When it comes to estate planning, most people automatically think about taking legal steps to ensure the right people inherit their stuff when they die. Although that thought is not wrong, it also leaves out a very important piece of planning for life, and perhaps the most critical part of planni...
As with so many things in life, some of the same qualities that help small businesses succeed can also lead to their demise. Fortunately, much of that risk can be lessened through operational excellence. For example, the owners and managers of small businesses often know each other before they...
A large part of being a successful business owner is knowing how to consciously manage relationships and facilitate conflict when it arises in a healthy and productive way. When business owners and managers find themselves in a disagreement or misalignment of expectations, the potential costs ...
You may be wondering why so many business owners choose January 1 as the start date for their company. Surely, it's not because everyone has the same New Year's resolution, right? The fact is, there are a number of distinct advantages to launching your Limited Liability Company (LLC) at the be...
If you are like many homeowners, your home is likely your family's most valuable and treasured asset. In light of this, you want to plan wisely to ensure your home will pass to your heirs in the most efficient and safe manner possible when you die or in the event you become incapacitated by illne...
One of the biggest benefits of running a family business is being able to employ your minor children. By hiring your kids, you have the opportunity to teach them the value of hard work, give them experience managing money, and support them to save for their future. In return, you get employees...
The employment landscape has changed over the last few years and many small and mid-size companies today operate with outside help – contractors or freelancers who perform important tasks but who are not full-time employees on your payroll, or even third-party companies who consult on a new produ...
NFTs, or “non-fungible tokens,” are the latest sensation in the cryptocurrency universe, or as we like to call it the “Cryptoverse.” And if you haven't heard about NFTs yet, now is a great time to learn because they are likely to be a big part of our collective future. So what is an NFT? In...
When you first realize that your biggest personal and business expense—bar none—is taxes, it can come as quite a shock. Seeing so much of your hard-earned money wind up in the government's hands can feel like a shakedown. That said, focusing a relatively small amount of time and effort into strat...
It seems that everywhere you look, a new start-up is trying to make it big with a game-changing idea. But it's only the ones that can turn that idea into reality that reach business success. Too many start-ups fail to make the transition from idea to execution or encounter major setbacks along th...
As a small business owner, you may be wondering why you need to hire a lawyer to help you run your company. This is especially true today when you can access just about every conceivable legal document online for cheap from the countless online do-it-yourself document services like LegalZoom and ...
Although paying taxes is a largely unavoidable part of running a business, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that there is one common type of tax you can often avoid paying—capital gains taxes. That said, the only way you can avoid paying capital gains taxes (at least legally) is if you ...
Our nation's population is aging at a faster rate than ever before, and collectively we are living much longer than in the past. In fact, by 2034, seniors (age 65 and older) will outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history, according to Census Bureau projections. With th...
When it comes to estate planning, you've most likely heard people mention a couple of different types of wills. The most common is a “last will and testament,” which is also known simply as a “will.” But you may have also heard people talk about what's called a “living will.” Both terms describe ...
It is a new era for college student-athletes, who can now (as of July 1, 2021) profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). A change to the long-standing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) policy that prohibited athletes from making money has abruptly—and dramatically—altered ...
It is okay to not be okay. Removing the stigma of mental health starts with realizing that many people—about one in five of all US adults--are affected by mental illness. Understanding this fact can lead to more people getting the help they require, not only by seeking guidance from a mental heal...
A home is often one of the most valuable items of property that someone will ever own. When it comes to ensuring that your home passes to the individual or group that you intend, there are a variety of ways to legally make that happen. The life estate is a less commonly used method. What is a ...
A comprehensive estate plan -- which we prefer to see as a Life and Legacy Plan -- can protect what matters most to you. For many, this means everything you own and everyone you love. Obviously, this includes providing for the care of your children as an essential piece of your peace of min...
The pandemic has caused Americans to change their behavior in a number of different ways, and one of the most positive of these changes is related to estate planning. For the first time since the study's inception, Caring.com's 2021 Wills and Estate Planning Study found that young adults are now ...
A popular estate planning tool that has long been used effectively may be facing new challenges under the current administration in Washington, DC. The family limited partnership (FLP) is an estate planning tool that allows families not only to transfer significant amounts of their wealth to succ...
Even if you put a totally solid estate plan in place, it can turn out to be worthless for the people you love if it's not regularly updated. Estate planning is not a one-and-done type of deal—your plan should continuously evolve along with your life circumstances and other changing conditions,...
Estate planning can be a very difficult process. While it is not brain surgery, making the decision to move forward with an estate plan requires us to face the fact that we will not live forever. This thought stops many people in their tracks. Others talk themselves out of seeing a qualified atto...
Yours, mine and ours … in today's modern family, it's oh so common. The blended family is the product of 2nd (or more) marriages, in which one or more of the parties comes with children from a prior marriage. And then, they may even go on to have children together. If you have or are part of a...
Working with an attorney to draft a trust agreement for estate planning purposes is an important step. But just getting the document drafted and signed is not enough. For any trust to be effective, you must complete the process of funding your trust as soon as you can. But what exactly is funding...
In 2008, Congress recognized the need for the public to understand the importance and benefits of estate planning by passing House Resolution 1499, which designated the third week of October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Nevertheless, according to a 2021 survey conducted by Caring.c...