Property & Liability Supplement Form Wells Fargo Insurance

Departments of education and school districts always have to make decisions about what to include in their curriculum.  There are a lot of life skills that people need that aren't taught in school.  The question is should those skills be taught in schools?I teach high school, so I'll talk about that.  The typical high school curriculum is supposed to give students a broad-based education that prepares them to be citizens in a democracy and to be able to think critically.  For a democracy to work, we need educated, discerning citizens with the ability to make good decisions based on evidence and objective thought.  In theory, people who are well informed about history, culture, science, mathematics, etc., and are capable of critical, unbiased thinking, will have the tools to participate in a democracy and make good decisions for themselves and for society at large.  In addition to that, they should be learning how to be learners, how to do effective, basic research, and collaborate with other people.  If that happens, figuring out how to do procedural tasks in real life should not provide much of a challenge.  We can't possibly teach every necessary life skill people need, but we can help students become better at knowing how to acquire the skills they need.  Should we teach them how to change a tire when they can easily consult a book or search the internet to find step by step instructions for that?  Should we teach them how to balance a check book or teach them how to think mathematically and make sense of problems so that the simple task of balancing a check book (which requires simple arithmetic and the ability to enter numbers and words in columns and rows in obvious ways) is easy for them to figure out.  If we teach them to be good at critical thinking and have some problem solving skills they will be able to apply those overarching skills to all sorts of every day tasks that shouldn't be difficult for someone with decent cognitive ability  to figure out.  It's analogous to asking why a culinary school didn't teach its students the steps and ingredients to a specific recipe.  The school taught them about more general food preparation and food science skills so that they can figure out how to make a lot of specific recipes without much trouble.  They're also able to create their own recipes.So, do we want citizens with very specific skill sets that they need to get through day to day life or do we want citizens with critical thinking, problem solving, and other overarching cognitive skills that will allow them to easily acquire ANY simple, procedural skill they may come to need at any point in their lives?

“How do you feel about landlords that require you to fill out an app prior to seeing the rental property? My daughter is a CO, has a perfect rental history, and a very high credit score. We ran into this while she looks for a rental.”I have a certain sympathy for landlords. It isn’t an easy way to make a living. You have huge capital tied up in immobile investments. One destructive tenant can wipe out the profits from 20 good ones.If you want a landlord who will show the property without asking questions until and unless you show an interest, you can probably find that. We had that when we rented our first apartment after retiring and selling our house (Liberty Lake Apts in Boise ID - great place BTW, we recommend them). The nice office lady showed us around the complex, and let us inside an empty unit just like the one we eventually rented. (That empty unit was already promised to someone else; the one we eventually rented was still occupied). Then we went back to the office and filled out applications.But anyways, it all comes down to supply and demand in a free market. If you want a landlord who asks no questions, you can find one. Probably a “slumlord” who doesn’t maintain the property and has lots of anti-social, destructive tenants who would make dangerous neighbors. If there is a glut of housing in your market, you can find landlords who bend over backwards to court you. If there is a housing shortage, you have to play by the landlords’ rules.

Lawyers are not the answer.Not copying things that you didn't create keeps you out of most forms of intellectual property trouble.Don't use Bit Torrent. Don't copy “Game Of Thrones” from a sketchy website. Don't burn DVDs and try to sell them.Aside from peer-to-peer lawsuits in the early aughts, most small-time violations wouldn't attract enough attention to get you sued. But it could.All you'd need to do is not copy media. Or not buy copied media.

