Soroptimist International of Carson City Announces ‘Women Helping Women’ Honorees

Allison MacKenzie is proud to sponsor ‘Women Helping Women’, an honor by the Soroptimist International of Carson City. The organization is inviting businesses, nonprofits, and local agencies to sponsor a woman from their company or from the community as a “Women Helping Women” honoree in recognition of her dedication to improving the lives of women or girls.

Soroptimist International of Carson City is pleased to announce the “Women Helping Women” Honorees to be recognized for their dedication to improving the lives of women or girls in our community, at our Virtual “Celebrating Women Helping Women” Recognition Event, via Zoom, on February 18, 2021 from 6:30 pm to 8 pm.

Photo Caption: Left to right; top row Dr. Betsy Card, Suzanne Crawford, Niki Gladys, Tiffany Kenison; bottom row, Katie Leao Geiser, Victoria S. Mendoza, Lupe Ramirez and Jessica Weisser.

Our “Celebrating Women Helping Women” Recognition Event is an opportunity for the community to recognize the Honorees who are sharing their time, expertise, compassion and motivation to help other women or girls. Our eight “Women Helping Women” Honorees are;

Dr. Betsy Card
Sponsored by Tahoe Carson Radiology

Suzanne Crawford
Victim/Witness Administrator for the Carson City District Attorney’s Office
Sponsored by Carson City District Attorney’s Office

Niki Gladys
Executive Director, Western Nevada College Foundation
Sponsored by Western Nevada College

Tiffany Kenison
Executive Director, Miss Carson City & Outstanding Teen Pageant
Sponsored by Griffin Development Services

Katie Leao Geiser
Executive Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada
Sponsored by Lumos & Associates

Victoria S. Mendoza
Executive Director & Managing Attorney, Volunteer Attorneys for Rural Nevada (VARN)
Sponsored by Allison MacKenzie

Lupe Ramirez
Latino Outreach Coordinator, Western Nevada College
Sponsored by Greater Nevada Credit Union

Jessica Weisser
Youth Empowerment Coordinator, Xquisite
Sponsored by Xquisite

The Carson City community is invited to join us as we celebrate the many efforts of women in our community who are providing outstanding support, care, mentoring, and encouragement to other women or girls.

Attendance, via Zoom, at our Virtual “Celebrating Women Helping Women” Recognition Event is $25 for one login/attendee. Additional Household Attendee Packages are available for $15 for each additional person in your household who plans to attend.

Visit our Club website at www.sicarsoncity.org for more details and online purchase. Guests will enjoy a safe and fun night, as they plan their own Celebration Watch Party. All paying guests receive a special delivered “Celebration Party Bag” with fun goodies to enjoy during their at home party.

Guests will enjoy a presentation by our Keynote Speaker, Erika Lera, Family Advocate Supervisor at Ron Wood Family Resource Center and our 2020 Soroptimist Ruby Award Recipient. Then our 2021“Women Helping Women” Honorees will be recognized and share their thoughts on their work and the benefits of women helping women.

Closing out the event will be the presentation of our 2021 Soroptimist Ruby Award. Nominations for the Ruby Award are being accepted until January 29th. Learn more at our Club website www.sicarsoncity.org. There are also opportunities for program advertising in our event program.

Event registration will end on Monday, February 15, 2021, or sooner if the event sells out. Join us for this inspiring and empowering community recognition event.

Be sure to visit and follow Soroptimist International of Carson City on our Facebook page @SICarsonCity to learn more about our eight “Women Helping Women” Honorees over the next five weeks. Each Honoree will be highlighted so that we can share her efforts to improve the lives of women and/or girls in our community.

Soroptimist International of Carson City is a volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.

Founded in 1957, the Carson City club is part of Soroptimist International of the Americas where almost 160,000 Soroptimists in 21 countries and territories contribute time and financial support to community-based projects that benefit women.

Internationally, there are clubs in more than 120 countries throughout the world. For membership information please email [email protected] .

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Angel Tree for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada! We were able to deliver many gifts to the children in our region. 🎅🎄

Allison MacKenzie is proud to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada on an Angel Tree for the holiday season! Clients are invited to take a tag; the gifts should be delivered to our office no later than 8:30 a.m. on December 21^st. Thank you for helping us support an amazing organization in our community!

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Allison MacKenzie’s primary goal is to protect the health and safety of our clients and our employees. In compliance with Governor Sisolak’s most recent COVID-19 guideline update, we will be open to the public by appointment only, and we encourage our employees and clients to continue conducting business virtually or by phone whenever possible.

For those that visit or work in our office, we have implemented safety precautions to ensure we are minimizing risk to our clients and team alike.

