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Given the current real estate market with its increasing foreclosure rate and ensuing credit crunch, individuals and families are choosing to rent rather than buy.  If you have the financial ability and the interest in owning rental property then this could be an intriguing possibility.  However, there is more to owning rental property than simply finding a property and suitable tenants.  If you own a rental unit in central Iowa, before you can move any tenants into your property you must first obtain a rental certificate, according to the Iowa Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and the City of Des Moines Municipal Code. 

 

If in your haste you neglect to obtain a rental certificate it could come back to haunt you should you find yourself in the unenviable position of having a tenant whom neither pays nor exits the premises on their own volition.  Under Iowa Law, without a valid rental certificate the tenant is considered a tenant at will and the landlord must give thirty days notice prior to eviction, on top of that the past due rent will not be recoverable either.  Bottom line, if you are a current landlord or a prospective landlord, be sure that you have a  rental certificate for each unit before renting.

Photo on Flickr by The Rocketeer

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Of note, the items employers are not required to pay for are:

• Non-specialty safety-toe protective footwear (including steel-toe shoes or steel-toe boots) and non-specialty prescription safety eyewear,  that is allowed by the employer to be worn off the job-site;
• Shoes or boots with built-in metatarsal protection that the employee has requested to use instead of the employer-provided detachable metatarsal guards;
• Logging boots required by 1910.266(d)(1)(v);
• Everyday work clothing, long sleeve shirts, long pants or
• Ordinary clothing, skin creams, or other items used solely for protection from the weather, such as rain gear, back belts, parkas, cold weather gloves, winter boots.

What about flame-resistant clothing? OSHA does not consider flame-resistant clothing to be PPE so the employer is not required to pay for it. However, OSHA is in the process of revising 1910.269 and may decide it is PPE at that time.

 

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Joe Kristan notes here that the US Department of Justice has blocked a Las Vegas scammer from selling and promoting "pure trust" schemes which are basically attempts to conceal income.  The scheme was promoted in various states, including Iowa.  The US Department of Justice has requested Mr. James DiLullo, the Las Vegas promoter, to disclose names, addresses and social security numbers of all clients for whom he prepared income tax returns for the past ten years.  Some Iowa customers may be getting a disconcerting letter from the IRS in the near future. 

As Joe so aptly notes:

The Moral: You can't make your taxes go away using "pure" trusts, "constitutional common law trusts," or anything of the sort -- no matter what the salesman says.

Or "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

Trusts can provide a sound estate plan for you, but saving income taxes isn't one of the purposes of trusts.

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An article in the Des Moines Register affirms my advice in a past blog: Have an internet, e-mail, and/or computer policy AND enforce the policy consistently. Michael Hopewell has been terminated from IPERS for circulating an indecent email. Hopewell, believing his termination was improper, has brought an action against the agency for unemployment benefits. IPERS claims the email joke violated its computer policy. I would imagine the nudity in the email did violate IPERS’ computer policy.  However, just from reading the article, I can presume Hopewell’s argument will be: Jokes and emails like this (maybe even worse) have been forwarded around this agency hundreds of times and nobody has ever been fired before. Based on the article, it seems that IPERS has, at least in some manner, enforced the policy in the past. It’s not clear what the outcome will be in this situation, but it is clear that having a computer policy and enforcing that policy consistently is a good business practice. 

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I recently had a conversation with the local probate judge for the largest county in Iowa.  She commented that she is seeing more and more litigation involving guardianships.  With second marriages and changing family dynamics, I don't believe it all that unusual to expect these issues to continue to escalate and increase in the coming years.  Unfortunately, whether it is a guardianship for a 2 year old or a 92 year old, there are bound to be issues and potential problems with the various individuals involved.

Michael Bonasera, of the Ohio Trust & Estate Blog noted in a recent article
that less than 1/4 of parents have a will.  That is truly a scary percentage, although the odds of something happening to both parents are not very high.  Michael speculates that more parents aren't going through this process because they have difficulties coming to grips with the realization that they can't trust their friends to raise their kids.  I often see a struggle with parents trying to decide whether a family member should raise their kids or close friends.  Then you throw in issues with the other family member having their own kids, maybe in a different school system, different city, what about excluded family members, which family to choose from -- all this can lead to procrastination.  When it comes down to it, most people feel that no one could raise their kids as well as they could and typically the different choices have different strengths and weaknesses.

I'm currently involved with several different guardianship battles.  They are ugly, nasty battles.  Many of them could have been resolved if the appropriate individuals had taken steps previously to establish their choice of guardians.  Don't make the same mistake.  Execute or update your will and communicate with the proper individuals about your wishes.
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“Forced to be Fit,” which some may have caught on the CBS Evening News last night, tells the story of the Benton County, Arkansas’ fight against fat. This isn’t your traditional fight against fat e.g. America’s Biggest Loser or Lighten Up Iowa. In this story the pressure to lose weight comes from the employer. Research shows that obese employees cost employers more in health insurance and worker’s compensation. Some employers are transferring this extra cost to the employee, while others are providing incentives to the employees for losing weight. Others have only gone so far as to provide fitness facilities to encourage weight loss.

It's clear that this issue will become more prevalent in the future.  Currently, obesity itself is not a protected class.  However, in certain limited circumstances, it may be considered a disability under the American with Disability Act.  Therefore, it's important to tred carefully when dealing with employees that are considered obese.

Photo on flickr by fanboy30

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If your health were to deteriorate to a point where you could not communicate with your caregivers, how would you feel?  Wouldn't you want to be able to tell your friends and family your final wishes?  Wouldn't you want to tell your doctors what type of medical treatment that you want?  Or how about what treatment you don't want?  Unfortunately, no one is able to read your mind as to what you were thinking.  For some people, they may not even consider some of these issues or know where to start.

Aging With Dignity - Five Wishes provides the easy support and documents to assist you with sorting through these tough issues.  Communication on what your wishes are is critical in being treated the way you want to be treated should you be in that situation.  I stress to all of my clients the importance of communicating with family members as to these issues, but I question how many actually take that difficult step.  Five Wishes provides a simple aid for getting that process started in a simple, respectable and professional manner.

The ABA has another good resource dispelling some common myths on living wills that is quite helpful.  You should review this brochure as well.

Make your plans now.  As I posted previously, this time of the year is a convenient time of year when family members are together.  It might not be the best topic for the holidays, but after you get over the initial hurdle, everyone will likely feel better knowing what you want and you'll feel better knowing that you communicated your wishes.

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