Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

WSJ: New Ex-Patriot Tax on Facebook Co-Founder 'Isn't Worthy of America'

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

Wall Street Journal editoiral:  The Saverin Lesson : A Punitive Exit Tax on the Facebook Expat Isn't Worthy of America:

    Facebook on Thursday priced the IPO it expects to launch Friday at $38 a share, valuing the social media company at $104 billion. But so much for that welcome sign of confidence in American entrepreneurship and capital markets. This being the age of envy, the bigger story in some circles seems to be the decision by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin to renounce his U.S. citizenship in favor of Singapore.

    Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey, a pair of envy specialists, pounced on the news by announcing Thursday that they will introduce a plan to tax capital gains at 30% for any wealthy Americans who try to escape from U.S. shores. No doubt they hope to score political points by punishing the fleeing rich who will strike most Americans as unpatriotic, but the Senators are doing far more harm than Mr. Saverin is to the U.S. and its global reputation.

Social Media and Suicide Prevention

Excerpt from Science and Technology: (click for entire article)

What would you do if a Facebook friend updated that they were depressed and thinking of ending their life?

What would you do if you observed a group of individuals bullying another person on a social media site? Would your actions be the same if the person was a friend or a complete stranger?

Your answers to these questions may have important implications for how these scenarios turn out. Fortunately, there are resources in social media to help you reduce the risk for suicidal behavior and to get help.

Social Media and Investing-Tips for Seniors

Excerpt from SEC: (click for entire article)

More and more older Americans are using social media every day, including to help guide investment decisions. Whether it is to research particular stocks, to find background information on financial professionals, to gather up-to-date news, or to discuss the markets with others, social media – web-based platforms that allow interactive communication, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, bulletin boards, and chat rooms – has become an important investing tool. While social media can provide many benefits, it also presents opportunities for fraudsters targeting older Americans. As a result, seniors need to proceed with caution when using social media as part of their investment process. The following tips can help.

Facebook Billionaires Used GRATs to Save $200 Million in Gift Taxes

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

Following up on my prior posts:

    Facebook Billionaires Used GRATs to Transfer More Than $200 Million Free of Gift Tax (Mar. 8, 2012)
    More on the Facebook Billionaires GRAT Tax Strategy (Mar. 21, 2012)

Wall Street Journal Tax Report, How Facebook's Elite Skirt Estate Tax, by Laura Saunders:

    Investors are focusing on Facebook's offering price as the company prepares to go public as soon as next week. Tax specialists are paying attention to something else: how half a dozen of the firm's luminaries, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, appear to be using a perfectly legal maneuver called a grantor-retained annuity trust, or GRAT, to avoid at least $200 million of estate and gift taxes on their own Facebook shares.

Postmortem Life On-Line

Excerpt from AmericanBar.org: (click for entire article)

What happens to a client's on-line life when the client can no longer manage it? According to Entrustet, a digital estate planning site, an estimated 408,000 U.S. Facebook users will die in 2011; thousands of others will undoubtedly be disabled.  Estate planning attorneys are beginning to request, as part of their estate planning questionnaire, information about a client's on-line presence.  This means asking not just about the types of assets but also how they are protected.  This can be an extensive list with numerous different passwords on various sites.  This first step, of asking a client simply to inventory the range of assets, can be useful in itself, and it provides the basis for counseling a planning.  As this article discusses, relatively little law specifically addresses the inheritance of digital assets.  Although there are strong and persuasive arguments that on-line assets hould be treated in the same way as brick-and-morter assets, able to be marshaled by executors and personal representatives, these arguments are just beginning to be developed.

The U.S. Government Wants To Make Sure You've Written Your Social Media Will

Excerpt from The Consumerist: (click for entire article)

The United States government is hip to social networking, and because it knows all about the Facebook and the Twittering, it wants you to be prepared with a social will in the event of your demise. After all, there have been reports of the families of deceased people having trouble gaining access to those kinds of accounts.

In a new post today on the USA.gov blog titled, "How and Why You Should Write a Social Media Will," the government lays it all out. It suggests creating a statement as to how you want your online identity to be handled, sort of like a traditional will.

Choosing a person you can trust as an online executor is the first step. That person will then close any accounts you designate — email addresses, social media profiles, blogs and whatever else.

See also What happens to your Blog after your death

Does the First Amendment Cover the Right to “Like” Something on Facebook?

Excerpt from Reason Magazine: (click for entire article)

The answer to that question is no, at least according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virgina, which has ruled that Facebook "likes" do not count as constitutionally protected forms of speech. From the opinion in Bland v. Roberts:

[Previous First Amendment rulings] differ markedly from the case at hand in one crucial way: Both [precedents] involved actual statements. No such statements exist in this case. Simply liking a Facebook page is insufficient. It is not the kind of substantive statement that has previously warranted constitutional protection. The Court will not attempt to infer the actual content of Carter’s posts from one click of a button on Adams’ Facebook page. For the Court to assume that the Plaintiffs made some specific statement without evidence of such statements is improper. Facebook posts can be considered matters of public concern; however, the Court does not believe Plaintiffs Carter and McCoy have alleged sufficient speech to garner First Amendment protection.

What Happens to Your Blog After Your Death?

Excerpt from Legal News: (click for entire article)

The Internet is a fun way to share information," said Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek, "Twitter and Facebook are growing exponentially. People are using them both personally and professionally," but a problem arises when the user dies or becomes disabled.

Who can access the accounts and what can they do with them?

Dudek suggested answers to those questions to the members of the ICBA probate section at their meeting on April 17th.

To date Michigan has no statute dealing with these matters leaving the solution to the problem to the individual or the provider. Only Oklahoma and Idaho have passed laws dealing with the matter and Nebraska is considering a statute.

Facebook Blocks Account Over Special Olympics Photos

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

A North Carolina mom says Facebook suspended her account after she uploaded photos of her son with Down syndrome participating in a Special Olympics event.

Diana Cornwell posted an album with 40 photos of her son, Cole, 7, participating in a Special Olympics event last Friday. By the time she checked Facebook again on Sunday she says the photos had been flagged.

“Never upload any photos that contain hate speech, support for violent organizations or threats to harm others,” read the message that popped up on Cornwell’s screen.

Facebook and Your Job

Excerpt from Law Office of Matthew Stoloff: (click for entire article)

The use of Facebook comments as evidence in employment litigation is growing. In many cases, writing disparaging or offensive Facebook comments about your job, your clients, your students, or the products your company sells, can place your job at serious risk. Likewise, certain photos of you may place your job at risk.

Imagine you are an athletic coach. On your Facebook page is a photo of you posing with two drag queens. Should this cost you your job?

Imagine you are a firefighter. On your Facebook page are comments that disrespect gays and mentally challenged individuals. Should this cost you your job?