BBC: Vermont–Quebec Border Conflict Continues

photo: Laura Carpenter (Newport Daily Express)

Early this year Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec got into a row over long simmering issues and the Stansteaders sealed the border—with flower pots. These are not 800 pounders, like the ones at US government building entrances post 9/11. No, these are… just flower pots. Now the controversy has caught the attention of the BBC. Check out this December 11 BBC television report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20649024.

It's sad that the painted white line that alone marked the international border is gradually being replaced by less friendly symbols of the nation-state. The feds make life more complicated than it needs to be--no surprise there.

Peoples' diplomacy: Talk. Be candid. Be fair. Keep it simple. Stay friends.

et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis

[And on Earth peace and goodwill to all]

Qualified Domestic Trusts - No Silver Bullet Solution for Cross-Border Estate Planning

The Qualified Domestic Trust or QDOT has for years been an essential tool of cross-border estate planning. However, US non-citizen married couples and estate planning practitioners alike may be lulled into a false sense of security with the QDOT.

The QDOT is great as far as it goes. It grants a non-citizen spouse a privilege akin to the unlimited marital deduction under Section 2056 of the Internal Revenue Code. Without a QDOT, assets transferred from the decedent to the surviving spouse may be subject to estate tax. After December 31, 2012, a surviving spouse could find her retirement assets (and her heirs could find their inheritance) reduced by more than half (maximum tax rate: 55%). A QDOT, properly drafted and properly utilized at death, should avoid that estate tax nightmare. However, the QDOT has some noteworthy deficiencies.

Marijuana, Green Cards, and Cross-Border Planning

For generations, immigrants to the U.S. have undergone a medical exam. For most, the exam has been an uneventful step in the long road to a green card. That medical exam is much more interesting now. The current CIS medical exam form (I-693) solicits information about prior drug use (Civil Surgeon Worksheet, Section 3).

The physician instructions that accompany the form discuss the circumstances under which drug abuse or addiction would be a medical ground for inadmissibility (denial of a green card application). What the medical exam form instructions do not explain is that there is also a  criminal ground for inadmissibility based on simple possession. Translation: in the course of explaining to the physician that you are not and never were addicted to marijuana, you concede that you used marijuana--and that can get you excluded. 'Sound a little unfair?? Welcome to the twisted world of marijuana and cross-border planning!

Cross-Border Planning: "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?..."

To investors, retirees, and executives planning cross-border activities, it may look oh, so simple. Occasionally, thinking out loud, one asks "What could possibly go wrong?" And I cannot help but recall this quotation:

"When anyone asks how I can best describe my experience in nearly 40 years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fog the like... but in all my experience, I have never been in any accident of any sort worth speaking about... I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort. You see, I am not very good material for a story..."

-- Captain Edward J. Smith, RD, RNR (Commander, RMS Titanic)

Many thanks to Joe Grasmick, Canada-US immigration attorney, for this quotation.

Naturalization - The Other Five Year Rule

Just a reminder that there is another five year rule associated with naturalization that we often forget about: good moral character for the five years (three years for spouses of US citizens) immediately prior to filing the naturalization application. Many cross-border practitioners probably assume that high net worth Canadians always meet this requirement. Bad assumption. 

Arrests, charges, and criminal convictions of any kind and at any time in the client’s life must be noted on the naturalization application and may affect the good moral character assessment, whether or not the “bad conduct” occurred during the five year period before filing (sounds unfair, doesn’t it?). Almost any arrest or conviction merits a consultation with an immigration attorney who is highly experienced in naturalization matters.