Law Blog
Maximizing Your Disaster Insurance Recovery
Following a business disaster, even the savviest owner can be in shock and unable to comprehend how to recover. Having a disaster recovery plan in place before an occurrence can speed up the process and maximize your recovery. A disaster recovery plan should include:...
New Partners, New Problems
Introducing new business partners to add talent, increase sales, or enhance finances is often a good idea, but with new partners come new risks to your business. To minimize those risks: Evaluate how they will enhance your business. Conduct due diligence on new...
Family Gifting
Family gifts come in many forms and are made for various reasons. If they are of substantial value, care should be taken to avoid regrets or problems thereafter. Major gifting should also be considered in light of future life care and estate plans. Some of the issues...
Ex-Spouse’s Rights After Divorce
A recent Illinois Appeals Court ruled that a divorce did not terminate an ex-spouse’s claim as a beneficiary of her former spouse’s retirement account on the ex’s death. While a divorce renders an ex-spouse to be considered “deceased” on most documents, the court...
Succession Planning
Every business and investment in a business eventually comes to an end, whether by sale, death, or dissolution. With this in mind, business succession planning needs to include estate, retirement, and tax planning. Making plans early, that can usually be adjusted, can...
Think Before You Download
Don’t think that just because a picture, diagram, or other artwork is on the internet and easy to download that it is free to use because it’s in the “public domain.” If the image is copyrighted and you use it “commercially,” you could be subject to substantial...
Protecting Your Business from a Co-Owner’s Divorce
Most states employ the concept of marital vs non-marital property or community property to determine a spouse’s entitlement to the other’s business in a divorce. You or your co-owners, partners, investors, and other stakeholders should consider some protection to...
Employment Checkup
Federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations change often, and employers need to keep abreast of the changes to avoid liability. To protect your business, perform periodic reviews with your hiring and human resources personnel of the key employment...
