|
Release Notes for Version 6.0 released Dec 17, 2003
This release makes it quicker and easier to enter mortgage and child support data. It also allows data to carry from Child Support Guideline Calculators into the Advisor.
1. Child Support Guideline Calculators reorganized (Professional Editions only).
To access a particular state, you now select the state from the first topic. The remaining topics then become the screens for that state. Access to individual screens (income, expenses, results, etc.) for each state are thus much faster and easier.
2. Data flows from Child Support Guideline Calculator into the Advisor (Professional Editions only).
You may now specify that the results of the Child Support Guideline calculation should flow into the Financial Planner Advisor. To do that, click the "Advisor Link" topic for the state and "X" the appropriate box. In the Advisor, data that flows in will be marked in a blue color. If you override that data flow, the override will be marked in a red color.
3. Party Name flows from the Advisor into the Child Support Guideline Calculator.
Now you do not have to retype the parties' names in the Child Support Guideline Calculators, as that information now flows automatically.
4. Data Checker added to Child Support Guideline Calculators (Professional Editions only).
We have added a "Data Checker" to Child Support Guideline Calculators. This now flags just a few key items per state. (In a couple of states, there are not items flagged.)
5. Child Support and Alimony Data Entry.
It is now the case that, once you enter a child and specify who has custody, you need only enter a child support or alimony monthly amount. All the other fields - who is the payer, whether there is support or alimony paid, the duration of the payment, whether the payment is monthly or annual, whether the payment is inflation-adjusted - are initially set automatically.
The payer is set to be the non-custodial parent of the first-entered child. Support is initially set to continue 18 years after the current year. Alimony is set to continue for 5 years.
You may then change any or all of our settings.
6. New method for mortgages, the "Statement Method."
You may now specify a mortgage by entering the current monthly payment, current balance, and current interest rate. These three fields are all commonly found on monthly mortgage statements. You also enter the month and year of the statement. This will make mortgage entry significantly more straightforward.
7. Property division.
Now the property division for "Statement method" mortgages uses the value of the mortgage as entered to compute equity. The advantage of this is that the value shown will remain as you entered it, to give stability to your reports for the courts.
Similarly, the Marital and Separate value report, where "Statement method" is selected, use the value of the mortgage as entered to compute equity.
8. Tax Report.
We made several small improvements to the Tax Report, mostly in the insertion of additional line items to clarify the calculations.
We also fixed a problem with the calculation of the Earned Income Credit which was causing the wrong number to be reported. And we had not been including Alimony from Previous Relationships in the tax calculation, which we are now doing.
9. Product Year Advanced.
The product year has been moved to 2004.
10. Problems fixed.
· In the California Child Support Guidelines, if father pays child support and mother pays spousal support, the chart on "Click here for other results" was wrong on the line "Total Child + Spousal Support Paid," because it was failing to net the father's child support payment. That line is now correct.
· In the Florida Child Support Guideline calculator, a payment was referred to as being "per year" when in fact it was "per month." That has been fixed.
· In the Massachusetts Child Support Guideline calculator, we were always assuming that the first party entered was the father. That has now been fixed. Also there was a reference to payments "per year" that should have been "per week." That has been fixed.
· In the Analytics tab, in the "Key Items of Income and Expense," the amounts were not always updating for Child Support. That has been fixed. In addition, the alimony and support payer in that chart are initially set to be the same as the actual payer. You may change this setting, but typically it will be correct.
· As a filing status, "head of household" may now be selected even if the party is not claiming the child as an exemption. This is because a person can decide to give up that claim to the other party and still file as "head of household," if the other conditions apply.
· The Analytic for Property Division, with respect to a residence, now refers to residence equity, as it should, not total value.
Back to
"About This Release" Page
| 
