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Legal Humor
OK, our selection for this month is not legal-specific. It does provide a humorous, tongue-in-cheek view of what customer support might have been needed when the first book replaced a scroll. Our Customer Support Department loves this one.
Watch the Introducing the Book video >>
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Coming Updates
December
Attorney-Client Matters - We’re modifying four forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to now require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment now also includes an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
Family Law - We’ll add 129 new forms and update 46 more in this huge volume update.
- This update will include the 2008 Judicial Council Forms update.
- We’re modifying several forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to now require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment will also include an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
- We’re updating two forms due to AB910 by adding a provision requiring that a party who provides health insurance coverage for children as part of a support order must seek continuation of that coverage beyond the age at which the coverage would terminate if the child is entitled to continuation of the coverage due to disability.
- We’re updating local forms for the counties of Butte, Contra Costa, Marin, Placer, Sacramento, and San Bernardino.
- We deleted from the volume one form from Los Angeles County pursuant to changes by the local court clerk's office.
- We’re updating IRS Form 8332 - Release of Claim of Dependency Exemption to match the current IRS form.
- We’re adding the county name to the title of all 287 local forms to distinguish them from statewide forms in the alphabetical list.
- We’re revising three forms based upon customer input and/or request.
- We’re adding all of the remaining Judicial Council Family Law forms to the volume, including: 14 adoption (ADOPT) forms, 15 Name Change (NC) forms, 10 Emancipation (MC-300s) forms, the Emergency Protective Order ( EPO-001), the Civil Cover Sheet, CM-010, and the Notice of Related Case (CM-015), as well as 5 new foreign language DV forms.
Lipman's Wills & Trusts - There are four major areas of enhancements coming to this volume:
- We’re modifying several forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to now require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment now also includes an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
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We're adding a new series of children's questions to the volume to make it much faster to address your clients' preferences concerning their children in the wills and trusts documents.
It will now be far easier to disinherit a child and to provide for other beneficiaries when your clients have no children (or are disinheriting all of their children).
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We're revising the powers of attorney forms allowing you to draft them either as a Uniform Statutory Form Power of Attorney or as a more conventional General Power of Attorney. Also, you may now give the agent the power to amend or revoke a revocable trust in addition to the power to create a revocable trust.
- We're modifying all of the notary acknowledgments to account for changes to Civil Code Section 1189(a)(1).
Probate - We’re updating 33 forms in this volume.
- This update will include the 2008 Judicial Council Forms update.
- We’re modifying four forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment will also include an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
- We’re modifying multiple forms due to AB341 adding a definition of the term "creditor" to Section 9000 of the Probate Code and replacing the term "claimant" with "creditor". The term "claimant" is being replaced with the term "creditor" in various places throughout the volume.
- We’re modifying local forms for the counties of Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mono, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus, Yolo and Yuba pursuant to changes by the local court clerk's office.
Real Estate - We’re updating 20 forms in this volume.
- We’re modifying 16 forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to now require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment now also includes an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
- We're changing the signature blocks on our HUD-1 forms to match the newly promulgated HUD-1s.
Wills -
We’re updating seven forms pursuant to AB886 that amends Section 1189(a)(1) of the Civil Code to now require that determination of the existence of certain facts or identities be made from satisfactory evidence. The notary acknowledgment now also includes an express certification under penalty of perjury. AB886 also amends Section 8202(a) of the Government Code to modify the jurat to be based on satisfactory evidence.
Please Note: We're providing all of these enhancements at no additional cost to you. Our objective is to continue adding more value to your ProDoc investment without increasing the amount of your investment.
2008 Planned Enhancements
New Volumes
In the first half of 2008 we intend to release six new volumes comprised of the Judicial Council Forms for these areas of law: Criminal, Conservatorships, Guardianships, Litigation, Juvenile, and Landlord/Tenant. These will join our other current volumes:
Effective with this update, every Judicial Council Form will be included in ProDoc.
Thanks for being a ProDoc subscriber!
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ProDoc Customer Support: Setting Default Answers
Setting default answers in ProDoc makes it much more efficient for you to generate your documents. As a quick example, suppose most of your work is in a specific county—Los Angeles County for instance. By making Los Angeles the default answer every time a question arises about the county name, you merely need to click Enter instead of typing in Los Angeles every time. And... that's just a glimpse of the possibilities. So, if you want to stop retyping repetitive information and reduce the risk of errors in your documents...
Read more about setting Default Answers in ProDoc.
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Trial Tip: The Florida Jury Selection Blog
Or, as the blog call itself... "The cure for the Common Voir Doir" and here is how the editor, Robert W. Kelley, describes the purpose of the Blog:
"This blog is designed for my fellow trial attorneys, who, like me, have spent their careers in the courtroom seeking victory and justice for their clients. We know that jury selection is a critically important process and that it can be maddeningly difficult. We walk a tight-rope over a mine-field trying to find jurors who can be truly open-minded; people who will open up their hearts and minds to hear our client’s case. And we know from experience that in order for true justice to prevail, the jury that decides the case must be nothing less than “omni exceptione majores” - above all challenge."
This blog is a repository of my twenty-five years experience in the courtroom as it pertains to voir dire."
Visit the Florida Jury Selection Blog >>
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Practice Tip: Risky Business - Some Thought on Legal Malpractice Insurance
Law Practice Today recently published an excellent article on legal malpractice by Ed Poll. Here's the introduction to the article:
"Malpractice is a predominant concern for the profession, and more so for small firms and independent practitioners. Mandatory disclosure of malpractice liability insurance is a growing trend and with that comes increased risk of malpractice suits. This article investigates these recent trends in malpractice insurance and provides preventative measures you may take to avoid malpractice."
View the compete article >>
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Tech Tip: Take a Second Look at OCR Software
OCR software is that wonderful software that converts written words into digital files. Quality of the various programs has been uneven and many users have been unimpressed with the results.
ABBEY® FineReader 9.0 just might change your mind. It provides powerful functionality for converting images received from a
scanner, a digital camera or by fax, as well as PDF files, into editable and
searchable formats. It accurately retains formatting and layout of
documents and supports a wide range of recognition languages and output file
formats.
And, it enables you to "shoot" documents with your digital camera, export the images to your computer, and then convert them back to electronic documents.
Learn more about ABBY Finereader >>
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Tech Tip: Scared Straight... Dangers of Practicing Unsafe Computer Usage
Perhaps you've heard everyone tell you that you need a good firewall, a good anti-virus program that regularly updates its virus definitions, and anti-spyware on your computer—but you've been too busy to be bothered by it.
If nothing else has convinced you so far, read this article... it'll scare you straight to a computer guru to finally protect your computer from the myriad of miscreants out there.
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View Past Issues of this eZine
Looking for a Tech Tip from a past ProDoc eZine... but can't find that old eZine? We keep recent past issues on our web site for your review.
View past issues of the ProDoc eZine >>
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Vent—Tell Us What's on Your Mind
This is your opportunity to
what's on your mind. Email us your suggestions and other feedback.
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