Report from Counsel, Author at Ross Law Firm Ltd.

Avoid capital gains tax when selling investment property

08/17/202003/31/2016 by Report from Counsel

Did you know that it may be possible to avoid paying immediate capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property? That’s true if you’re planning to sell the property and invest the proceeds in another property shortly afterward. For instance, suppose you own a condo as an investment, and you plan to sell it … Read more

Starting an LLC? What you need to know

10/25/201703/29/2016 by Report from Counsel

Many new business owners think it’s easy to set up an LLC. That’s partly the result of companies and websites that claim to offer simple, “standardized” LLC operating agreements. Just fill in the blanks and you’re off! In reality, there’s no such thing as a “standard” LLC operating agreement. You have many of choices to … Read more

Businesses can’t agree not to ‘poach’ employees

03/31/201603/19/2016 by Report from Counsel

It might be tempting to informally agree with other business owners in a niche field not to poach one another’s employees, but it’s illegal – and recently, some businesses have paid a high price. For example, the Department of Justice went after several tech companies that allegedly had an informal “no-poach” understanding. The employees themselves … Read more

Asset protection is for everyone

08/17/202012/15/2015 by Report from Counsel

When many people hear the words “asset protection,” they think of billionaires with Swiss bank accounts and offshore tax havens. But in reality, asset protection is for everyone. Using a series of basic techniques you can increase the odds that the wealth you’ve accumulated stays with you and your heirs, and not someone else.

Hard-earned wealth can quickly disappear as a result of a lawsuit, a business going under, or a similar event. When taken in advance of any problem arising, asset protection techniques can protect you from these possibilities. You can also use them to help protect your children or other heirs from the consequences of a divorce, lawsuit, business failure, and so on.

It’s actually more important for people of moderate wealth to engage in asset protection than it is for billionaires. After all, billionaires can afford to lose a lot of money, whereas the rest of us cannot.

Clicking or e-mailing can create a binding contract

08/17/202012/15/2015 by Report from Counsel

A New York company ran a loan-application website. As part of the application process, users had to click a box to get from one screen to the next. Above the box it said, “Clicking the box below constitutes your acceptance of … the borrower registration agreement.” The borrower registration agreement wasn’t on the page, but the words “borrower registration agreement” were a hyperlink to another page that included the complete contract. In fine print, the contract said that disappointed borrowers couldn’t sue in court and had to take all claims to arbitration.

Was this binding?

Business gets salary back from ‘disloyal’ employee

12/15/2015 by Report from Counsel

Did you know that executives and other employees may have a legal obligation to be “loyal” to their companies? This means that they have to act in the company’s interest, and not deliberately harm the company or take advantage of it for their own interest.

Plan for the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease

12/15/2015 by Report from Counsel

Did you know that 47% of people over age 85 are affected by Alzheimer’s disease? The numbers are high enough that any older person planning for their estate should consider the possibility that they may become intellectually incapacitated at some point. Of course, a critical step in planning for incapacity is having a durable power … Read more

What you can learn from rock star Jim Morrison’s will

12/15/2015 by Report from Counsel

Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the popular rock band The Doors, died in 1971 at age 27. Before his death he had signed a simple, one-page will that left everything to his girlfriend, Pamela Courson.

As a result of the will, Pamela inherited his entire estate. Pamela herself died shortly afterward of a heroin overdose. Because Pamela didn’t have a will, most of Morrison’s fortune then went by law to Pamela’s closest living relatives – her parents.

Help your heirs avoid capital gains tax

09/29/2015 by Report from Counsel

In the past, estate planning was mostly about reducing the impact of the federal estate tax. The tax was so onerous, and potentially affected so many people, that the goal was to avoid it like the plague.

One way to reduce estate taxes was to put assets into an irrevocable trust. The tax savings could be accomplished in a number of ways, but the key was that, when the person who created the trust died, the trust assets would go on to benefit his or her heirs, and would not be subject to the estate tax.

This was very smart planning at the time. Over the last few years, however, the situation has dramatically changed.

Estate planning for people who don’t have families

09/29/2015 by Report from Counsel

A growing number of older people don’t have a spouse, children, or other close relatives. One of the biggest concerns in such a situation is how to prepare in case the person eventually becomes disabled or incapacitated.

Such a person could, of course, give a power of attorney to a friend, and assume the friend will take care of things. However, friends the same age might die or become incapacitated themselves. They might be overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of taking care of a disabled person, especially since it might be a stretch to ask their own family members for help with someone who is not part of the family. And sadly, there have been many cases where friends have gotten into financial straits and ended up taking advantage of a power of attorney.

There are a number of possible solutions, but here’s one that can work well