Elizabeth Fineman and Hillary Moonay present "Family Law Roundup" at the Bucks County Bar Association Marathon CLE Day December 18th, 2019

Elizabeth Fineman, Partner and Family Law attorney at Antheil Maslow & MacMinn in Doylestown, will co-present “Family Law Roundup” on Wednesday, December 18th  at the Bucks County Bar Association’s Marathon Continuing Legal Education Day. The program covers important Family Law rules, cases and legislation from 2019. Ms. Fineman will present along with Hillary Moonay, her Co-chair of the Family Law Section of the Bar Association.

Elizabeth Fineman practices exclusively in Family Law with extensive experience in complex high net worth individuals with complex assets, income and tax issues. The Bucks County Bar Association is one of the oldest and most active bar associations in the United States. Located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the Bucks County Bar Association is dedicated to providing support and fellowship for the advancement of the legal profession.

Estate Planning attorney Elaine Yandrisevits the firm's Estates and Trusts practice group spoke on Special Needs Trusts at a program hosted by Firstrust Financial Resources.  The November 6th program, entitled “Understanding Government Benefits for a Special Needs Loved One” also featured speakers Jerel Ruttenberg & Brian C. Smith, of Firstrust Financial Resources, and was focused on best approaches to financial and estate planning for a family member with special needs, including the uses of Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts.

Elaine practices exclusively in the Estates and Trusts department at Antheil Maslow & MacMinn in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She focuses her practice on estate planning, trusts and estate administration and assists with fiduciary litigation matters. With a great deal of practical experience with special needs trust planning and guardianships, Elaine is a frequent speaker on estate planning, estate administration, and special needs planning for continuing legal education and community organizations.

On Tuesday, November 5th, voters will be casting ballots to fill two seats on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Voters also will be deciding whether to retain two judges on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and two judges on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.To better inform voters about the candidates in this statewide election, the Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission (PBA JEC) is reissuing its ratings and descriptive paragraphs for all appellate judge candidates appearing on the Nov. 5 ballots.

In order to help you to make an informed decision, we have linked that review here for your reference. 

Here in Bucks County, six candidates are running for Common Pleas Judge.  Last Spring, the Bucks County Bar Association (“BCBA”), an organization of attorneys dedicated to promoting and advancing the legal system and justice throughout Bucks County, conducted a plebiscite (peer evaluation) to evaluate ten attorneys who announced their candidacy for three vacancies on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, and the four current judges of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas who are running for retention.  Please note, this evaluation was done prior to the May primary election, please refer to the table below for the evaluations of the six remaining candidates who will appear on the ballot on November 5th in the highly recommended, recommended and not recommended categories.  The remaining candidates for the three judicial vacancies are Denise M. Bowman, Grace Deon, Charissa Liller, Allen Toadvine, Jessica Vanderkam, and Jordan Yeager.  If you wish to review the original evaluations, here is a link to the plebiscite results.

Additionally, the members of the Bucks County Bar Association were asked to provide their opinions if the following Judges should be retained in office as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County.  Here are the results in the endorsed and not endorsed categories:

However you may choose to vote, please do remember Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th. 

Susan Maslow, Co-Founder and Partner of Antheil Maslow & MacMinn in Doylestown, PA was the Chair and Moderator of a program entitled BUSINESS AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES:  HUMAN RIGHTS REQUIREMENTS, DUE DILIGENCE, REMEDIATION AND BRAND PROTECTION during the ABA Business Law Section’s Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. on Saturday, September 14, 2019.  

The Panel Discussion provided a brief summary of the cycle of human rights violations in supply chains and summarized the growth of legislation, litigation and investor focus on supply chain human rights issues and provided practical contracting and due diligence recommendations, tools and risk assessment procedures to avoid human rights abuses including use of the 2018 Model Clauses for international supply chains published in the 2018  fall issue of The Business Lawyer.  Informed by the Panelists’ knowledge of global policies and procedures, advice was provided as to how to develop an enterprise-wide understanding of, and commitment to, human rights (health and safety requirements, anti-forced labor, child labor and indentured labor constraints) while optimizing market-specific approaches.

Ms. Maslow is a business attorney concentrating her practice primarily in general corporate transactional work and finance documentation in the areas of Business Transactions, Business Law, Private Finance, Real Estate, Contracts, and Non-Profit Law.