I’m a retired probate attorney who, during my practice, was involved in thousands of probate estates, the majority of them with Wills, so I’ve seen a lot of Wills in my life and their results, when the Will “matures.” Rather than discuss the advantages of an attorney-drawn Will, I’d like to consider the circumstances where that’s probably a good idea.If your estate at death is subject to federal estate tax. That value currently is $11.4 million. By all means, if you are so fortunate to have an estate taxable estate, you should obtain professional estate planning advice, for no other reason than to attempt to lessen your potential estate tax “bite.”If your estate at death is subject to estate or inheritance tax in your home state. That’s going to depend on the laws of your home state, and a professional should be able to advise you about that if you can’t determine that yourself, for example, through the Internet. The estate tax exemption amount in Washington is currently $2,193,000 —- signNowly less than the federal estate tax exemption amount —- and Washington has no inheritance tax.If at death, you leave minor children. One problem is that minors cannot receive assets, so if you want to provide for them, you will need to do so indirectly, probably most simply with a trust in your Will for them (a testamentary trust) or through a guardianship or custodianship for their estate. Another problem is naming a guardian for their person, to assist with their living conditions, their health needs, and their care in general.If at death, you want to provide for a disabled person. Disability law is hugely complicated, so if you want to provide for a disabled person, you should seek the advice of an elder law attorney.If at death, you have unusual or complicated assets. In the great majority of probates in which I was involved, most estates consisted of a home, some financial accounts, a car, and other usual personal properties (eg, personal effects and household furniture and furnishings). If your estate has other major assets, such as an interest in a business or valuable collectibles, you should consider obtaining professional advice regarding their disposition.If at death, you have assets subject to multiple jurisdictions, such as a vacation home in another state. That practically guarantees a domiciliary (home state) probate for your home state assets plus an ancillary probate for your real property in another state. That “double probate” is avoidable with professional advice.If at death, you live in a state where probate is complicated and expensive. I began my probate practice in California, where probate is truly complicated and expensive far beyond reason. There, it was almost attorney malpractice not to advise an estate planning client to use a revocable living trust as one’s estate planning vehicle. Yes, creating, funding, and managing a living trust is more expensive and complicated that using a Will, except that used properly, living trusts avoid probate, and in California and many other states, that’s a big deal. I moved to Washington, whose probate laws are simple and probate costs are modest, usually far less than the cost of creating and funding a living trust, so in Washington, there are few reasons to prefer a living trust over a Will as one’s estate planning vehicle. So if you are determined to “avoid probate” for whatever reason, your should obtain professional advice. And, yes, I’ve had lots of probates where the Decedent wanted to “avoid probate,” attempted to do so as a “do-it-yourself” project, and failed. Chances are seeking and following professional advice would have avoided that outcome.If at death, your estate has substantial debt or, worse, may be insolvent (having insufficient assets to pay all your debts, taxes, and probate costs).If you want your estate to pass other than to your heirs, those persons who would receive your estate if you died without a Will —- typically, your surviving spouse and children —- or, worse, if you want to exclude one or more of them from receiving any portion of your estate. There is substantial law favoring a person’s surviving spouse and children as the recipients of one’s estate at death. One consequence of that is that there are legal hurdles to overcome if you want your estate to pass otherwise; professional advice would be especially helpful so you may achieve your objectives to vary the disposition of your estate from the norm.Well, these are some of the reasons why seeking professional advice for your estate planning might be helpful, and I’m sure there are many more. That having been said, I’ve successfully probated tons of “do-it-yourself” Wills, typically, for Decedents in typical families with typical assets who want their estates to pass in the typical way, “all to the wife or husband and then to the kids,” and if that is your situation, a “do-it-yourself” Will should likely suffice.Richard Wills, retired probate attorney originally licensed in CA & WA

Let’s change it up a bit.Assume you were on a sports team. Let’s use basketball since the NBA Finals are happening.The team starts holding practice. You are required to have drills, exercise routines, study sessions in formations, learn how to analyze the shot clock, familiarize yourself with obscure rules, etc.“I’m not interested in that stuff!” you say. “I’m interested in championship rings and slam dunks!”But the way to get there involves building blocks of drill, study, acquisition of information.Let’s take another example. You want to own a dog and throw frisbees for it to catch. But pet ownership requires a whole lot of tasks, from food to picking up poop to monitoring health to protecting property from mischief.Some of it may not interest you. So what? It’s still necessary.Lots of life skills are like that. At some point, you’d better be able to understand how your wages are calculated; how to stay out of debt; how to parallel park; how to fill out paperwork for a loan or a hospital admission; much more.Life won’t care that you say, “None of that interests me.”A school curriculum is ideally intended to build learning capabilities and impart useful information. There’s a lot to be criticized about how well that’s done in particular schools, but the general theory makes sense.I think that certain aspects of school subjects could be better presented and it is quite possible you have a teacher who is poor at communicating the utility of what you are studying. That’s a failing at the teaching level.But try to give it the barest that there are reasons for the subjects being taught.

