Beneficial Ownership Reporting Under the Corporate Transparency Act Continues to be a Requirement for Vast Majority of Beneficial Interest Owners and Applicants

ALABAMA FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT RULES CTA UNCONSTITUTIONAL AS APPLIED TO PLAINTIFFS IN THAT CASE ONLY.

Beneficial Ownership Reporting Under the Corporate Transparency Act Continues to be a Requirement for Vast Majority of Beneficial Interest Owners and Applicants.

On March 1, 2024 the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) is unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the Treasury Department from enforcing the CTA against the plaintiff in the case  – Isaac Winkles, reporting companies for which Isaac Winkles is the beneficial owner or applicant, the National Small Business Association, and its members (as of March 1, 2024).  The ruling has no application to any other person subject to the CTA.

For information regarding the New Corporate Transparency Act Filing Requirements see https://dtclawyers.com/resources/corporate-transparency-act/

Attorney Denise Poulos Retires After 41 Years of Service to her Client

After 41 years of practicing law, Denise Poulos has retired effective December 31, 2023. Denise wrote in a letter to her clients:

“Practicing law has enabled me to become a part of the seacoast community, to get a bird’s eye view of what is going on and to help direct a small part of it. As clients, friends and colleagues you have taught me a lot and have been very supportive of the non-profit endeavors I have been involved with, arms wide and checkbooks open you have given time and treasure when I have asked.

Now is my time to move on. I will bring to what comes next all that I have learned from all of you. I am deeply grateful for that experience. Thank you.”

Please join all of us in wishing Denise the best in many years of a well-earned retirement ahead.

How to Protect Your Healthcare Wishes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With many people in isolation due to COVID-19, and those that are deemed “essential employees” being put at risk, you may wonder how you can create legal documents regarding your health care and best protect yourself and your family with proper “social distancing.” You may be surprised to find out that you can execute healthcare estate planning documents now while maintaining social distancing and without needing the formality of a notary. What are these healthcare documents and why are they so important at a time like this?

First is a New Hampshire Advanced Directive, which allows you to appoint an agent to handle medical decisions should you be incapacitated and unable to communicate on your own or are unable to make medical decisions. It is a two part document comprising of (1) a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care in which you (the “principal”) appoint an agent to handle your medical decisions while honoring what you would want if you had capacity to make the decisions and (2) a “Living Will”, by which you may authorize two physicians or a physician and nurse practitioner to make end-of-life decisions.

These do not kick in unless a physician determines that you do not have the capacity to make health care decisions or to communicate. Once the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care has been activated, your agent takes over and makes decisions that you have authorized your agent to make.

It is important to have a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care in place because the general rule is that physicians and nurses must treat unless told otherwise. There may be situations in which you would not want to be kept alive. An agent, if authorized, may agree to a “Do Not Resuscitate” Order. If the patient is near death or in a persistent vegetative state, an agent may, if authorized, decline artificial feeding and hydration, can make decisions not to start medical treatment or, if it has been started, to discontinue it. Your agent will have all of the powers that you have to make medical decisions, including continuing care, if that is appropriate.

The “Living Will” is a separate part of the Advance Directive. It allows you to authorize two physicians, or one physician and a nurse practitioner, to make end-of-life decisions for you. You may like having this option; it is like an additional backup, in case the agents that you name cannot make decisions for you. Or, you may decline to execute the Living Will, preferring instead to leave your health care decisions to the agents you appoint. Either choice is fine, but taking steps to execute at least one part of this document is important.

A statute, effective January 1, 2014, made minor changes to the Advance Directive form. If you do not have an Advance Directive, or if you have not updated your Health Care Advance Directive within the past six years, you should consider executing the updated form.

The second important document is a HIPAA Release, named after the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which allows you to name people that you trust with your health information to talk with healthcare providers, even before the Advanced Directive kicks in. If you are in the hospital and want family members or trusted friends to be able to find out how you are doing, sometimes the hospital may require those people to be named in your HIPAA Release before disclosing information about your medical condition. A HIPAA Release will protect your health information from disclosure to people that you do not want to have it. It also enables the people you name to be able to help with follow-up care, appointments, etc.

Now, you may be wondering how to execute these healthcare documents while taking precautions in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The New Hampshire Advanced Directive can be executed without a notary and with just two disinterested witnesses, meaning two people that are not named in the document to act as your health care agents. Those two witnesses can watch you sign the New Hampshire Advance Directive, and then sign themselves, at least six-feet-apart with proper sanitization measures in place to limit exposure.  Our practice during the pandemic is to have clients sign in the comfort of their car while we watch them sign through the windows and then our witnesses sanitize their hands and sign the documents outside, or, if inclement weather, sign across from each other while wearing masks at a large, disinfected conference table.

