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HaystackRadio 01-30-14

Attorney Benjamin Yablon joined us to talk about Bankruptcy and debt management but also announced he is the first Colorado Lawyer to practice Bitcoin law.

HaystackRadio 01-28-14

Affordable Interest Mortgage joined us to share mortgage news and tips and industry trends.   Refinance or close your loan in February or March and receive a $500 gift card to Home Depot, Lowes or Ace upon closing.

During the second half of the show we were joined by Family Law Attorney, Ron Taylor, who discussed child custody and divorce.

HaystackRadio 01-24-14
Family Estate Planning Attorney Bonnie Bowles, of Wills and Wellness, joined us to talk about estate planning for young families.

It was announced today that Nelson Mandela’s estate is valued at $4.1 million, excluding royalties and potentially other sources, to be split among his family, members of his staff, schools he attended, and the African National Congress, the movement with which he was intimately involved for decades and which now rules post-apartheid South Africa.

How do we know that Mandela’s estate is worth $4.1 million or more, and how do we know who is entitled to what he left behind? Shouldn’t that be private information? Wouldn’t a man of his stature and wealth want it to be private information? It probably won’t be long before we know about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s estate depending on how seriously he took estate planning before his surprising and unfortunate passing at only 46 years old.

We would know these intimate details about one’s estate if Mandela or Seymour Hoffman did the only most basic of estate planning—leaving only a last will and nothing else.

We can learn 7 tips from the fact that Nelson Mandela had what appears to be only a last will.

1. Dying without a will—and in fact dying only with a last will—puts your family through the same probate court process in either case. This is a common myth: people believe, perhaps given the prevalence of fill-in-the-blank software and cheap websites, that a will is enough. There is a sense of false security by relying on a robotic process versus someone with whom you can engage and interact and truly seek advice from. In either case, will or no will, your family has to navigate the public, timely probate court process.

2. Probate takes an average 12-18 months, and longer in more complicated estates or when beneficiaries dispute over assets. And unfortunately, beneficiary disputes have been known to happen and hold up the process even in the smallest of estates where only a few thousand dollars are at stake. This is, after all, a public process and all family members and potentially other interested parties are entitled to notice (even people specifically disinherited in a will), which prompts people to get involved and make a ruckus who might otherwise have gone about their day disrupting someone else’s plans.

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Article contributed by Wills & Wellness.

PUC TO TAKE PUBLIC COMMENT ON XCEL RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARD COMPLIANCE PLAN

DENVER – The Public Utilities Commission will take public comment on Monday, Feb. 3, on Xcel Energy’s proposed 2014 Renewable Energy Standard (RES) compliance plan, including the issue of incentives for rooftop solar arrays.

The public hearing will be from 4:30 p.m. to no later than 7:30 p.m. at the PUC offices in Denver, 1560 Broadway, Suite 250, Hearing Room A.

Xcel is proposing to cut incentives to customers to less than a cent per kilowatt-hour. It also has raised questions about the net metering credit that customers with solar installations get for electricity they send back to the grid. The company said net metering customers receive a 10.5-cent credit for each kilowatt-hour they put on the grid, but provide only 5 cents in benefits.

Xcel has suggested that the net metering incentive either “needs to be ramped down over time or that other rate design solutions must be explored to address the incentive net metering provides for future installations.” A number of solar industry associations dispute Xcel’s claims, arguing that the company’s studies have undervalued the benefits that rooftop solar installations provide.

In addition to the proposed changes to the solar programs, Xcel’s 2014 RES compliance plan updates its Windsource program and, for the first time, adds both a recycled energy program and a non-solar renewable energy credit (REC) program to its portfolio.

A PUC decision on the RES compliance plan is due by July.

DORA is dedicated to preserving the integrity of the marketplace and is committed to promoting a fair and competitive business environment in Colorado. Consumer protection is our mission.

Public Utilities Commission

Joshua B. Epel, Chairman

Pamela J. Patton, Commissioner

Glenn A. Vaad, Commissioner

Doug Dean, Director

John W. Hickenlooper, Governor

Barbara J.  Kelley, Executive Director

1560 Broadway, Suite 250,  Denver, Colorado  80202           

303-894-2000

TTY Users 711 (Relay Colorado)

www.dora.colorado.gov/puc

Fax  303-894-2065

Permit and Insurance (Outside Denver) 1-800-888-0170

  Transportation Fax  303-894-2071

Consumer Affairs   303-894-2070

        Consumer Affairs (Outside Denver)   1-800-456-0858