new child

Estate Planning for New Parents

I have been a bit quiet lately. I have been working hard, in the new year, to update some pieces of my website.

I'll be sharing them with all of you in the next few weeks.

I'm hoping that with these new additions I can provide my clients, friends, and the general public more information surrounding important legal topics AND the process of working with a lawyer.

I'm happy to share one of my new website pages- Estate Planning for New Parents. I hope the new and soon to be parents find it helpful and educational.

http://www.dcravenlaw.com/estate-new-parents/

If you are a new or soon to be parent, do not hesitate to contact me for your estate planning needs. It is one of the areas of law I am most passionate about as these legal documents are so important for you and your child/children.

Thanks for the use of this beautiful photo to:
Kendall Pavan Photography for her talented photography work (http://www.kendallpavanphotography.com/families)
and of course, my two very good friends pictured here- Katie Parise Neves & Carlos Neves

Wills & Trusts- New Child

Legal IQ Tips: Estate Planning

Have a new child?

If you have a Will, it’s time to update it. If you don’t, it’s time to get one.

I always advise new parents that it’s important to get a proper estate plan documented.

In Rhode Island, if both parents are to pass away, or become incapacitated rendering them no longer able to care for their child, the child would be left “guardian-less”. Laws here do not automatically govern who the child’s guardians would be.

What that means is that whomever would want to become the child’s guardian would need to go to court and petition for legal guardianship. For example, if the maternal grandparents wanted to become the legal guardians, they’d have to file with the court. That is a long, expensive and emotionally draining process.

Even scarier there is no guarantee that the maternal grandparents would be awarded legal custody. Think of the situation where the family and child lives in RI and attends RI schools, with the maternal grandparents living in Maine. The judge may rule that it is in the best interest of the child to stay in RI with the schools and friends they are accustomed to, and therefore the child needs to stay with another family member.

Now, mix in a possible custody battle between two siblings, step grandparents, or maternal and paternal grandparents. You can see how this can all get very messy and expensive.

The simple solution, is for the parents to make a plan beforehand and document this in their estate plan.

If you are a new parent in RI and are interested in making your estate plan, please feel free to reach out to me. Wills & Estates is an area of law I focus my Providence based practice in.

Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving.

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New Child Series (7 of 7): Back at Work

This is the last post on my series dedicated to my new and soon to be parents out there. This one focuses on two 'legal things' you need to be aware of once you are back at work. There are laws in place to protect mothers and fathers. It’s important you understand your rights so you are aware if you are being unfairly treated or not properly accommodated.

DISCRIMINATION AND UNFAIR PRATICES AT WORK

As a parent returning to work, there are lots of things you will worry about. One thing you shouldn’t have to worry about is discrimination or unfair practices in your work place. There are laws in place to protect you from unfair discrimination. Below are some examples of items that would be considered discrimination based on family responsibilities:

-Firing or demoting employees when they become pregnant;

-Passing over highly qualified mothers for hire or promotion in favor of less qualified fathers or women without children;

-Firing employees without valid business reasons when they return from maternity or paternity leave;

-Denying flexibility to employees who want it for child care reasons, while allowing flexibility to employees for non-family reasons (e.g., to participate on a sports team);

-Firing employees whose spouses or elderly parents become disabled for fear of increased absenteeism or higher health insurance premiums;

-Fabricating work infractions or performance deficiencies to justify dismissal of employees with family responsibilities.

RIGHTS TO NURSE AT WORK

As a mother returning to work, there are also laws that protect your right to express breast milk while at work. You should be sure that proper accommodations are made for you. It’s often the smaller companies who have a hard time implementing these basic standards as often there may only be one or two nursing mothers working there.

The federal laws indicate that at a minimum:
-Employers are to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child's birth each time such employee has need to express the milk (Section 7 of the Federal Labor Standards Act)

-Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk

- That the frequency of breaks needed to express milk as well as the duration of each break will likely vary.

-That a bathroom, even if private, is not a permissible location under the Act. The location provided must be functional as a space for expressing breast milk. If the space is not dedicated to the nursing mother’s use, it must be available when needed in order to meet the statutory requirement. A space temporarily created or converted into a space for expressing milk or made available when needed by the nursing mother is sufficient, provided that the space is shielded from view, and free from any intrusion from co-workers and the public.

