Selling a Home through Probate
Many times when someone dies, the major asset that they leave behind is their home. The home needs to go through probate court, unless there’s a trust in place or some other form of estate planning, whereby the house passes outside of probate. But in the normal everyday situation, if you don’t have an estate […]
January 29, 2021
The Importance of an Estate Plan if You Have Minor Children
Although having an estate plan is always important, there is an emphasized importance when you have minor children. The big deal about having a proper estate plan in place when you have minor children is that you really need to think about guardianship provisions. The guardianship provision in an estate plan makes it clear who […]
November 6, 2020
Why You Should Use an Attorney to Form Your Business Entity
I have heard that a lot of people form their own business entities through legal zoom type services or by going directly to the Secretary of State without any council or tax advice. These are often the people who ask, “Why should I use an attorney to form my business entity?”. I wonder, if the […]
October 30, 2020
Fictitious Firm Names
If you have a business entity, whether it is an LLC or a corporation, and are doing business in any different form of the name, then you may want to consider filing for a fictitious firm name (FFN), otherwise known as a DBA (doing business as). For example, we are technically “Morris Law Center, LLC”. […]
October 23, 2020
How to Start Probate
If you find yourself in a situation where a loved one has passed away and you know that you’ve got to do something, most likely file probate, you will probably need an attorney. Today I want to give you an idea of the process and some insight on questions and documents that an attorney may […]
October 16, 2020
Top 5 Tips to Follow if You’ve Been in an Accident
These are the top five tips to follow if you’ve been in an accident. Tip number one: if you’re in an accident, look for witnesses immediately. You want someone to be able to corroborate what you said happened, so if you get in an accident and you’re capable of looking around afterwards then try to […]
October 2, 2020
So Now You Are Trustee of a Trust
Today I want to talk about what happens when you become the successor trustee of a living trust. Recently I have been getting numerous calls from successor trustees wondering what they are supposed to do now that they are the trustee of a trust. A successor trustee is the person managing the trust. In a […]
September 25, 2020
Prepare for a Tsunami of Bankruptcy
Regarding bankruptcy being similar to a tsunami, I see this as a highly accurate analogy, as will be discussed below. What do people need to know? Historically, our most recent economic downturn is the financial crisis of 2007-2009. The bankruptcy numbers that follow that crisis can be informative of what to expect here. Previously, bankruptcy […]
September 18, 2020
Probate – A Cautionary Tale
Today I want to provide you with a cautionary tale; the moral of the story being in order to avoid probate, you need to have an estate plan in place. If you want your heirs to avoid having to go to court and spend money from the estate, time and expense, then you need to […]
September 10, 2020
Pros and Cons of Wills
Today I want to talk about the pros and cons of having a will. This topic has come up a lot lately with COVID as many people are starting to get concerned about having their estate plan in order, which honestly is a good thing. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world, you […]
September 4, 2020