Good Day Alabama for February 14, 2012

Here is what you saw on Good Day Alabama for February 14, 2012:

MONEY TUESDAY - Stewart Welch joined us to explain Alabama's New Power of Attorney. Last year the Alabama Legislature passed two laws that you need to be aware of, one of which you need to give serious consideration regarding updating your estate plan. One of the most basic documents in your estate plan is a Power of Attorney.  With this document you appoint someone; known as your agent, to act on your behalf for all financial matters should you become incompetent due to illness or accident.  If you were to become incompetent and not have a power of attorney, someone, presumably a family member, must hire an attorney; go to court; and have the court grant a power of attorney.  This court-granted document typically has a number of restrictions including a periodic court review detailing how money has been used by the agent for the benefit of the incompetent person.  As you can imagine, this process is very time consuming and can be costly. The simple and least expensive solution is to have a power of attorney drawn and executed while you are competent.  This is what most people do and it worked beautifully until the past few years.  What has emerged is a trend where financial institutions are refusing to accept the typical power of attorney stating that the document was too broad in its scope and lacked the detailed instructions the financial institutions require.  This has created significant problems for those attempting to use a power of attorney on behalf of an incompetent person.  To craft a solution, a number of Alabama attorneys got together and drafted a new power of attorney that would mandate any financial institution accept.  Failure to do so would subject the financial institution to financial penalties.  These attorneys rallied our state legislators who passed the bill effective January 1, 2012.  Everyone should consider contacting your attorney regarding replacing your current power of attorney with the new version. The second development involves how long Alabamians are able to hold money in a trust for the benefit of heirs.  The old rule was governed by what's known as 'The Rule Against Perpetuities'.  This stated that money can remain in trust for the lifetime of any currently living beneficiary plus twenty-one years.  In effect, this meant that a trust you establish for your heirs could last about seventy-five years.  Contrast this to many other states that allow a trust to last in perpetuity.  Again a group of Alabama attorneys wrote new proposed rules which our legislature passed that now allow a trust to last 360 years. If you'd like a 7-page report outlining more information of the benefits of multigenerational trusts, email stewart@welchgroup.com and place 'Legacy Trust' in the subject line.

JEH JEH LIVE - Jeh Jeh celebrated Valentine's Day with some flowers! He joined us from local florist shops on their busiest day of the year! He joins us from Dorothy McDaniel's in Homewood and Norton's Florist on Southside in Birmingham.

VET SPECIALIST - Dr. Robert Gaddis and Dr. Jerome Williams join us to discuss your pets' dental health and why it is so important to clean their teeth. You can reach Dr. Gaddis at the Indian Springs Animal Clinic at (205) 988-8654 or http://indianspringsanimalclinic.com/. You can reach Dr. Williams at the Red Mountain Animal Clinic at (205) 326-8080 or http://www.redmountainanimalclinic.com.

GLENWOOD NIGHT UNDER THE BIG TOP - Glenwood's Junior Board of Presents the 8th Annual "A Night Under the Big Top." The Junior Board of Glenwood hosts its 8th annual gala A Night Under the Big Top on Friday from 8:00 p.m. until Midnight at The Club (1 Robert S. Smith Drive, Birmingham, AL 35209). The purpose of the event is to raise funds for Glenwood, the Autism and Behavioral Health Center. This event will feature live music by The Undergrounders, food and drinks, casino fun and games, circus acts and a fantastic silent auction. All proceeds from this year's event will fund Glenwood's Autism Outpatient Services. With your support, Glenwood will be closer to reaching our goal to reduce the diagnostic wait time for children with autism from two months to two weeks. Last year's gala raised over $165,000 and had over 700 people in attendance. These types of events enabled us to expand our diagnostic clinic with three additional Ph.D.  level psychologists just this past year.  

GARDENING - Do you have a Garden Valentine? Jimmy Rockett with Bug Juice Gardens showed us garden flower arrangements for your special valentine. Jimmy says check nurseries for beautiful live flower arrangements for your special gardener this Valentine's Day! And most any good garden center can help you put together your own arrangements as well. All you need is a container or basket, pretty flowers for this season, and decorative moss. You don't even need to plant the flowers in the container, you can just set them in the container and use the moss to cover the pots. Jimmy says to be sure to add saucers to catch the water when you do water. Pansies, violas, primrose and blooming hydrangeas are some of the flowers available now. Jimmy says to just have fun, and remember, its not so much what you give that matters, it is that you remembered to give and were thinking of that special garden valentine and did give. For more information, call Jimmy at (205) 981-1151, email him at jimmyrockett@att.net, or visit www.rockettsbugjuicegardens.com.

TOY FAIR - This year marks the 109th American International Toy Fair. It is the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere, the third largest in the world and a critical time for the approximately $32 Billion U.S. toy industry (including video games). More than 1,500 manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents from 30 countries will be showing more than 100,000 toys. Chris Byrne, The "Toy Guy" and content director for Timetoplaymag.com provided insight into this highly competitive, high-stakes industry. He addressed a variety of topics, from business outlook in the current economy, to consumer product and retailing trends-and of course some of the hottest new toys for 2012 that are being officially launched to the trade in the U.S. at this show, though some are already finding their way to store shelves ad manufacturers try to get an early jump on the year. For more information, visit www.timetoplaymag.com.

Tomorrow on Good Day Alabama, Jeh Jeh takes us to the McWane Science Center to get ready for the Big Machines Day! Our Call for Action team takes your questions about Consumer Credit Counseling - is it right for you? What to expect? How to know if someone is helping you! Mickey takes us to the Birmingham Zoo. The doctor joins us to take your questions about your kids' health! And we check out what's going on at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens! That and much more tomorrow on Good Day Alabama!