AttorneysEd Center

In June the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") and California Proposition 8. The Court's rulings will have dramatic implications for employee benefit plans covering domestic partners and the taxation of domestic partner benefits. Join Todd Solomon, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefits issues resulting from domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages, as he discusses the Court's rulings, the future of DOMA and Proposition 8, and the implications for benefit plan sponsors. Topics include: • The taxation of domestic partner benefits (Federal and state) after the Court's rulings. • The status of same-sex marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. • Can same-sex couples marry in California? • What policies and procedures should employers and their counsel be updating in light of the Court's rulings?

Because of the importance to the client of his or her estate, regardless of size, estate planning attorneys should consider some degree of asset protection as part of the client’s overall estate planning. Join Barry Engel and Ed Brown as they provide appropriate asset protection planning strategies tailored to those individuals with small to medium-sized estates. Topics include: 1) the use of exemptions, which are valuable in that they provide categories of assets that are free from legal process as a judgment creditor attempts to collect a judgment; 2) joint ownership of property, which, based upon the state in which the individual lives, may render property either unavailable to a judgment creditor, more difficult to levy against, or less attractive to a creditor as an asset to pursue; 3) spousal gifting; 4) insurance; 5) annuities; 6) the use of family limited partnerships and family limited liability companies, due to the protection provided by charging order

Todd Solomon, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefits issues resulting from domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages, discusses the impact of the New York same-sex marriage law on employee benefit plans. Topics include: • which plans are required to offer coverage to same-sex spouses, • the federal and state tax implications of providing such coverage, and • best practices for administering a program that covers same-sex spouses.

Todd Solomon, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and a frequent speaker and writer on employee benefits issues resulting from domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages, discusses the latest legal developments impacting employee benefits for same-sex couples. Topics include: • a survey of the current state of the law relating to the recognition of same-sex marriage (domestic partnerships, reciprocal beneficiaries, civil unions, same-sex marriage) • the latest on California Proposition 8 • the status of legal challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and the proposed legislative repeal of DOMA • the new Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index and the impact on benefit plans • the status of legal proposals relating to domestic partner benefits taxation and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation