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Release Notes for Version 7.08, released 9/14/2005
This release features a wide array of enhancements, including new child support guidelines for Washington state, significant enhancements to the New York Net Worth Statement and the Connecticut Financial Affidavit, and a number of improvements to make data entry easier, especially on the Lawyer tab.
In General
1. Dates. Now, for every date field, you may enter simply the year (e.g.," 2006") or a month and year (e.g.," 9/2006").
2. Footnotes. Now, whenever you have entered a footnote, that line on the associated data entry screen will display with an asterisk next to the footnote symbol ("[Fn*]"). That way you can easily see whether a field has a footnote attached.
3. Printing Footers. We have added options to increase your control over what is printed on the footer of reports. Now, you may choose to include or exclude the name of the file, include or exclude the date, include or exclude the software version, and include or exclude page numbers. To select these options, go the Planner tab, select Reports, at the top select "Set report options," and look for the options under "Page Footer."
4. Drop-down field. Now, when you press the escape (Esc) key in a drop-down field, the drop-down field will be blanked out. Sometimes, the software will immediately replace the blanket field with its own default selection. But if that is not the case, the field will remain blank.
5. Living expenses. We made several improvements to the ease-of-use of entering living expenses:
a. We moved all the options for the different Living Expense screens to the top of the screen.
b. It is now the case that if you enter a number in the "Summary Expenses" table, the method that you're using will change to be the summary expense method. Previously, a separate selection to indicate that you were using the summary expense method was required, and some people forgot to make that separate selection.
c. The software now remembers which living expense method you are using.
d. There is now a total at the bottom of the living expense list.
6. Indicating that an amount is "Unknown." You may now type Ctrl+U to put the word "unknown" in any number entry. For Affidavit purposes, you must put Unknown in either the "Weekly" column or the "Monthly" column, whichever is going to be displayed when the affidavit is printed.
7. "Husband Has Information." You may now type Ctrl+H to put "Husband Has Info" in any number entry. For Affidavit purposes, you must put this in either the "Weekly" column or the "Monthly" column, whichever is going to be displayed when the affidavit is printed.
8. "Wife Has Information." You may now type Ctrl+W to put "Wife Has Info" in any number entry. For Affidavit purposes, you must put this in either the "Weekly" column or the "Monthly" column, whichever is going to be displayed when the affidavit is printed.
9. Alimony savings report. On the Alimony savings report, we have added total alimony savings or incremental tax paid for each spouse.
10. Other income. Bonus income is now treated as subject to FICA and Medicare tax.
11. Scenarios. Added "start month/year" for child support and alimony to scenarios. If the case is starting with a partial year, the base case alimony amount shown will be a partial year amount. Including the start month and year fields on the scenarios makes clear why the amount shown is only a partial year amount.
Lawyer tab
1. From the Lawyer tab, it is now possible to enter professional information; set report options; view all footnotes; and modify report labels. These options are all available at the top of the "Case & Assumptions" screen.
2. Reports. You may now print spreadsheet reports with the details of the income, tax, and net worth calculations. To do this, click the new link labeled "Addt'l Financial," then click the link labeled "After-Tax Cash Flow Spreadsheet" or "After-Tax Net Worth Spreadsheet." We have also added a Pension Valuation report and a One Page Summary report, which you may find useful.
3. Filing status. You may now change the filing status from the Lawyer tab. You do this on the new "Case & Assumptions" screen (second screen on the Lawyer tab).
4. Assumptions. You may now change assumptions relating to inflation, investment rates, and borrowing rates from the Lawyer tab. You may make a change in the number of years projected in reports, and which parties' information is displayed in reports (that is, you may display one party, the other party, or both parties' information). And you may change the state tax rates that we use. You make all these changes on the "Case & Assumptions" screen.
5. Wages. You may now specify wages that change over time other than by inflation, wages that do not have FICA taxes withheld, and other wage patterns. Click the "More Info" link next to wages.
6. Footnotes. The indicator for footnotes, [Fn], now appears as [Fn*] in places where you have entered a footnote.
7. Show Separate Property. There is an option at the top of the Assets & Liabilities screen to show separate property (or not). The software will remember your last setting from case to case. So once you set the separate property indicater to "yes" in one case, all future cases will start with "yes" all set.
Connecticut
1. Child Support Guidelines. New cases now default to using the new 2005 Connecticut child support guidelines.
2. Guideline Hours per Week. The software now automatically applies a maximum number of hours worked of 45 hours per week, for child support guidelines purposes. It also allocates hours between regular time and overtime hours. If one or the other parties worked more than 45 hours per week, enter this information on the Guidelines tab on the screen labeled "Income."
