The Fort Worth, Texas Chapter of the American Payroll Association

June Meeting

Who’s Speaking?

Please join us on Thursday, June 5, 2008 for the monthly professional education meeting at Woodhaven Country Club from 11:30 - 1:30. The FWAPA guest speakers will be Joan Truman and Tim Truman. The topic is “Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Regulations”.

Joan Truman is Education/Seminar/Newsletter Director for the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee in Fort Worth and on the management team for the 40-person office. Joan met her husband Tim when they were both students at the University of Texas. Her first career was as a French teacher in a DFW area high school. She began helping Tim in the Chapter 13 trusteeship in 1980 and worked as a claims manager for 10 years before implementing a unique education/credit rehabilitation program for Chapter 13 debtors in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Joan is responsible for the annual Chapter 13 bankruptcy seminar for local consumer bankruptcy practitioners. As editor of The Thirteen Connection, she provides information concerning the seminar, local trustee policies and procedures, and general bankruptcy news to the creditor/debtor attorney community. She supervises an approved federally mandated Personal Financial Management Class in Fort Worth for Chapter 13 debtors.

Tim Truman was appointed Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for Fort Worth in October 1979. He also served as Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for Dallas from January 1980 until September 1990. In fiscal year 2007, he administered approximately 11,000 Chapter 13 cases and disbursed over $ 64 million to creditors.

Tim was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1967. He received his B.B.A. in accounting from the University of North Texas and L.L.B. from the University of Texas in Austin. Tim is past president of the Fort Worth Tarrant County Young Lawyers, Tarrant County Bar Association, Tarrant County Bankruptcy Bar, and National Association of Chapter Thirteen Trustees. He has presented programs to numerous creditor groups on bankruptcy and spoken to groups of attorneys and judges on the subject of Chapter 13 as part of programs sponsored by the State Bar of Texas, the Federal Judicial Center, and local debtor bars.

Our Chapter really stepped up to the plate in May. Because of the overwhelming success of this effort we will be completing our Safehaven Scavenger Hunt at our June luncheon.

Seven teams were selected at the May meeting. Each team selected a Captain to coordinate member names and email. Each team also selected which kit items they would bring to the June luncheon. Team captains will contact members before the June luncheon to remind them to bring their items.

Teams chose from a wish list of Move in Kits, Hygiene Kits, Cleaning Kits, Paper and Plastic and Linen Kits. These items should be brought to the June luncheon. These kits will enable The Fort Worth APA to help two families move out of Safehaven in July into their own apartment. Geri Medlin from Safehaven will be at the June luncheon to collect the kits.

If you were unable to attend the May luncheon and want to participate in this sharing experience, you can still make a monetary donation in June. The Chapter will match your donation.

This community project to help Safehaven continues through out the year. Remember to bring any gently used clothing to the luncheons and we will get the items to Safehaven.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of these FWAPA Members:
Velma Martin, vmartin@dickies.com
Tammy Wyatt, twyatt@virtuoso.com
Gina Martinez, gmartinez@dickies.com

Government Update - State

New laws and developments are reported from the following states:

ILLINOIS
Garnishment. Recent legislation changed the amount of the fee that employers can deduct from employee wages for a garnishment. It is now 2% of the amount paid under the order. Previously, it was equal to the greater of $12, or 2% of the amount paid under the order [ILCS §5/12-814].

NEBRASKA
Child Support. New legislation requires employers to remit child support payments electronically if they have an employee with a child support order, and more than 50 employees in total [L. 2007, L620].

NEW YORK
Time Off. Employees must either be granted a leave of absence of up to three hours per year to donate blood during work hours, or be allowed to donate blood at least twice per year without use of their accumulated leave time at a time and place set by the employer [N.Y. Lab. Law §202-j, as amended by L. 2007, S6490 ].

OHIO
Withholding. In the March 4th elections, voters in the following school districts approved income tax changes: Celina City school district, Clyde-Green Springs school district, Fremont City school district, and Piqua City school district. Voters renewed the Toledo City municipal income tax. Changes will take effect Jan. 1, 2009 [Phone calls by RIA, March 2008].

UTAH
Garnishment. Effective May 5, 2008, employers receiving a written request for employment verification with respect to a writ of garnishment must provide verification within ten days, if the request includes a copy of the judgment and judgment information statement. The response must indicate whether the individual identified in the documentation is a current employee [Utah Code Ann §78A-2-216, as amended by L. 2008, H92].

Fort Worth Chapter APA
2008 Calendar
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To contact any Chapter officer visit our website at www.fortworthapa.org

The Fort Worth Chapter Newsletter is distributed with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. The information contained in this newsletter is obtained from reliable statutory resources.