Want to know a quick way to sink your business? It’s easy: stop putting everything in writing. Rent an office from someone who doesn’t “do” lease agreements. Pay your taxes with as little information from tax forms as possible. Operate your business like an LLC, but don’t actually register as an LLC. That should put you under pretty… Read More »
The idea of “property” isn’t very tough to figure out. Many people apply this simple formula: if you paid for a house, that’s your property. If you bought a car, that’s your property. The issue does get a little more complicated when you realize you don’t just own property because you paid for it. Sometimes you can create… Read More »
Most of us associate the word “crime” with a very conscientious activity. We picture burglars scoping out neighborhoods, donning ski masks, and taking pains to avoid leaving any evidence behind. Sure, these are certainly crimes – but that doesn’t mean you always have to be very proactive to commit a crime.
In the early 1900s, immigrants to the United States would often be greeted on their way toward Ellis Island by the towering Statue of Liberty: a sign of both the freedom of opportunity that awaited them in the United States. Back then, immigration was a simpler process. People poured in by the millions, helping to shape the “melting… Read More »
In modern parlance, a “trust” has the connotation of extreme wealth, of an upper-crust legal refinement that most people in the middle-class wouldn’t be able to enjoy. But in reality, a legal trust is a powerful tool available to any one of us that truly wants to set one up. The only question remaining is: why set up… Read More »
The estate tax is often a tax many people don’t worry about – that is, until they finally sit down and try to figure out how much they’ll be leaving behind. The federal estate tax can take around half of what you leave behind. That’s right: half. For many people, estate planning means circumventing this tax legally so… Read More »
In America, our culture can often be described as “impatient.” A flight that’s delayed ten minutes can feel like a lifetime of waiting. A text message that takes ten seconds longer to send will make you feel like your phone belongs in the stone age. And yet when it comes to taking action on estate planning, we suddenly… Read More »
Let’s be honest: when it comes to estate planning, a lot of people prefer the bliss of ignorance to the bliss of wisdom. Wills, to them, are complicated things, reminders of our own mortality and therefore something to be put off into the future. And when you introduce the concept of a Living Will, the complications make the… Read More »
If you’re just entering or in the middle of a divorce case, it can be a tough time to think about strategy. After all, a divorce case is full of emotional investment on both ends of the spectrum. Under the circumstances, it’s no surprise that it can be hard to think clearly. But that’s no reason you can’t… Read More »
To some people, family and money are like oil and water – they just don’t mix. And yet oddly there’s no good way to separate family from money. We send our kids to school, buy each other Christmas gifts, feed each other, and ultimately share our lives and finances with each other. That is the kind of reasoning… Read More »