When I worked as a 9-1-1 operator there was a line of questioning developed to determine the priority of the call. These calls usually originated in a certain part of the city and the person calling usually reported a Black or Latino person acting "suspiciously."  Well 9-1-1 operators wanted to catch the bad guys, too. So we would try to determine what the "suspicious" behavior was. Was the person looking into car windows? House windows? Were they walking down the street?  They would report a Black or Latino male who was walking down the street or sitting in his car eating lunch. We erred on the safe side and would put out an information only call. Officers are aware of crime trends in the area and if an area has been experiencing a higher number of vehicle or house burglaries, then the information broadcast might be useful to the car that is patrolling that area.  One night a woman called from the West side of the city,  frantic because she heard a noise on the side of her house. There was a car nearby and we sent on a possible prowler at the location, no suspect description. We told her the police were on the way and to call back if she had a description.  She called back. "I have a description!" "Yes Ma'am, is the suspect Black, White, Latino or Asian?"  "They're two of them, and... and they are Black!"  "What color shirt and pants are they wearing?"  "They're both wearing dark clothing! Where are the police! Oh my God!!! They are on the side of my house looking around!  Get the police out here now! Hello? Hello?" "Unit at ____ the P/R is on the line. She describes the suspects as two male Blacks wearing dark clothing on the side of the house right now." "Control, that's us. The P/R is describing us. We're two Black officers. We're wearing dark clothing, our uniform. Tell the P/R to open the door and come out and talk to us. The noise she's reporting is a tree branch." The operators had it easy, it's a tougher call for an officer. Err on the side of safety and treat people respectfully and hope that situation turns out okay for everyone. My motto, everyone gets to go home.

If you want to rent your property fast then price it competitively. Period.You would be infinitely better off either making a better product (meaning renovate and add amenities to your rental house that none other in the area have) and charge market rent/slightly above or LOWER your price to increase quantity demanded and a greater pool of applicants.The second option usually optimal due to less capital outlay on the renovation and a greater pool of tenants to choose from. When you have a good quality tenant paying a good price but not top dollar, I have found they are less likely to complain and call in minor incidents expecting you to fix them. They are happy they’re getting a nice place at a good price.The opposite is true when you raise the rent as high as possible and renovate the property as nice as possible. You are still going to attract a high quality tenant but also one that is very picky and that will be making service calls often and expecting you to address each one.Oh and by the way, those calls are expensive.So long game you’re better off spending where it’s needed, the big ticket items and the ones that affect the structural functioning of the house, rather than spending big on the pretty things like new granite the best lighting fixtures etc in hopes of getting more money per month on rent. Long run runs more expensive.Those two ways are the best to get your unit leased quick.You paying for utilities makes way for tenants to be negligible with usage and more wasteful in my opinion because the repercussions to them aren’t there.It’s also almost impossible for you to control their usage. Except if you let them pay for it. So let them pay for it.Best of luck!-Andrew J. Matella

I have seen where about the same thing happened, while I was in Oklahoma. It wasn't for a million, but an elderly couple won a very large jackpot and were mugged as the left the casino.Anyway, there would be multiple possible ways. If I felt secure once getting in my car, I would just get plenty of security to get me there and would drive straight to a bank to deposit the cash.More likely, I would just deposit the money right back to the casino and get a room at the casino, I am sure it would be comp'd. I would ask for a check on withdrawal, or at worst hire someone such as an armored car, whatever necessary where someone has the liability and the security to get it moved to someplace secure.I would be more concerned with relatives and acquaintances wanting to nickel and dime me over the long term with the million than getting robbed.