Posted on December 07, 2022 in Estate Planning

Naming Guardians for Your Children in Your Last Will and Testament

Any experienced estate planning attorney will emphasize the importance of naming guardians for any current or future minor children when drafting your will. It is important to make sure the person (or people) you want to take care of your children in the event that you pass while they are still minors (under the age of 18) so that your wishes are followed. If no legal guardian is specified in your will, this huge decision is left up to strangers (the court).

It is custom that if one parent passes and there is a surviving parent, the surviving parent has the legal right to custody of the children. If possible, it is ideal that both parents are in agreeance of custody of the children should one or both pass while the children our minors. However, it is sometimes the case that both parents cannot agree. In any event, your wishes should be clearly stated in your will, so the court is clear on your wishes.   

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 Posted on December 06, 2022 in Estate Planning

You may be wondering what an LLC is. Well, an LLC is short for Limited Liability Company.

LLC is the common business structure for private companies in the US that protects its’ owners from personal responsibilities from debts or liabilities.

Typically, any budding company, small business, or even a tech startup can emerge as an LLC. Microsoft, Nike, Adidas, Berkshire Hathaway, and AOL are all LLCs.

In this post, you will get to fully understand what an LLC is, its advantages and limitations, and how you can set up a limited liability company. Read on.

What is an LLC?

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, LLC is short for Limited Liability Company. It is a common business structure that forms many private companies in America. LLC is a business structure that combines the best features of partnerships, sole proprietorships, and corporations, hence, making it a hybrid business entity.

As a hybrid type of business entity, the owners of an LLC business are called “members". All members are entitled to enjoy the legal advantages that an LLC has to offer. Some of these are granting liability protection to its members, flexible managerial activities, easy to set up and less paperwork, and enjoying a certain tax advantage known as pass-through taxation.

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 Posted on December 05, 2022 in Estate Planning

Oswego and Yorkville Living Trust Lawyers

There are many different goals possible to be accomplished with an estate plan, depending on your situation. A good estate plan will ensure that your loved ones are in the best position possible from both a financial and personal perspective if you pass away or become mentally incompetent. When you start to plan your estate, you need to consider your assets, beneficiaries and goals. You should then consult an estate planning attorney who can advise you on ways to save money and taxes and ensure that your will or trust legally provides for your beneficiaries in the manner you direct.

Call Peace of Mind Asset Protection, LLC at 630-780-1034, we are here to serve you and listen to your needs. If you have recently had an important life event—marriage, birth of a child or grandchild, divorce, death of a beneficiary, an inheritance, and/or purchase of a new asset—you will want to update your estate plan accordingly.

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 Posted on December 05, 2022 in Estate Planning

Kendall County Probate Lawyers

A person appointed to the role of Executor during a probate proceeding has the responsibility of dividing and distributing a person’s assets when that person passes away. There is a lot of legal jargon involved and it may be an intimidating task. It is important to understand what goes into the role of Executor and what the process looks like. This makes the process much easier and smoother for the Executor.

Cost

The Executor does not pay for the cost of the probate process. It is paid by the assets of the estate. Costs typically come in the form of attorney fees, court filing fees, and any appraisal needed.

Kendall County and Oswego Probate Procedures

What is Included in the Probate Process?

The first thing to understand is what a probate is and how the process works. Probate is the term used for the legal process in which a deceased person’s Will or Estate (without a Will) is administered. The process looks different depending on whether the person who is deceased had a Will made while they were alive or if they did not. In the event the deceased person did not have a Will made, a person is selected to be an administrator of the Estate. The Executor, among other things, has the task of compiling a list or inventory of the assets of the Estate. The Executor also must make sure any claims that are made against the Estate are paid, and finally, the Executor must distribute whatever is left of the Estate to the appropriate heirs of the deceased.

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 Posted on December 01, 2022 in Estate Planning

What if you don't have children yet, is estate planning still necessary for you and your spouse? Frankly, death or a terminal sickness can come knocking anytime even before you both decide to have children. So, you ask yourself, "is estate planning ideal for childless and infertile couples?" The answer is yes.

Estate planning is not only for couples with children. In fact, many estate planning documents do not contain children as beneficiaries alone. Other like pets, extended family members, and even distant relatives as beneficiaries are also included.

Although, estate is commonly distributed among heir–children.

Planning your estate is a crucial part of your life and how you want the situation of your assets to be like when you're gone.

Also, you don't know or see what happens to your estate when you already close your eyes, lifeless, and buried six feet below. But with an estate plan, even if you don't have offspring to will your properties to, you can rest easy knowing the situation of your estate is safe and well distributed.