-Employers are not required under the FLSA to compensate nursing mothers for breaks taken for the purpose of expressing milk. However, where employers already provide compensated breaks, an employee who uses that break time to express milk must be compensated in the same way that other employees are compensated for break time

As a nursing mother you may want to carry the below card with you. It summarizes your nursing rights : https://www.dol.gov/…/FLSAEmplo…/BreaktimeNursingMothers.pdf

As always, state laws are different depending on the state, below is what RI and some of our neighboring state require. I included CA as they seem to be one of the most progressive states on this matter.

Rhode Island - Employers are required to make reasonable efforts to provide a private, secure and sanitary place close to an employee's work area, other than a toilet stall, where an employee can express milk or breastfeed. This applies to all employers.

Massachusetts - No specific law at the state level. They just refer to federal law.

Connecticut - An employee has the right to express milk or breastfeed during her meal or break time. It is illegal to discriminate against or discipline an employee for exercising this right. The employer must make reasonable efforts to provide employees with a private space close to their work area, other than a toilet stall or bathroom, to express breast milk, unless doing so would impose significant difficulty or expense on the employer.

California - An employer must provide reasonable unpaid break time to a woman to express breast milk, unless doing so would seriously disrupt the employer's business. If possible, the break time must occur during the employee's ordinary break time. The employer must make a reasonable effort to provide the mother with a private space close to her work area, other than a bathroom, to express breast milk……strong law protecting mothers

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If you believe you have been victim to discrimination at your work place based on family responsibilities or have not been provided the accommodations to express breast milk at work, you should contact your internal HR representative. If you don’t get anywhere internally, you should seek help from a legal professional. The reason these laws exist is to protect you.

I’ll be changing gears on my next posts, but if you have any questions regarding preparing for your new child, once your child arrives or back at work dynamics, don’t hesitate to reach out.

 

New Child Series (6 of 7): Health Insurance & Rights to Nurse in Public

Legal IQ Tips: Consumer Protection, Contracts & Estate Planning

Some more on my series dedicated to my new and soon to be parents out there. This one focuses on the last two 'legal things' you need to be aware of once your baby arrives.

HEALTH INSURANCE

Now that your little one has arrived, you want to be sure your health insurance is updated to the family plan. This "life event" will allow you to change your plan. As noted in my "planning post" (https://www.facebook.com/dcravenlaw/posts/747689372054329:0) you may want to take a good hard look at your actual plan to see if you want to adjust coverage and plans now that your family has grown.

Beyond plan change, you need to make sure your new boy or girl is added to your plan. It's imperative you get this information over ASAP as you'll want to be sure your new child is covered. Each insurance company and plan is different and it’s best you contact them directly to see how to send in the information.

RIGHTS TO NURSE IN PUBLIC

For all my moms out there, this topic is so important for you to be informed about. The US is actually pretty progressive with their rights, as compared to some countries where women still struggle for equal rights and protections under the law. When your traveling, be sure you know the laws of the country your headed to.

Just like with all laws, there are federal and state statutes which dictate the laws around nursing. While there isn’t anything on the books federally for public nursing, federal laws do cover standards in the work place (my next post). Breastfeeding in public is covered by state specific laws.

The law explicitly protects moms, who are breastfeeding, in public, in almost ALL of the 50 states.

Forty-nine states (Idaho is the only State that doesn’t have a law protecting mothers) as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in ANY public or private location. What this means is that a woman breastfeeding in public; cannot be asked to “cover-up”, be discriminated against in any way, or charged with indecent exposure.

In RI the law states that a woman is allowed to feed her child, by bottle or breast, in any place open to the public. RI goes one step further and allows a mother to sue if this right is denied. RI is one of the few states where a mother can actually sue if they are discriminated against for breastfeeding in public.

Twenty-nine states as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws. This means that moms who nurse in public cannot be criminally charged with indecent exposure. In the other states, there isn’t anything specifically on the books stating that mothers cannot be charged with indecent exposure, but, a mother has never been prosecuted on that matter.

Seventeen states and Puerto Rico exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty or allow jury service to be postponed.

Six states and Puerto Rico have implemented or encouraged the development of a breastfeeding awareness education campaign.

As always, if you have questions, feel free to contact me.
Last post in this series will focus on back to work- nursing rights and discrimination.