Practice News

Ordinarily, an estate is taxed based on the value of its assets as of the decedent’s date of death. But for federal estate tax purposes, an alternate valuation date could be selected if it results in both the gross estate and the estate tax being reduced. The alternate valuation date is the date six months after the date of death. Utilizing the alternate valuation date would thus necessitate the filing of a federal estate tax return. In his September Illinois Bar Journal article, “COVID-19, Death, and Taxes,” Richard Hirschtritt discusses whether an Illinois resident who owns publicly traded stock, commercial real estate with an Illinois situs, and/or a business that has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has died within six months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak is subject to state or federal estate taxes.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act  provides financial protection to employees whose earning power has been temporarily diminished or terminated due to a work injury. The system is designed to replace income lost when an employee suffers an injury. The Act also provides some protections for injured employees and specifically prohibits a retaliatory discharge for exercising workers’ compensation rights. But when do retaliatory discharge claims have merit? In Daniel C. Katzman’s September Illinois Bar Journal article, “Falling Into a Pink Slip,” Katzman explores protections provided to employees who are injured in their employment, the obligations employers have to injured employees, and what cases decided by Illinois courts have to say about the rights of the employer and injured employee.

The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar recently announced that Illinois will engage in reciprocity with 11 other states and the District of Columbia when administering the remote bar exam on October 5-6.

Despite the finality of the new federal Title IX regulations, uncertainty remains. The American Civil Liberties Union and others have challenged the Final Rule in court. Presidential candidate Joe Biden has vowed to overturn it if elected. State laws—including in Illinois—and even other federal laws require more stringent standards when addressing similar complaints. And the Final Rule has yet to be interpreted by U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and the courts. In her September Illinois Bar Journal article, “It’s Time for Title IX: New Rule, New Regime,” Jackie Gharapour Wernz provides a deep dive into the controversial new Rule.