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 Posted on November 30, 2022 in Estate Planning

Owning rental property can be a great benefit to a landlord, as well as a way for an individual to generate additional income. But there are substantial risks that an individual assumes when taking on the role of a landlord. The risk of a lawsuit against a landlord is high, as there can be claims brought based a lease dispute or an injury that occurred on the property. If a tenant brings a claim against a landlord, judgment creditors will be able to access the landlord’s personal assets to pay off the judgment. In order to protect personal assets, it is crucial to include rental property in an estate plan as a way to structure a workable asset protection plan.

The best way for landlords to eliminate the risk of creditors reaching personal assets is to take the rental property out of the landlord’s individual name and place it into an entity. There are two ways that are most effective at doing so, establishing an LLC, or putting the property into a land trust.

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 Posted on November 29, 2022 in Estate Planning

 Implementing a Trust into your estate has many advantages. Along with being a less costly alternative than going through Probate and being more time-efficient, A Trust has the added benefit of being private. However, when a Trust has been implemented, you need to provide documentation of the Trust when opening new accounts or purchasing real estate. That is where a Certificate of Trust comes in handy.

Privacy of a Trust

While a Will must go through Probate and will become a public document, a Trust Agreement has the benefit of remaining private, meaning that only those that have seen the Trust know the contents of it. Mainly, the people who are aware of the contents of the Trust are the Trustees and Successor Trustees.

Role of Trustees

The Trustee has the power to manage the Trust. Typically, while the Trustor (the person who created the trust) is alive, they will serve as Trustee. Doing so gives the Trustee full ability to add assets to the trust, make payments on behalf of the trust, and remove items from the trust as necessary to benefit the Trustor during their lifetime.

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 Posted on November 23, 2022 in Estate Planning

What Happened in Dobbs v. Jackson?630-780-1034

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs. This decision overturned the long-standing precedent set by Roe v. Wade that women have a right to have an abortion under the Constitution. The justification used by the majority of the Justices in the Dobbs ruling could have devastating impacts on other previously held constitutional rights, including the rights of same-sex couples.

Before the Dobbs ruling, the Supreme Court in Roe held that women did have a right to seek an abortion (up to a certain point in the pregnancy) because it was protected by the constitutional right to privacy. This meant that an individual state could not ban women from seeking an abortion nor could a state place any undue obstacles in the way of a woman seeking an abortion. However, by a 5 to 4 vote in Dobbs, the majority held that the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly give women the right to seek an abortion and thus, there is none. Consequently, this decision gave individual states complete power to regulate any aspect of abortion not preempted by federal law. Thus, the Dobbs decision paved a path for the Court to allow states to regulate other constitutional rights that were previously held as constitutional under the right to privacy.

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 Posted on November 23, 2022 in Asset Protection & Wealth Preservation

A Limited Partnership company and LLC have similarities in operation, but they are quite different from each other. They are the two most common business entities in the US.

For example, when it comes to taxation, LPs and LLCs have the freedom to incur pass-through taxation treatment. This means that each member (LLC) or partner (LP) is taxed on the personal profit gained from the company. LPs and LLCs are both exempt from federal income tax.

Also, LPs and LLCs have similarities in defining the rights and roles of partners and members. This is in the aspect of Limited Partnership Agreement for LP and Operating Agreement for LLC. These are two similar internal documents that contain how the company is to operate, internal agreements among members or partners, and firm rules and regulations to be followed by all members or partners.

These are just a few similarities between the two business entities, LP and LLC. In this article, we'll look at how an LLC differs from an LP.

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 Posted on November 22, 2022 in Business Law

Purchasing or selling a business can be a complex and often overwhelming experience, both for the buyer and seller. There are various aspects that need to be considered, as well as careful consideration and disclosure of all potential liabilities that may surface. When buying or selling a business, there are different ways to go about the sale, but the three most common ways of acquiring a business are through either a stock purchase, an asset purchase, or a merger. It is important to know what each option entails to ensure the correct procedure is chosen to benefit both the buyer and seller in the sale of a business.

Stock Purchase Agreement

A stock purchase takes place when the buyer purchases either all or a controlling majority of the selling company’s voting shares. Under a stock purchase, the legalities of the selling company, such as the name, managing operations, and procedures will remain the same unless these legalities were previously discussed in the Stock Purchase Agreement. This means there are significant advantages for both the seller and the buyer. By releasing the controlling majority of voting shares to the buying company, the selling company is released from the liabilities that may occur. The buyer benefits from a stock purchase because the legalities remain the same, which results in less disruption to the business and a more efficient transfer of control.

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