Elaine T. Yandrisevits, an estate planning and administration attorney with Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, LLP in Doylestown, PA,  is a course planner and will serve as faculty for Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s upcoming “Administering an Estate in PA: A Step-by-Step Guide” continuing education program in September. The seminar is a comprehensive overview of the estate administration progress in Pennsylvania from beginning to end for attorneys, paralegals, and accountants. Ms. Yandrisevits will be presenting at the live seminar in Philadelphia on September 5. Registration and information on additional dates, including a the live webcast, can be found at www.pbi.org

Elizabeth J. Fineman, a Partner with the law firm of Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, LLP in Doylestown, Bucks County has been selected as one of 11 Pennsylvania lawyers named to the Bar Association’s Leadership Institute.  Candidates had to demonstrate leadership ability and commitment to attendance and participation in the program.  The membership experience for selected attorneys begins with the Young Lawyers Division Summer Summit in State College on July 24 – 26th.

Fineman practices exclusively in family law and handles a variety of issues, including divorce, child support, alimony/spousal support, marital taxation, equitable distribution and child custody matters. She has handled many high-income support cases involving an intricate knowledge of both family law and complex financial issues.

Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies provide coverage to businesses for liability that may arise from property damage, bodily injury, and personal and advertising injury. CGL policies are complex, often involving a variety of exclusions, conditions and endorsements. It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether the CGL policy provides coverage for a specific loss. The coverage decision is crucial since it determines in the first instance, whether the insurer pays the cost of the legal defense and, secondly, whether the insurer will pay any judgment that might be rendered.

AMM attorneys have extensive experience in navigating CGL coverage disputes and the complicated CGL insurance policies from which they arise. We are frequently retained to interpret the language of these policies to provide opinions and if necessary, to litigate in court in Pennsylvania and in other states throughout the nation, to seek a judicial resolution of what are often complex coverage issues.

Some of the issues with which our Insurance Coverage Practice Group has grappled are:

• Whether an Insurer has a duty to defend its insured;
• Whether an Insurer has a duty to indemnify, or pay a judgment entered against its insured;
• The Insurer’s right to audit its insured and assess an additional premium;
• Analysis of tenders for defense and/or indemnity by contractors and subcontractors on an additional insured and insured contract basis;
• What policy limits apply and whether they are excess or pro rata;
• Whether a loss falls within the:
• Expected or Intended Injury Exclusion;
• Contractual Liability Exclusion
• Liquor Liability Exclusion
• Employer’s Liability Exclusion
• Pollution Exclusion
• Aircraft, Auto or Watercraft Exclusion
• Damage to Property Exclusion
• Damage to Your Work Exclusion
• Whether a loss is covered under the Products-Completed Operations Hazard
• Whether a loss is covered under the Personal and Advertising Injury coverage.

Founding Partner William Antheil of Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, LLP received the Pennsylvania Bar Association 50-Year Member Award at the Association’s Annual meeting on May 17th.  “It is hard to believe how much time has gone by since I first walked up Court Street in Doylestown. There have been many changes in how lawyers do their work, but the core values of client focused service and advocacy have endured.  It has been my good fortune to do work that I love with and for people I respect” said Antheil of his many years in the Central Bucks County legal community.   William Antheil practices Estate Planning and Administration and Business Law at Antheil Maslow & MacMinn in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 

A high business “tide” does not necessarily float all boats.  Often, when business is good and profits increasing, a business owner’s desire to share those increasing profits with an underperforming partner can create an irreconcilable divide; particularly in the case of a partner not intimately involved in the day to day operations of the business.  Similarly, more difficult economic times stress cash flow and may motivate a performing partner to explore options to decrease or eliminate that portion of the business income flowing to those performing at a lower level.  Of course, the lesser performing partner generally adopts a contrary perspective.  In either case, the divergence between two or more partners can render the status quo unacceptable and threaten the business as a going concern.

In approaching disputes among shareholders several factors must be considered.  First, what are the respective goals of the parties? Certainly, the long term goal of extracting the most gain in income or the value of the investment is the goal of all the parties, but short terms strategies can have a dramatic and sometimes unintended consequence.  Second, what does the controlling agreement, if any, provide in terms of a basis to remove or force a sale of a partner’s interest? Significantly, there is no statutory right or method for the involuntary removal of a shareholder (arguably, such a remedy may be available in a Partnership or Limited Liability Company setting)   Third, what is the long term impact of the potential short term strategies not only on the business but also on the individuals? Financing arrangements and personal guarantees must be considered.  Finally, the respective rights and obligations of the shareholders post dissolution must guide the process.

Of course, potential courses of action do not come without risk for either side of the equation.  An internal business dispute can result in a loss of control over business operations or expensive and distracting litigation.  The team at AMM offers a depth of knowledge and experience to guide a business owner’s decision making process and to devise and implement strategies to maximize outcomes and manage risk.