The next Breakfast with a Barrister is still scheduled for tomorrow morning, at La Madeleine, but starting around 8 a.m. The usual overblown description appears in the usual place, after the lead article but before The Lincoln Box. See you all then.

T hat’s my motto, and there is a good reason for it. I do not like to think of myself as a self-satisfied Boomer (if that were a bona fide stereotype, which it is not) who insists on his view of the world – hostile to adults when young, disdainful of the young like all of the oldsters who preceded us. My own favorite in this vein is Mark Twain’s comment,

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned.

If we were obnoxious know-it-alls in our youth, well, that just goes with the territory. And acknowledging that, I would be a damned fool to think anyone under 30 will listen to me. But nothing daunted ...

All of this is actually a lead-in to next issue’s lead story – how to choose a lawyer. I didn’t plan it that way, but I need to get this thing out, the article isn’t finished but the lead is, and I don’t have another one.

The solution was to plagiarize. As Lagniappians know, I am a great believer in plagiarism – if it is high quality – and I try to plagiarize from the best. This issue, its Tom Lehrer and Oast and Hook, an excellent Virginia elder law and disability planning firm. But don’t think that plagiarism is easy. I had to spend a fair bit of time getting the material where it was up (down?) to Landsman’s Lagniappe standards.

Speaking of being over 50 – ah, the days of youth – I have just joined the Gray Panthers. For those of you too young to know the allusion in the name, the Black Panther Party was active and, by design, a radical and threatening entity when founded in 1966. (It still exists – go to its snazzy website, http://www.newblackpanther.com/ – but in these non-revolutionary days, not so ever-present.) The Gray Panthers were meant to be the not-quite geriatric equivalent – activist, political, if not so threatening. They have a website, too, http://www.graypanthers.org/, and promote the good things you would expect of an activist, liberal organization. The pin I got upon joining says “Fight Truth Decay.” You would expect a bunch of grandparents to work off of some hygienically sound homily, right?

Who better to turn to than that famed songster of the sixties, Harvard mathematics instructor Tom (Thomas?) Lehrer, who wrote and sang the following ditty. Try to imagine a pseudo-Russian accent, the italicized portions spoken in conspiratorial recitative.

Let no one else's work evade your eyes [rhymes with plagiarize if you slur it a tad]

If you want to catch up with Tom Lehrer, check out a recent Gene Weingarten (great Washington Post humor columnist) on-line chat, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/02/05/DI2008020502027.html (but take out the soft return before copying that site), or Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer#_note-7 (ditto)..

With that invigorating background, the main lesson for today is a review of the details of the economic stimulus package recently enacted by Congress, evidencing the strength of will for which Democratic Congresses are justly famed, at the behest of the Bush administration I stole the following from The Oast and Hook News, a very polished newsletter (for more information, go to www.oasthook.com).

Most readers of the Oast & Hook News Landsman’s Lagniappe have heard about the recently-passed Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, the centerpiece of which is the government's issuance of rebate checks to most Americans. In brief, the measure will bring tax rebates of $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples to most taxpayers and $300 checks to low-income people, including disabled veterans and the elderly. Here are the key details of the rebate provisions in the stimulus package.

Amount of basic rebate. Eligible individuals will receive a rebate for 2008 equal to the taxpayer's net income tax liability, but not less than $300 nor more than $600. Double both numbers for couples filing joint returns. But the amount phases out for those with higher income; see phase-out, below.

Who is eligible. Everyone who files a 2007 tax return is eligible if he or she is not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, and fits into one of the two following categories:

(a) the taxpayer has no income tax liability but does have qualifying income of at least $3,000. Qualifying income is earned income (W-2 and net self-employment income), Social Security or RRB benefits (see box 5 of the 1099-SSA or -RRB), and veterans' disability payments (including payments to survivors of disabled veterans).

(b) his or her net income tax liability is at least $1 and gross income is greater than the sum of the applicable basic standard deduction amount and one personal exemption (two personal exemptions for a joint return).

There is an additional $300 credit for each qualifying child for whom the child tax credit can be claimed. This is generally a dependent child who is under age 17 at the end of the year.

