Outside Counsel

About a year ago we settled an infant's case. It wasn't a lot of money; it wasn't much of a case. When you settle a case brought on behalf of a minor the court has to approve it, and the money has to be put in a trust until the child turns 18. The ordinary practice is to have the money deposited in a savings account with the bank and a parent as co-trustees, but when we can we like to purchase an annuity for the kid. You get a better rate of interest that way, and sometimes the court will let you extend the payout until age 21, which can be helpful with things like college financial aid. This afternoon I got a call from the mother on this particular case. Her daughter just had a baby, and wanted to know if she could get the money early. I didn't really remember the girl, so as I leafed through the file to find the settlement order I asked how old she is now.

16. That is, she will be 16 next month. I mention it because it seems to me that Bristol Palin-- and the whole Palin family-- are a whole lot more mainstream than a lot of people seem to think. It's very droll to observe that "Sarah Palin's first child was born 8 months after she suddenly eloped. Maybe the baby was slightly premature, but it could be that getting knocked up is the traditional engagement ritual in her family. That would have matched how things worked in my home town, where the traditional high school graduation present was a bassinet." Remarks like that reflect just how divorced from American life liberal Democrats have become. I don't care to race snowmobiles, or sport a mullet, but lots of Americans do, and the fact that I don't understand why goes a long way towards explaining why I am so bad at predicting electoral outcomes.

I explained to the mom that selling the annuity would require court approval, and that they really couldn't expect much of a return on it. She understood-- I think she is probably pretty used to getting bad news.