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Many businesses have a sign hanging on the wall, often near the cash register, that says something like “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” The reality is not as straightforward as the sign's message.
First, members of legally protected classes cannot ever be denied service based on their membership in their respective class.
If you are a parent and you are considering estate planning, one of the most difficult decisions you will have to make is choosing a guardian for your minor children. It is not easy to think of anyone else, no matter how loving, raising your child. Yet, you can make a tremendous difference in your child’s life by planning ahead.
Many of us have been lucky enough to acquire timeshares for the purposes of vacationing on our time off. Some of us would like to leave these assets to our loved ones. If you have a time share, you might be able to leave it to your heirs in a number of different ways.
An executor's fee is the amount charged by the person who has been appointed as the executor of the probate estate for handling all of the necessary steps in the probate administration. Therefore, if you have been appointed an executor of someone’s estate, you might be entitled to a fee for your services. This fee could be based upon a variety of factors and some of those factors may be dependent upon state, or even local, law.
Automobile deductions: Whether an individual uses a personal vehicle for his or her own business or company owns a vehicle, the depreciation of value and costs associated with that vehicle may be deducted from the company’s income at year's end. A taxpayer must keep track of all of these expenses and document them by maintaining receipts and records of expenditures in order to claim the deduction. Alternatively, a business may declare standard deductions for the vehicle based on the mileage of the vehicle. In 2015, this standard deduction is 57.5 cents for every business mile driven. If a vehicle is driven for both business and personal use, the IRS will require a taxpayer to identify the percentage of use dedicated to business.
Mediation is one form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that allows parties to seek a remedy for their conflict without a court trial. Parties work with a mediator, who is a neutral third party. Usually, mediators have received some training in negotiation or their professional background provides that practical experience.
There are many factors to consider when deciding whether or not to implement Medicaid planning. If you’re in good health, now would be the prime time to do this planning. The main reason is that any Medicaid planning may entail using an irrevocable trust, or perhaps gifts to your children, which would incur a five-year look back for Medicaid qualification purposes. The use of an irrevocable trust to receive these gifts would provide more protection and in some cases more control for you.
Estate planning is designed to fulfill the wishes of a person after his or her death. Problems can easily arise, however, if the estate plan contains unanswered questions that can no longer be resolved after the person's demise. This can, and frequently does, lead to costly litigation counter-productive to the goals of the estate. It is important that will be written in language that is clear and that the document has been well proofread because something as simple as a misplaced comma can significantly alter its meaning.
One of the purposes behind memorializing an agreement in a written document is to ensure that the parties to the contract do not recant what they originally agreed upon. Often, parties may dispute contractual terms if contracts are not working out in their favor or are resulting in negative or unanticipated consequences.
There are several reasons that a will may prove invalid. It is important for testators to be aware of these pitfalls in order to avoid them.
The role of an executor is to effectuate a deceased person’s wishes as declared in a will after he or she has passed on. The executor’s responsibilities include the distribution of assets according to the will, the maintenance of assets until the will is settled, and the paying of estate bills and debts. An old joke says that you should choose an enemy to perform the task because it is such a thankless job, even though the executor may take a percentage of the estate’s assets as a fee. The following issues should be considered when choosing an executor for one's estate.
The conversation about a person’s last wishes can be an awkward one for both the individual who is the topic of conversation and his or her loved ones. The end of someone’s life is not a topic anyone looks forward to discussing. It is, however, an important conversation that must be had so that the family understands the testator’s final wishes before he or she passes away. If a significant sum is being left to someone or some entity outside of the family, an explanation of this action may go a long way to avoiding a contested will. In a similar vein, if one heir is receiving a larger share of the estate than the others, it is prudent to have this action explained. If funds are being placed in a trust instead of given directly to the heirs, it makes sense for the testator to advise his or her loved ones in advance.
Goodwill is an asset that is an intangible part of a business being purchased. In spite of its intangibility, goodwill may be worth more than concrete assets, such as property, buildings, machinery or inventory. Goodwill is the essence of the company's value to its customers, clients, and employees and, as such, is invaluable to any buyer. It is easier, as many people intending to purchase a business will tell you, to maintain goodwill than to establish it, since, among other things, goodwill takes time to build. Purchasing a business that already has established goodwill in the community can give the new owner a strong competitive edge.
While the terms "estate tax" and "inheritance tax" are often used interchangeably, they are not synonymous. Let's try to clarify the difference.
Authors often want to understand the eligibility of their writings for copyright protection. Legal copyright registration provides the copyright holder with a collection of special rights. Under the U.S. Copyright Act, a rightful owner maintains the “exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, license, and . . . prepare derivative works” founded on his or her creations. However, these “exclusive” rights are curtailed by the “fair use” doctrine, which typically allows others to use your work legally for certain limited purposes, such as “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.”
When someone dies without a will, it is known as dying intestate. In such cases, state law (of the state in which the person resides) governs how the person's estate is administered. In most states, the individual's assets are split -- with one third of the estate going to the spouse and all surviving children splitting the rest. For people who leave behind large estates, unless they have established trusts or other tax avoidance protections, there may be a tremendous tax liability, including both estate and inheritance tax.
There are many circumstances that can impact an estate plan, not the least of which is divorce. While ending a marriage is complicated, it is not only crucial to arrive at a fair and equitable distribution of the marital assets, but to preserve your estate as well.