The phase-out. The amount of the rebate credit (both the basic and qualifying child amounts) will phase out at a rate of 5% of adjusted gross income (AGI) above $75,000 ($150,000 for joint returns). So, for joint filers with no children who would otherwise get the maximum $1,200 basic credit, the credit reduces $50 for each $1,000 of income, to $0 when AGI is $174,000. For a single filer with no children who would otherwise get the maximum $600 basic credit, credit drops to $0 at an AGI of $87,000. Two simple tables:

The amount of the rebate is not includible in gross income and does not otherwise reduce the amount of withholding. The rebates will be subject to offsets for items like past-due child support and debts owed to the federal government.

Eligible individuals. An eligible individual is any individual other than (1) a nonresident alien, (2) a dependent, or (3) an estate or trust. Residents of the U.S. possessions will also receive the benefit. In an effort to bar illegal immigrants from receiving rebates, the rebate will not be available if an individual's tax return does not include Social Security numbers of the taxpayer, spouse, and any qualifying children. Taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) that the Internal Revenue Service issues to aliens who are ineligible for Social Security numbers are not valid for this purpose. If a married couple files jointly, both must have SSNs; if one does not, neither gets a rebate.

Delivery of rebate checks. Most taxpayers will receive the credit in the form of a check issued by the Treasury. The amount of that check will be computed on the basis of tax returns filed for 2007 (instead of 2008).

Treasury will make every effort to issue payments as rapidly as possible to taxpayers who filed their 2007 tax returns on time. Taxpayers who file late or on extension will receive their payments later. No rebate checks will be issued after December 31, 2008.

When taxpayers file their 2008 returns early in 2009, they will reconcile the amount of the credit with the rebate they received in the following manner. They will complete a worksheet calculating the amount of the credit based on their 2008 tax returns. They will then subtract from the credit the amount of the rebate they received.

For many taxpayers, these two amounts will be the same; however, if the result is a positive number (because, for example, the taxpayer paid no tax in 2007 but is paying tax in 2008), then the taxpayer will be able to claim that amount as a credit against 2008 tax liability. If the result is negative (because, for example, the taxpayer paid tax in 2007 but owes no tax for 2008), then the taxpayer will not be required to repay the rebate amount to the Treasury.

Thanks to Oast & Hook for its involuntary assistance, and to RIA for the helpful information it provided to Oast and Hook.

I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but this plagiarism thing is sort of over-rated. I still had to spend a few hours on this stimulus package thing so I could understand it, and rewrite it down to my level. It takes a fair bit of time to go that far.

The next Breakfast with a Barrister is still scheduled for Wednesday, March 12^th, but won’t start until 8 a.m., tho’ still at La Madeleine, in fabulous Mid-Pike Plaza – best known for its most visible tenant, The Silver Diner. It is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road.

I will treat anyone who drives more than 20 miles to get there. What I will treat you for is your lack of sanity. I will also pay for your breakfast. This offer is good for this time and this place only. Not valid with any other offer. Cash value of this newsletter is 0.000000000002¢, and you’re lucky if you can get that.

Assuming you make it to the right establishment, wander back to the long table in front of The Garden Room, and if you remember the 11 B’s (an even dozen if you count the brown fedora by which I am be-hatted), you will find me. If you don’t remember them, you’ll still probably find me (I am usually the only one there), but it is also probably time to join the Gray Panthers.

I haven’t forgotten The Car Guides. I actually have to learn something. Could take a while. Its just that other things are so much more interesting. Also, as noted in the Intro, above, a multi-part series on how to find a good lawyer (other than yours truly).

The Lincoln Box

W illiam Lee Miller has done it again. His earlier study, Lincoln: An Ethical Biography, was a serious attempt to understand how Lincoln – a pacific, studious, chaste, tee-totaling, anti-slavery, non-hunting lawyer could become popular and well-liked in a fighting, womanizing, Indian-hating, pro-slavery, agriculture-based frontier town. (My own view is that his inclusion of more than a few ribald jokes in his repertoire – he is justly famed for his story-telling– is vastly under-rated.) Miller’s new book, President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman, follows the same themes into his four years as president. It shows how his exquisite moral sensitivity and political sensibility enabled him to continually find the high moral ground without every getting so far ahead of public opinion as to threaten the larger goals he sought to achieve.

