Blog
BBK: Trust Funding
Welcome back to another dose of bite-sized Bits of Knowledge, where we give you meaningful information in a short amount of time. Today, we're going to talk about trust funding. It's a common discussion point that we have. What does it mean and why should you care?...
BBK: Powers of Appointment
Hi, welcome back to another dose of Bite-sized Bits of Knowledge, where we give you meaningful information in a short amount of time. Today, we're going to talk about a really important provision of trusts that has relevance to wills. It's called a power of...
BBK: Asset Protection
Hi, thanks for tuning in to another dose of bite-sized Bits of Knowledge, where we give you meaningful information in a short amount of time. Today, we're going to talk about asset protection, super high level. I just want to impress upon you that there's a lot you...
Sole Proprietorships in Florida: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Sole Proprietorships in Florida: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Maybe you’re a freelancer and you want to keep things simple, but you also want to brand yourself to help get more work. Or perhaps you’re just a single person with a really cheap idea for a product or...
Understanding the Involuntary Divorce Trigger
Understanding the Involuntary Divorce Trigger If you’ve been following along, we’ve been writing quite a bit about the various types of involuntary triggers that can impact the ownership of a business when one person’s ownership stake or shares are taken away due to...
How to Strengthen Your Estate Plan to Minimize Litigation
How to Strengthen Your Estate Plan to Minimize Litigation There’s more to thoughtful and strategic planning than plugging in names and variables. It’s a process. There are a lot of moving parts. Remember that planning involves probate, guardianship, estate, gift,...
The Involuntary Bankruptcy Trigger and Bankruptcy Basics
The Involuntary Bankruptcy Trigger and Bankruptcy Basics Bankruptcy is a common trigger of an involuntary transfer. If a partner goes bankrupt, you could find yourself partnered… with a partner’s creditors. Generally, you want to keep it in the family (or within the...
Non Legal Formation Advice
Starting a Business: Non-Legal Formation Advice While you will certainly have to traverse many complex legal facets when starting a business, the broad platform for a healthy business also encompasses many non-legal pieces of common sense. Having certain practical...
Planning for Your Legacy: Big Picture Decisions and Issues
What you don’t know can hurt you – and your family and your business. Being prepared means having a plan to navigate life’s unforgiving uncertainties both during life and after death. We’re talking, of course, about estate planning, and it’s important to realize that...
What Are Involuntary Transfers and How Do They Work?
As the name suggests, an involuntary transfer of your ownership share of a business is a transfer that you are not choosing to make. It is a transfer that is forced upon you due to specific circumstances, which are generally beyond your control. What kind of...
An Introduction to Governing Documents for Your Business
Governing documents consist of shareholders agreements and bylaws for corporations, operating agreements for limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnership agreements for limited partnerships (LPs) and partnership agreements for partnerships. They are super...
Do Trusts or LLCs Provide You with Better Asset Protection?
Do Trusts or LLCs Provide Better Asset Protection? You may think of a trust as the only way to protect your assets from creditors after you’re gone. Today, we’ll be talking about another option for asset protection: the use of an LLC. Each has its advantages and...
An Introduction to Business Share Transfers
When you start a business with other people, each of you own a percentage of it – a share. In a two-person partnership, each of you might have a 50-50 share. Adding more people or entities of ownership, obviously, means a reduced shared for everyone. But what if one...
Why People Fail to Plan – and What to Do for Your Plan
We’ve written in the past about the frustratingly high percentage of people who do not have an estate plan. People who, if something happened to them today, would leave their assets – their legacy – completely at the mercy of the law, with no personal say in what...
Who Are the Relevant Parties to a Trust? And Other Important Trust Questions
If you’re thinking of setting up a trust and you’ve never done it before, you probably have a lot of questions. How do you do it? Who needs to be involved? How do they work? Are they worth it? In this post, we’re going to try to cover several of those questions to...
An Introduction to Business Planning and Business Plans
If you are a small-to-medium-sized business owner, you may view building a business plan as a deeply complex endeavor that will require exorbitant amounts of time. And because of this, you might decide not to bother. You might tell yourself that you already have the...
Preparing Your Business for the Future: An Exit Planning Overview
As every business owner knows, there’s an endless stream of challenges and conflicts that can and often do arise during the life of the business. Business planning is the art and science of helping businesses at all stages of their life cycles, from the formation of...
How Does Your Trademark Factor In to Your Estate Plan?
You may feel that you’re acing your estate planning, because you have created a plan for both your personal and business assets: real estate, stocks, different bank accounts, trustees, business co-owners… And that’s great. But I want to draw your attention to an...
Copyright in Estate Planning
Intellectual property generally relates to three bodies of law: copyright, trademark and patent. Each has it’s own universe of significance, rights, remedies, and the like. In this page, we’re going to be focusing on copyright, a legal tool every artist, writer, or...
Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Business Structures
There are a variety of business structures depending on your business’ goals and needs, such as: Sole proprietorship Limited liability company (LLC) Professional Association Corporation S-Corporation Partnership Limited Partnership Limited Liability Partnership...
Should You Leave Everything to Your Spouse? Questions about Marriage and Estate Planning
In Florida, if you are married and have adult children together (assuming that neither one of you has children with another person), all of your assets will automatically go to your spouse unless you create an alternate plan. This is a good thing, right? After all,...
What Is “Elective Share” and How Can It Affect Your Estate?
Like homestead, Florida’s elective share can wreak havoc on an estate. What exactly is elective share?Hi, this is Barry Haimo. Thank you for stopping by for a dose of Bite-Sized Bits of Knowledge, where we give you meaningful information in a short amount of time....
The State Won’t Just Takes Your Assets – Estate Planning Myths Debunked
In estate planning, uncertainty and misconceptions often shroud the fate of our assets after we're gone. One prevalent belief revolves around the idea that if you pass away without a will, the state swoops in to claim your hard-earned wealth. Is this true? No. And...
What to Expect and How to Navigate the Remote Online Notarization Process
What to Expect and How to Navigate the Remote Online Notarization Process By: Barry E. Haimo, Esq. July 11, 2023 In today's digital age, technology has revolutionized how we conduct various transactions, including legal processes. Remote online notarization is one...
Establishing Exit Planning Systems to Maximize Business Value
Building Systems for a Successful Business ExitRunning a business is an exhilarating journey that requires immense dedication, hard work, and strategic planning. As an entrepreneur, it's important to consider how to build and grow your business so that it can continue...