Effective November 24, 2020 all visitors are required to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when inside our office. Disposable masks and gloves are available at the front desk. Our employees will be wearing face coverings while interacting with the public.

Our office has adopted measures to comply with social distancing requirements, including allowing no more than one client meeting at any given time (including document drop off), allowing six feet of spacing at all times, and utilizing the mail slot for contactless delivery.

Our team is following stringent sanitizing protocols, including common spaces, conference rooms, restrooms and frequently touched surfaces. We ask that if you are sick or have been exposed, that you refrain from visiting our office, and we will make all of our remote capabilities available to you.

We are proud of our community’s efforts during this time and welcome you to join us in taking precautions to aid in the continued health and safety of our region. We are committed to continuing to serve our clients in the fashion that you have come to expect.

Please let us know how we can be of assistance or if you have any questions.

We are honored to be a top 10 finalist in the Law Firm category of the Best in Business awards by the Northern Nevada Business Weekly! Thank you to our community for your support and acknowledgment.

Honorees will be recognized at the “Celebrating Women Helping Women” event to be held virtually from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 18.

Now through Dec. 31, businesses, nonprofits and agencies can sponsor an individual woman who has gone above and beyond in her professional or volunteer work to make a difference in the lives of women and girls. Sponsors need to complete a “Women Helping Women” honoree recognition form when submitting their sponsorship fee. Forms are available at http://www.sicarsoncity.org or by request at [email protected]. Submit your sponsorship and recognition form early as only 12 women will be honored at the virtual celebration in February.

SI Carson City recognizes that throughout the community, there are women who share their time, expertise, compassion, and motivation to help other women or girls and they deserve to be acknowledged for those efforts. Submission criteria include:

Is there an outstanding female staff member who provides a level of care and compassion that sets her apart, or an employee who volunteers in the community helping a nonprofit with its program efforts for women or girls?
Is there a board member or volunteer who has dedicated her time to making sure women or girls in the community have access to activities that encourage their education, improve life skills, provide quality health care or provide support in order to overcome family hardships?

Join in as a “Women Helping Women” honoree sponsor. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.

The 12 honorees will be announced in early January with event ticket sales and program advertising opportunities at that time. Honorees will be invited to a private virtual reception before the event and be recognized with their sponsor. Honorees will be recognized at the event, will receive a framed recognition certificate, have a profile page in the event program, and be highlighted on the SI Carson City website and Facebook page. The 2021 honorees will have an engraved nameplate added to the community SI Carson City “Women Helping Women” plaque and join the 2020 “Women Helping Women” honorees listed on the plaque. Visit the “Event: Celebrating Women Helping Women” website page.

Emily Meibert’s announcement was featured in the Northern Nevada Business Weekly. Read the full article below.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Allison MacKenzie law firm on Oct. 5 announced the hiring of Emily Meibert as an associate attorney.

Meibert was born and raised in Northern Nevada. She earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence from UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law in 2019 as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, Pre-Law from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2015.

Prior to joining Allison MacKenzie, Meibert was Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable James E. Wilson Jr. with the First Judicial District Court in Carson City. Her community work includes being a mock trial coach for Students United for Diversity in the Law and a promoter for Alzheimer’s Awareness.

She has also volunteered time to Applied Behavioral Technologies, focusing on children and mental health. Meibert will be working in the firm’s various practice areas as an associate attorney focusing on litigation and estate planning.

We are so honored to be nominated alongside so many of the talented firms in our area in the NNBW Best in Business awards! To read our nomination and to cast your vote, click here.
https://www.nnbw.com/bestinbusiness2020/#/gallery/247930773?group=354549

By: Joel W Locke
[email protected]
775.687.0202

With the future seeming to grow more uncertain with each passing day, now is the time to take a fresh look at your current estate plan. For those unfamiliar with the concept, estate planning is the advance preparation for how a person’s assets will be managed and distributed in the event of incapacity or death. An estate plan will often include several key components including a Trust, a Will, Powers of Attorney and Medical Advanced Directives.

When it comes to making sure that a spouse inherits your assets, the process is typically straightforward and joint tenancy can be utilized. Further, there is no tax to a surviving spouse because there is an unlimited marital deduction provision in the United States Estate and Gift Tax Law. The law provides the passage of assets to a surviving spouse with no gift or estate tax liabilities.

Different people have different reasons for creating an estate plan. From ensuring minor children will be cared for in the cases of unexpected incapacity or death, to making sure a family business will remain operational, creating an estate plan is imperative.

Use a Will or Trust

With an estate plan, the two biggest tools to direct the handling of your assets will be a trust and a will. While both deal with the management of assets after death, they have several key differences.

