Insurance and More
This time of year - winter, that is - people who slip and fall on the sidewalk or whose cars keep sliding through a stop sign often ask whether they can hold the city or town liable for negligently failing to prevent those slippery mishaps. There's no question about it; the answer is no. If it was otherwise, public budgets would be overwhelmed by those claims or they'd have to spend so much on liability insurance that the biggest building in every city would have an insurance company's name on it. Hey, wait a minute . . . ! So, while there may indeed be negligence going on here and there, the courts have said no dice as a matter of public policy.
Sticking with insurance, you may be aware - or not surprised - that the "Live Free or Die" State doesn't require motorists to carry liability insurance in order to operate a vehicle. At least not until they've had their first accident. That means every time we venture forth in our cars, we're facing a huge percentage of our fellow motorists who are coverage-free, either because they're new drivers who haven't yet run into anything, people without sufficient funds to buy insurance (or pay your claim), or people who've had lots of accidents but blithely drive on without a license. It's probably occurred to you that this isn't a group you'd like to have hurtling toward you at any speed. What this also suggests, in addition to defensive driving, is that you'd better compensate for their shortcomings yourself. In other words, making sure you have plenty of uninsured and under-insured coverage to make up for the other guy's negligence can be even more critical to you than coverage for your own poor efforts. So take a look at your policy and check with your agent.
Let's switch 180 degrees to marijuana. While Coloradans can now bake it into their brownies without consequences, even an M&M's worth is still a criminal offense in the Granite State. And because of that, if your college-age youngster - this is a hypothetical, of course - gets caught with his/her hand in that jar, the resulting conviction will likely have to be disclosed on financial aid applications and may sour the case for much-needed assistance. So, what to do? A critical issue is the level of the offense, which will likely be at least a class B (criminal) misdemeanor. That result could be financially ruinous aid-wise. If the kid has no prior trouble, however, the prosecutor may be willing to downgrade the charge to a non-criminal violation, and thus not a reportable conviction. Sometimes - again, only for someone with a clean past - the prosecutor may even agree to "place the charge on file" for a year, and then dismiss it if no further infractions occur. That could also save the financial aid application - and your retirement account.
One last nugget of news. Although New Hampshire is the only State in the nation that doesn't require adults to wear seat belts, our legislators apparently want to make sure we all live a little longer before we face that choice. That's because they've now decided that children up to age 7 (previously 6) who are under 57 inches tall (that's a big 7 year-old) must be secured by an approved "child passenger restraint system" - that's a car seat for those who aren't fluent in bureaucrat-speak. You know, of course, that any kid under 18 does have to wear a seat belt, which may be the only saving grace if his text message is interrupted by an immovable object. Plus, I've noted before that texting while driving is an offense in itself, just don't do it - and do your best to impress that message on your young drivers.
Posted 03/12/2014 - Miscellaneous
Sticking with insurance, you may be aware - or not surprised - that the "Live Free or Die" State doesn't require motorists to carry liability insurance in order to operate a vehicle. At least not until they've had their first accident. That means every time we venture forth in our cars, we're facing a huge percentage of our fellow motorists who are coverage-free, either because they're new drivers who haven't yet run into anything, people without sufficient funds to buy insurance (or pay your claim), or people who've had lots of accidents but blithely drive on without a license. It's probably occurred to you that this isn't a group you'd like to have hurtling toward you at any speed. What this also suggests, in addition to defensive driving, is that you'd better compensate for their shortcomings yourself. In other words, making sure you have plenty of uninsured and under-insured coverage to make up for the other guy's negligence can be even more critical to you than coverage for your own poor efforts. So take a look at your policy and check with your agent.
Let's switch 180 degrees to marijuana. While Coloradans can now bake it into their brownies without consequences, even an M&M's worth is still a criminal offense in the Granite State. And because of that, if your college-age youngster - this is a hypothetical, of course - gets caught with his/her hand in that jar, the resulting conviction will likely have to be disclosed on financial aid applications and may sour the case for much-needed assistance. So, what to do? A critical issue is the level of the offense, which will likely be at least a class B (criminal) misdemeanor. That result could be financially ruinous aid-wise. If the kid has no prior trouble, however, the prosecutor may be willing to downgrade the charge to a non-criminal violation, and thus not a reportable conviction. Sometimes - again, only for someone with a clean past - the prosecutor may even agree to "place the charge on file" for a year, and then dismiss it if no further infractions occur. That could also save the financial aid application - and your retirement account.
One last nugget of news. Although New Hampshire is the only State in the nation that doesn't require adults to wear seat belts, our legislators apparently want to make sure we all live a little longer before we face that choice. That's because they've now decided that children up to age 7 (previously 6) who are under 57 inches tall (that's a big 7 year-old) must be secured by an approved "child passenger restraint system" - that's a car seat for those who aren't fluent in bureaucrat-speak. You know, of course, that any kid under 18 does have to wear a seat belt, which may be the only saving grace if his text message is interrupted by an immovable object. Plus, I've noted before that texting while driving is an offense in itself, just don't do it - and do your best to impress that message on your young drivers.
Posted 03/12/2014 - Miscellaneous