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PRACTICE AREAS

ESTATE PLANNING

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, Trust Administration, Durable Powers of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directives

     The foundation of every good estate plan is your Will.  If you don’t have a Will and you die, then your estate will be tied up for many months in probate and the state will decide who inherits your assets, and more importantly, a judge will determine who will have custody of your children! Do you really want the state to make those decisions for you? Of course not!

      The next critical element of a good estate plan is setting up your Trust. A well thought out and legally sound Trust can let you put conditions on how your assets are distributed after you die that a Will alone cannot do. If done properly, a Trust will avoid lengthy and expensive probate, and will help you minimize or avoid unnecessary gift and estate taxes, and a Trust will help you better provide for and take care of your spouse, children and loved ones long after you die.

      Other important elements of a good estate plan include having your Durable Power of Attorney as well as having your Health Care Directive. What would happen if you were seriously injured or become seriously ill or have a serious stroke and become unable for a period of time or permanently to make decisions for yourself? Your spouse, children, or loved ones may not be legally able to make those decisions for you, including accessing your bank accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, or be able to pay your bills, or handle or make any other financial or health decisions on your behalf. As a minimum, they will have to spend a lot of time and money to hire attorneys to go to court to try to secure the necessary legal authorizations for you, and even then you may not get everything you need or want. But having your Durable Power of Attorney and your Health Care Directive will allow you to have your spouse, loved one, or trusted friend to be able to immediately handle all of those critical things for you.

CONSERVATORSHIPS

A conservatorship is when one person is given the legal authority and responsibility to care for another person age 18 and older, who is deemed physically or mentally unable to care for themselves. A conservator can be put in charge of a person’s finances, their well-being, or both. Determining whether or not a loved one needs an appointed conservator is not an easy decision. Even more difficult is when a court appoints a conservatorship which you feel is unnecessary or carries the risk of abuse or other dangers to the well-being of your loved one. Whatever the case may be, our experienced conservatorship lawyers can walk you through the legal process for finding a solution.

GUARDIANSHIPS

Guardianships exist to provide individuals with legal authority to watch over the well-being of a minor. A guardian is appointed by a court for a minor in the event that both of his or her parents are unable provide care. Common scenarios that may warrant a court-appointed guardian include the incarceration, illness or death, drug use, homelessness, abandonment, or history of abuse of both parents. These cases can be extremely complex and intimidating, so you should always consult with a skilled lawyer when you have been named as a guardian or if you need to pursue a guardianship.

ELDER LAW

The golden years are supposed to be filled with the joys of retirement, grandchildren and travel, however, they are seldom enjoyed without various other complexities that individuals encounter as they age including deteriorating health, financial concerns, and family disputes.  To meet these challenges, a unique area of law - elder law has taken on greater value to millions of aging Americans and their caregivers. This area encompasses many different legal disciplines, including estate planning, business succession planning, asset protection, Medicaid planning and veterans benefits.  We can assist you or your loved ones with the following matters:​

  • Long-term care planning

  • Selecting the right long-term care facility 

  • Qualifying for public benefits such as Social Security, Medicaid and Veterans Benefits

  • Prevention of financial exploitation and elder abuse

BUSINESS LAW

 Whether you’re an entrepreneur with new ideas, innovative products, and services, or whether you’ve been in business for years, you know that the business world is demanding, full of challenges, highly competitive, often litigious, and very complicated. Many small businesses fail, not because they didn’t have a good product or service, but because they weren’t aware of crucial pitfalls and landmines, and therefore didn’t plan properly for them. Those pitfalls and landmines include having the wrong business structure, inadequate insurance that can bankrupt you, violations of state laws or regulations that can result in heavy fines or even shut you down, entering into poorly written contracts or leases, being undercapitalized, having a poorly written operating agreement if you’re an LLC, and of course getting sued!  There are many other pitfalls and landmines. We’re here to help you through them all!

      You’ve worked hard to get where you are and to get your business where it is today. You want to protect your business as well as continue to grow it. However, with so much regulation and so many laws impacting every aspect of your business - you need help!  And we’re here to help you!

      Whether you need help with drafting, negotiating, or reviewing Contracts and Leases, whether you have Employment Law issues, whether you need advice on Human Resources matters, or whether you’re dealing with a Merger or Acquisition of a company, or whether you need help with business planning, or just need an experienced ear to listen and discuss concerns with, we’re here to help you!  Few, if any, entrepreneurs know it all or can keep on top of it all. The best entrepreneurs and business owners surround themselves with people who have more expertise in areas they don’t. Let us be a part of your team!

      What you don’t know, or what you may not fully understand, can lead to bad decisions, missed opportunities, fines, litigation, and other significant mistakes that can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more, and can seriously damage or could even jeopardize your business. Whether you need help on the planning side to avoid those landmines, or whether you’ve already stepped on one of those landmines and need legal representation, we’re on your side, and we’re here to help you at every step of the way. We’re entrepreneurs and businessmen ourselves as well as experienced attorneys. We get it. We know what it takes to succeed. Let us help you succeed and help you protect your success!

LLC FORMATIONS

Limited Liability Companies (LLC’s) are the overwhelming business entity choice of most entrepreneurs and small businesses. There are certainly exceptions and reasons why you may want to or need to choose an alternative business entity structure, and we’ll help you to determine which is best for you. However, the LLC generally offers so many advantages over other business entity forms which is why they’re the overwhelming choice.

      Once you’ve determined that the LLC is the best choice of entity structure for your new business, then you will need to draft an Operating Agreement for your LLC. The Operating Agreement is the core document that will control the company and how it operates. This document is not only required, it’s critical to the future success of your business. Don’t take it lightly! A poorly drafted Operating Agreement can mean confusion and conflict between the members of the LLC, can result in paying additional unnecessary taxes, can cause disruption of the business in multiple ways, can even result in expensive and crushing litigation, and many other unpleasant things. Do not try to draft your own Operating Agreement – including copying someone else’s or downloading one off the internet! No two well drafted Operating Agreements are alike. So unless you are very experienced and skilled in drafting LLC Operating Agreements, hire someone who is! You won’t regret it! What little you think you’ll save in legal fees up front may well cost you much, much more in problems you created by allowing your company to have a poorly drafted Operating Agreement.

      We are experienced and skilled in drafting LLC Operating Agreements, and we will work closely with you to ensure that your company has just the right language, terms, and provisions unique to you and your partner(s) or the other members of your LLC to allow you to succeed and help protect that success. If you already have an LLC and an Operating Agreement that you’re concerned about, we’ll be happy to review it with you, and if needed, modify or amend the Operating Agreement.

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