Will

A will is a legal document that states how your assets will be distributed after death. It also may include instructions, such as funeral arrangements or guardianship of minor dependents. These instructions are then carried out by your designated personal representative. A validly executed will is legally enforceable but has one major limitation: it must be submitted and probated in the District Court. Probate is the process for proving-up and distributing assets under a Last Will and Testament and is costly, time consuming and public. This process can be quite tedious and cause a financial hardship on both the heirs and the personal representative.

Trust

A revocable living trust is another estate planning tool in which individuals, either married or single, can designate how assets will be distributed during one’s life as well as at the time of their deaths. This form of trust is created while the trustor is still alive and will have full control over the trust and its assets until death. The key benefit of this form of estate transfer is that it completely avoids probate court and can remain completely private. A successor trustee who is chosen by the trustor during their lifetime has the authority to distribute the trust assets pursuant to the written directions in the trust. The process for administering a trust is generally less time consuming and much less expensive than probate. Trusts can be modified at any time during the lifetime of the trustor and are a useful tool for ensuring your loved ones are provided for after your death.

No matter what tool or tools you want to use for estate planning, the correct management of your estate after death will require an experienced lawyer. Allison MacKenzie attorneys have experience in estate planning law including all aspects of the accumulation, preservation, and distribution of wealth. Individuals, families and businesses that are facing the challenges of succession planning can rely on our considerable experience in drafting wills, trusts, and offering general estate planning advice. For any questions regarding estate planning, please contact Allison MacKenzie at 775.687.0202.

Works Cited:

Fletcher, C. (2020, April 15). 6 Parts Of Your Estate Plan You Should Review Now. https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinefletcher/2020/04/15/6-parts-of-your-estate-plan-you-should-review-now/.

Kagan, J. (2020, January 29). Estate Planning. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/estateplanning.asp.

Jarrell, M. (2020, April 14). Will vs. Trust: What’s the Difference? Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/051315/will-vs-trust-difference-between-two.asp

By Jennifer McMenomy
[email protected]
775.687.0202

There is a growing trend in the United States wherein couples above the age of fifty years of age are divorcing. Over a decade of data suggests that “gray divorce”, or the divorce of people mature in their age and/or marriage, is on the rise. The increasing frequency of gray divorce has become somewhat of a public concern for sociologists, who attribute the rise in gray divorce to people living longer and the fact that many families are now dual income, allowing spouses to be financially independent from one another. If you are contemplating a divorce from a partner to whom you have been married for several years, there are certain issues to keep in mind when entering into the process:

Pre-and Post-Nuptial Agreements: A prenuptial agreement is an agreement made by a couple before entering into marriage to characterize ownership and title of respective assets. A postnuptial agreement is the same type of agreement that occurs sometime during the marriage. In Nevada, so long as such an agreement follows certain requirements, that agreement will control the dissolution of the marriage and determine which party receives an asset. It is important to provide a copy any such agreement to your attorney at the outset of the divorce to ease the process.

Assets and Finances: As previously discussed, a gray divorce will likely include parties that have been married for many years and will most likely have jointly held assets and commingled finances. The unwinding and recharacterization of these assets may take longer to accomplish. It is important to note that Nevada is a community property state and as such, divorce courts seek to accomplish an equitable division of all marital property in a fifty-fifty split. If the parties’ assets are substantial, it may become necessary to employ an accountant to properly classify all property.

Retirement: As with other assets, retirement funds and pensions are considered community property in a divorce. A divorce attorney should take great care in handling the division of retirement assets to ensure that retirement savings are not depleted early and that individuals are set up for retirement.

Social Security Benefits: Receiving Social Security benefits may become more complicated when going through a divorce at an advanced age. Generally, benefits are based upon an individual’s income. It is important to understand what your status for receiving benefits will be post-divorce.

Estate Planning: Generally, couples that have been married for several years would have executed an estate plan together. After the dissolution of a marriage, the character of assets that were once considered marital property—such as the family home will change in ownership. As such, it is important to update any estate planning documents that may have been executed during the marriage to ensure that no legal trouble arises upon the death of either party.

Settlement: If you and your partner are amicable and wish to resolve the divorce in a cooperative manner, it is important that you sit down with your partner to determine whether you can work out an agreement as to the character of assets prior to proceeding with a complicated divorce process.

Divorce is a complicated and emotional process. The attorneys at Allison MacKenzie are dedicated to providing our clients with personalized service and can assist you in navigating the complex legal landscape of obtaining a divorce. For any questions regarding divorce, please contact Allison MacKenzie at 775.687.0202.