March 2012 Archives

The former President of the Atlanta Braves, Stan Kasten, is part of the Magic Johnson group that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers, thus effectively pulling the team away from bankruptcy, reports Bloomberg News.

In addition to Stan Kasten, Magic Johnson's group includes Guggenheim Partners Chief Executive Mark Walter. The $2.3 billion that Magic Johnson and others are forking over for the Dodgers nearly doubles what has been paid for any other franchise in American sports.

NBA great Dennis Rodman's child support and spousal support arrears are reported as being around a million dollars, writes the Chicago Tribune.

The reasons that Rodman's representatives have given about his inability to pay is that he is broke and suffering from alcoholism. While his wife, Michelle Rodman, seems skeptical of those claims, the issue arises: if Rodman is allegedly "broke," is a bankruptcy imminent?

Without more disclosure about Rodman's finances, it is difficult to say if he really is broke, or simply atttempting to not pay the child support his ex says she is owed.

Private debt collectors for student loans are coming your way, reports Business Week.

Nearly 5 million borrowers of federal loans are currently in default, which means they have at least 270 days without making a payment. And this has brought an army of private debt collectors for student loans to create a new industry where they recover payments on behalf of the lender. In some instances the monthly payment they extract is higher than what the defaulter might have paid under the federal laws.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), responsible for processing your taxes, may soon start working with police and even sharing tax return information, reports Reuters. Thankfully, it is not as terrible as it sounds.

Turns out that in Tampa, Florida, a new program will be launched where the IRS will share tax return information with police in cases of tax refund fraud and identity theft. Basically, the bogus tax return information will be shared with police. The legislation is being pressed by Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida.

As college tuitions increase around the country, federal subsidies like Pell Grants and Stafford loans are struggling to keep up, reports The New York Times. And this is apparently rendering college “farther and farther out of reach.”

The worst news about college tuition increases is that according to The Times, the share of higher education costs that the maximum amount of a Pell Grant covers is only around half of what it was 30 years ago.

Some consider former Duke and NBA player Christian Laettner’s last second Final Four shot against Kentucky one of the greatest shots of NCAA March Madness. And with the tournament going on now, what better time to talk about Lattner’s financial difficulties, as reported by The Associated Press?

Laettner’s difficulties began when he started dabbling in real estate with his partner Brian Davis. They were trying to turn old tobacco warehouses into apartments and condos, but accrued a great amount of debt in the process. The creditors ended up obtaining judgments against Christian Laettner and Brian Davis.

One of these creditors is Shawne Merriman, an NFL linebacker for the Bills, who you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Georgia lottery buyers are the either the most patient and persevering people on earth, or the most easily parted with their money as they spend the most for the least in lottery, reports Bloomberg News.

Americans as a whole spend about $50 billion a year in state-run-lotteries. And of all Americans, Georgians spend the most from their personal finances to buy lottery tickets. On top of this, their per capita income is about 10% below the national average already. All of these figures are taken from the “Sucker Index” produced by Bloomberg.

A "special institutional fee" for Georgia college students seems to be getting attached to what college students are already paying, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The special institutional fee is bringing in $210 million to the state, but it can cost students up to $1,000.

The discussion about these fees highlights the difficulties that today's students are facing. Officials from Georgia State University said that there has been a 116 percent increase in the number of fall term students that didn't return for the spring classes they signed up for.

The so called Dunwoody Day Care shooting trial is in full swing. Hemy Neuman is being tried for the murder of Rusty Sneiderman, whose wife, Andrea, Hemy had been having an affair with, as previously discussed on FindLaw's Atlanta Family Law News.

But now more background information about the Sneidermans and Neumans is coming out, showing that the families were at the two opposite ends of the middle class dream, reports the Dunwoody Crier. The Sneiderman's had nearly $800,000 saved up and owned two houses.

After 81-year-old Louise White won the $336 million Powerball jackpot, a lot of people will be talking about average people suddenly striking it rich.

But lost in that discussion with be something that occurs far more frequently: average people suddenly striking it poor, or becoming the "nouveau poor" as reported by American Public Media's Marketplace.

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies baseball star, who annoyed Atlantans for a long time in the ’80s and ’90s, is headed to jail (but not for being annoying), reports CNN.

Lenny Dykstra’s jail sentence is for three years. It comes after he pled no contest to three counts of grand theft auto (not the video game) and filing a false financial statement.

The fraud over which Lenny Dykstra’s jail sentence comes from has to do with improperly leasing high end automobiles, using false information. The criminal complaint targeted Dykstra and his accountant, Robert Hymers.

Homestead laws are designed to protect small individual property owners — such as homeowners — from the ever-changing economic climate of the United States.

Often when the economy changes, small property owners are unable to meet the demands of their creditors. Homestead laws allow an individual to register a portion of his or her real and personal property as “homestead,” thereby making that portion of the individual’s estate off-limits to most creditors.

The idea behind these homestead laws is the preservation of the family farm, home, or other assets in the face of severe economic conditions.