? Here are critical first steps to take to recover, from the Identity Theft Recovery Center:
Follow up with creditors, banks, government, and others. Use Rocket Lawyer's easy interview process to request a Credit Freeze and create the written notices to follow up with whoever you need to resolve your situation.
Here is the news from Reuters:
Three men were indicted on Monday for allegedly stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers in what U.S. authorities said they believe is the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted.
Albert Gonzalez, a former government informant already in jail in connection with hacking cases, and two unnamed Russians were indicted on charges related to five corporate data breaches from 2006 to 2008.
Card numbers were stolen in those breaches from credit-card processor Heartland Payment Systems and retail chains 7-Eleven Inc and Hannaford Brothers Co, prosecutors said.
The men targeted two other corporations, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said in the statement, without naming those companies.
Heartland Payment Systems and Hannaford Brothers had previously and separately acknowledged the breaches, but the scope of the fraud had not been known.
Authorities also for the first time tied those cases to Gonzalez, who was arrested last year on suspicion of hacking into a restaurant chain's payment system.
Attorneys for Gonzalez were not available for comment.
In a case that will have both practical and political reverberations, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the City of New Haven Connecticut in a reverse discrimination suit. The case, known commonly as "New Haven Firefighters," has political impact as well, due to the fact that Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonya Sotomayor, participated in the appeals court ruling that has now been overturned by the Court. What does the ruling potentially mean for you, your business or organization?
The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances in which employers can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.
The fact that this was a 5-4 decision indicates that even at the highest level, judges remain split on the application of employment law to the facts raised by the New Haven case. In particular, the case asked whether the city of New Haven Connecticut erred in throwing out the results of a promotion examination because minority test takers were unlikely to receive promotions based on the results of the exam.
Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy states:
"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions,"
Kennedy was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Alito and Thomas.
The dissenting Justices were Ginsburg, Souter, Bryer and Stevens:
In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters "understandably attract this court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them."
Undoubtedly, labor and employment lawyers will be busy crafting new rules for employers to follow in employment testing situations. Employers will be wise to review their employment practices for compliance with the New Haven ruling and to consult with an employment lawyer to understand the issues raised by the case in application to their own organization's practices and policies.
The sensational break-up of America's most famous television family again highlights the legal side of family life. According to the San Francisco Examiner, "on Monday, June 22nd, divorce documents were filed in the Berks County courthouse."
In their televised announcement of the divorce, Jon Gosselin said: "Kate and I have decided to separate...I am stil in the show, but we'll interview separately. Nevertheless, apparently, TLC will continue to air the Jon & Kate Plus 8 show. Mom, Kate Gosselin, said (really) "the show must go on."
While the blogesphere and mainstream media is full of angst over whether, on its face, the televising of the Gosselin saga borders on child abuse, will the continuation of the show possibly do some good by illuminating some of the issues faced by children of broken marriages? Divorce, child support and raising good children after bad marriages is part of life. Now, is it possible that the Jon & Kate Plus 8 show might actually live up to "reality?"
Before, during and after a marriage, couples and families experience a romantic, legal and financial relationship. It is a good idea for everyone to learn about the legal side of marriage, such as prenuptial agreements, child care, child custody and for some, divorce and child support. The Rocket Lawyer Family Legal Help Guide is a good place to start.
In this economy, child support payments can strain the often already tight relationships between former spouses. Sadly, children are often the ones who suffer the most. Your state probably has several resources listed on the state's web site to to help you, whether you are the spouse paying child support or the one collecting it on behalf of your children.
Attorney Elisabeth Camaur, pictured above, specializes in family law matters, including divorce and child support.
Avoid the Tax Reaper with the 2009 Tax Savings Guide - Tax Tips to Save You Time and Money
Now more than ever, many people need good tax advice due to the economic downturn. Whatever your situation, the new Rocket Lawyer Tax Savings Guide can help you understand basic tax terminology and point you in the right direction. This year, RocketLawyer.com has partnered with H&R Block to bring the latest tax savings information directly to Rocket Lawyer members.
The Tax Savings Guide can help you with the following important tax issues:
One of the best kept secrets in a world of televised celebrity lawyers in expensive suits is that there are thousands of affordable real lawyers here to help you with your legal questions and issues.While celebrity attorneys may offer general information on TV and on the radio, real people have real questions that are specific to their lives and business matters that don’t fit into neatly canned answers.Real people also have personal and business legal documents that they need a real lawyer to review, revise and complete at a reasonable price.
Until now, these real people with their real legal documents would need to find a lawyer, go to the lawyer’s office (an office that costs money that results in higher legal bills for the client), pay for copies, mail, fax and other expenses, and then wait for the legal document, such as a legal will, a power of attorney, a lease or a business contract, to be finished, often after several weeks.Alternatively, a real person might try a web site that offers do it yourself legal forms.Most of these sites seem to offer nothing more than a downloadable PDF or word processor document, with little legal help and legal information.Other sites might have fill-in worksheets for legal documents and then require the person to wait for the document to be completed offline and mailed to them later.In either scenario, the real person is often left back where they started – needing affordable legal help and not being able to find it.
But wait – there is finally a better way, a way to have the best of both worlds – do it yourself legal documents, plus legal help and legal document review by real lawyers online!RocketLawyer.com offers both easy to use interactive free legal documents that real people can complete as well as click-through legal review by real lawyers.Now, a real person can fill in as much or as little of their legal documents as they feel comfortable with and then find a lawyer to help them online – without the need to visit a lawyer’s office or wait for the mail to complete the legal document.
If you are a lawyer, and you would like to join the growing RocketLawyer.com virtual law office network to begin offering your services online, just start here – and, best of all, it’s completely free for join the network and get a free professional profile here!
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