Miller’s approach is reflected in his discussion of Lincoln’s First Inaugural, in which Lincoln said he was duty-bound, in light of the oath he took “to preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution, to resist secession. The primary need, at that time, seven states having announced their secession and seized Federal forts, mints and other property, in maintaining the Nation was to keep the eight remaining upper South states from seceding. Four eventually did, but not the other four – including the one surrounding Washington, D.C., and from which this newsletter is being written. He said he would “retain and possess” Federal property. He could have said, as some urged, and as he wrote in a draft, that he would “reclaim” them. Many zealous Unionists were dismayed that he did not. Given the precise temper at that time, that would have been seen as a threat in those wavering States. It would have pushed them away, without bringing anyone else closer.

The issue is not which statement was true, or truer, or which more accurately reflected his plans. It was his appreciation of his role as president to set a tone at that moment in time and that place. He was acutely aware the effects his words would have. He chose a path that was true to his goal and commitment, to preserve the Union, avoiding antagonism that would not be compensated for by greater support. He did not forswear further action, but indicated the limited steps he would take pending events – usefully provided by South Carolina hot heads a few months later.

Elder and disability law firm – Ron M. Landsman, P.A., is an elder and disability law firm headed by Ron M. Landsman, who has worked in this area of the law since 1983. We represent older and disabled people, their families and advocates. The work we do includes estate, disability and retirement planning, probate, estate and trust administration, wills, trusts and powers of attorney, titling of assets and designation of beneficiaries, protective proceedings (guardianship and conservatorship), special needs trusts and public benefits – Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and SSI.

Special Needs Alliance – Ron M. Landsman is a Maryland-D.C. member of the Special Needs Alliance, Inc., a nationwide network of attorneys especially knowledgeable about coordinating public benefits and private resources through different kinds of special or supplemental needs trusts. We and our colleagues assist disabled people, their families, estate attorneys and personal injury attorneys in enhancing the resources of disabled individuals – savings and investments, inheritances, settlements or judgments – by coordinating them with public benefits like SSI and Medicaid. We also manage such trusts or advise family members or bank trustees who manage them. For more information on the Special Needs Alliance, visit its website at www.specialneedsalliance.com

If you would like to subscribe to The Voice directly, you can do so, but not from Landsman’s Lagniappe. I have not yet figured out how to include that link here. Maybe next time.

P lease share Landsman’s Lagniappe with anyone interested in the elderly and disabled and their advocates. (That’s the whole point.) You may copy and use anything in this newsletter, but if you don’t credit us at the outset, no fair blaming us later. If you do use anything from the newsletter, please, please, please let me know.

If you would like to get Landsman’s Lagniappe or you would like to change the form in which you receive it or want to be removed from our mailing list, please send an email to newsletter@ronmlandsman.com, or call Sanja Pirsl at 240-403-4300, ext. 106, or fax her at 240-403-4301. No charge; am I generous or what?.

I f you are having trouble sleeping and looking for something really soporific, I am available to talk on any number of topics, including some that I know about – Medicaid, Lincoln, planning for disability, Medicaid, planning for the disabled child, Medicaid, and that always lively topic, probate in Maryland and D.C., as well as Medicaid. If you are interested, call Sanja Pirsl at 240-403-4300, ext. 106.

... infrequently, and mostly to cancel. Or to correct my grammar. I wrote last time about “the principal that sometimes, what is important is not that the dog preaches well but that it preaches at all,” and some school-marm do-gooder perfectionist wrote to say that “the principal is my PAL but that the dog story represented a princiPLE.” It took me about three readings to figure out what he meant. And even then ... Speaking of grammar, if anyone has a good mnemonic device to distinguish between its and it’s, I would be deeply grateful. I cannot for the life of me keep them straight. I do not mean to dismiss the significance; I am a great believer in saying what you mean clearly and well, but sometimes I need a little help from my friends.

W e hope you find this to be a good newsletter, but it is not the same as legal counsel. A free newsletter is ultimately worth what it costs you; you rely on it at your own risk. Good legal advice includes a review of all of the facts of your situation, including many that may at first blush seem to you not to matter. The plan it generates is sensitive to your goals and wishes while taking into account a whole panoply of laws, rules and practices, many not published and, often, will reflect years of experience and judgment about what works and how and why.. Whether it’s worth the cost is for you to decide although, unfortunately, usually not ‘til after the fact.