The HIPAA Release does not require witnesses or a notary to sign. If you have to go to a hospital or doctor’s office, you can fill out and sign the “in-house” HIPAA Releases there. Many hospitals and medical practices make their HIPAA “Authorizations” available directly on their websites to fill out and return by mail or fax, and others may enable you to download their HIPAA Release form through a “Patient Portal”.

With proper social distancing and proper sanitization, you can protect your healthcare wishes during this uncertain time with an Advanced Directive and HIPAA Release.

By Elaina Hoeppner, Esq. and Katherine B. Miller, Esq.

COVID-19 Message from Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC to Firm Clients and Visitors

As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation evolves daily, Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC continues to take every measure possible to protect the well-being of our employees, clients and visitors. We have developed a plan and are working to ensure that we will continue to meet our clients’ legal and business needs. The firm has secure technology to enable our attorneys to work remotely and both attorneys and staff to remain accessible to you throughout this challenging time. We are monitoring the situation daily and will adhere to recommendations from WHO, CDC and our local health organizations and government officials.

Your emails and calls will be responded to in a timely manner as we continue to conduct our business. We recommend if emailing, you include both the attorney and the staff person you have been working with.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance or if you have any questions. You can reach all our offices through our main line at 603-778-0686.

DTC Lawyers – Dedicated To Clients.

Attorney Kate Miller to Give Presentation on Federal Law Risk Management and Telecommunication Law Update

DTC Partner Katherine B. Miller will be speaking on November 14, 2019, at the conference of the Northern New England chapter of the American Planning Association, at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, NH. Kate will be on a panel with New Hampshire planners, discussing updates to federal laws that planners should know about. Kate will be covering telecommunications law, including recent changes in federal rules on permitting wireless communications facilities, including granting them access to public rights of way. Her Power Point Presentation is included here.

Kate is the Chair of the Telecommunications and Utilities Practice Groups at DTC.

DTC is Pleased to Welcome Elaina L. Hoeppner

DTC is pleased to announce that Elaina L. Hoeppner has become an Associate with the firm!

Elaina graduated from Western New England University School of Law in 2019. While at Western New England University, Elaina worked at the Elder Law Clinic and interned in the Probate, Family, Civil and Magistrate Courts. Elaina’s practice areas include Estate Planning and Probate, Real Estate and Municipal Law.

Click here for more information on Elaina Hoeppner

Chris and Carolyn Boldt Perform with Sandwich Singers

Attorney Chris Boldt and his wife Carolyn will again perform with the Sandwich Singers at three Christmas concerts this year: Wednesday December 12 at the Congregational Church in Melvin Village; Thursday December 13 at St. Andrew’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church in Tamworth; and Sunday December 16 at the Methodist Meeting House in Center Sandwich. All concerts will be at 7:00 p.m. and are free, though contributions are gratefully accepted.

For more information, please go to www.artstamworth.org.

DTC Sponsors Portsmouth Historical Society’s “Gertude Fiske: American Master with companion exhibitions”

What began as the rediscovery of one woman’s incredible paintings has blossomed into five kindred exhibitions opening in Portsmouth. Perfectly timed, spring 2018 kicks off a year filled with vibrant artwork by talented women in the galleries of the Portsmouth Historical Society at Discover Portsmouth and the John Paul Jones House Museum.

Gertrude Fiske: American Master opens April 6 and runs through September 30 in the historic Academy Gallery at 10 Middle Street. A student of top American Impressionists, including Edmund C. Tarbell in Boston and Charles Woodbury in Ogunquit, Maine, Fiske developed a unique way of seeing the world. Curated by Lainey McCartney, this diverse collection of 66 works, some unseen by the public, reveals a mastery of the painter’s craft being fully recognized again for the first time since her zenith in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Gertrude Fiske (1879-1961) dedicated her entire life to her art. Critics in her era recognized Fiske as adventurous, technically superb, bold, and marked “with a power and depth that very few artists, male or female, had ever achieved.”

For more information about the Portsmouth Historical Society and to purchase tickets, click here.

DTC is Pleased To Announce that Heidi J. Barrett-Kitchen has Become a Member of the Firm

Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC, is pleased to announce that Heidi J. Barrett-Kitchen has become a member of the firm. Heidi joined DTC as an Associate in 2016. Her experience and practice involves various aspects of commercial and residential real estate transactions, land development, condominium law, business formations, acquisitions and transactions, estate planning and probate administration. Heidi received her B.S. degree from Northeastern University College of Criminal Justice and her J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law. She is admitted to practice in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. For more information on Heidi click here.