3. Separate Property. Separate property now carries only to the affidavit of the spouse whose property it is. The software looks to see whether the separate property amount exactly matches the value of the property. If it does, then the property carries only to the affidavit of the spouse who owns it.
4. Separate Liabilities. Liabilities may also be specified as separate property of a party.
5. Amount on Affidavit. The amount of the value of an asset that now carries to a party's affidavit is a total marital amount plus the party's separate amount.
6. Income and Expenses. We clarified the numbering on this page, and clarified column headings for the "both spouses" case.
7. Pensions on Affidavit. Defined benefit pensions carry to the Affidavit in section "H. All Other Assets," rather than the "IRA & 401(k)" section.
8. Additional Assets on Affidavit. Additional assets now appear on a continuation page. Previously, we had an affidavit first page, and a separate page which listed all assets. Now we also have a continuation page which lists only the assets that did not appear on the main page.
9. Affidavit Option. For all assets and liabilities, you now have the option to specify that an item is to be included in the financial calculations but not carried to the affidavit. These are items that are beneficially owned by the party, but which, for whatever reason, are not required to be on the affidavit.
Massachusetts
1. Health insurance now carries automatically to the child support guidelines. The software assumes that whichever spouse has the higher health plus dental insurance costs is the one who is covering the children. If this is not the case, you may override this in the Guidelines tab.
New York
1. State Tax Calculation. We have implemented a more detailed calculation of New York State taxes, which factors in New York standard or itemized deductions and applies the New York tax table.
2. New York City Tax Calculation. The software now calculates New York City taxes. To trigger this calculation, go to the Background Info worksheet, click [More Info], and click the box labeled, "Does NY city tax apply?"
3. Yonkers Tax Surcharge Calculation. The software now calculates the Yonkers tax surcharge. To trigger this calculation, go to the Background Info worksheet, click [More Info], and click the box labeled, "Does Yonkers tax surcharge apply?"
4. Affidavit Data Automobiles. It is now possible to indicate that an automobile is used both for personal and business purposes. This is in section "J" of the Expenses section of the affidavit.
5. Affidavit Description Field. We have made all of the description fields longer and have added two lines for each asset description.
6. Affidavit Data Mortgages. It is now possible to indicate that a mortgage is a joint liability.
7. Assets Nominally owned. It is now possible to include assets that are held in the client's name, but are perhaps in trust for someone else, and so are not really part of the client's net worth. These assets may be entered for affidavit purposes only but will not affect the financial, guideline, or tax calculations. To enter an asset like this, go to the Lawyer tab, click the Assets & Liabilities screen, and scroll to the bottom, in the section labeled, "Assets Titled To Parties without Beneficial Ownership."
8. Identifying Party for Affidavit. Now, you may specify the party on whose affidavit an asset or debt appears. You do this by selecting the title (H/W/J) for the asset, debt, or mortgage. If the title is "H," then the item will appear only on the husband's affidavit. If the title is "W," then the item will appear only on the wife's affidavit. If the title is "J," then the item will appear on both affidavits. These fields are distinct from the determination of who owns the asset financially or who will pay the debt.
9. Other Relevant Information. There is now a line on each asset for "other relevant information."
10. Residence Original Price for Affidavit. The affidavit will now print the field entered as "Original Price" in that field when printing. Formerly, we were printing the field entered as "Tax Basis." The same thing applies to the "Estimated Market Value" field. Formerly, we were using the" Current Value" field from the financial data.
11. Printing Affidavits. When printing affidavits, all the items related to a particular asset or debt will print on the same page. Currently, it is sometimes the case that the division heading will be split from the asset. But the asset itself will remain all on one page.
12. Asset Title Name. It is now possible to specify that the asset is titled in the name of someone other than one of the parties. If there is an entry in this field, it will be printed on the Affidavit. If there is no entry on this field, then the name of the party will be used.
Pennsylvania
1. Entries Not Carried to the Affidavit. There are items that are beneficially owned by the party, but which, for whatever reason, are not required to be on the affidavit. You may now indicate that item is not to be carried to the affidavit by checking a box on the [More info] screen for the asset.
Washington State
1. We have added the Washington State child support guidelines.
Bug fixes
1. When capital gains were overridden (in the View/Edit taxes screen) the tax calculation had been incorrect. That has been fixed.
2. The alimony calculator had not been ignoring the sale of home in year one if the alimony recipient received a substantial amount from the sale. That has been fixed.
3. On the New York affidavit, in Section VII (B), the total field had been the same field as the amount per child. That has been fixed.
4. On the Connecticut affidavit, when a major expense was added or deleted, the report did not correctly reflect the addition or deletion. That has been fixed.
5. On the Connecticut affidavit, if there were insurance assets that were being deleted, they were not always being removed from the affidavits. That has been fixed.
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