Do you feel obligated to check work emails, texts, and voicemails at all hours?

Do you often work evenings, weekends, and holidays, even after you promised yourself you wouldn’t?

Do you feel pressured to say yes to pushy clients because it’s easier than saying no?

Do you feel resentful of clients for placing unreasonable demands on your time?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to check your boundaries. Establishing and enforcing healthy professional boundaries with your clients is critical for all business owners, and especially if you own your own business and work from home, where the lines between work and home life are easily blurred.

Unless you set and enforce healthy boundaries, rather than you controlling your business, your business will control you, which can quickly lead to overwhelm and burnout. At the same time, creating healthy boundaries allows you to take charge of your day, your business, and your life.

If you are ready to establish healthy boundaries with your clients, here are five strategies to help you get the process started. 

1. Clearly define your boundaries: When it comes to setting boundaries with clients, you first need to decide how you want your relationship structured, and how that relationship relates to the delivery of your core product or service. Once you’ve established those parameters, you’ll want to prepare clear legal agreements that outline and clarify the expectations of both parties in writing.

Although the boundaries you set will be determined by your specific business and your personal preferences for how you want to interact with clients, some common things all business owners need to consider include the following:

• When you are available to clients
• How clients can contact you
• What your response time will be
• Exactly what is—and what is not—included in your deliverables
• What your payment terms are
• How, when, and where disputes will be handled

Above all, set the hours during which you will respond to emails, calls, and messages, and stick to that schedule religiously. You can establish these boundaries by including them in your agreements. As we’ll detail more below, clear communication is the key, and when you communicate your boundaries to clients upfront, you’ll find that most people are more than happy to respect them.

2. Incorporate your boundaries in your legal agreements: To ensure your clients are aware of your boundaries—and the consequences for breaching them—incorporate your boundaries in the terms of your legal agreements. Then, make your client agreement part of your sales process. Finally, make sure every client or customer signs an agreement, even if they are a close friend or family member.

For example, in your client-service agreement or product-purchase agreement, you should specifically detail the scope of your work, what’s expected of the client, and what happens if the agreement is not followed or the scope of work changes. You should similarly outline your payment terms in these documents: how much you get paid, how and when you expect to be paid, along with how late payments and non-payment will be handled.

As your Family Business Lawyer™, we can support you to create legally binding agreements that clearly define your boundaries and outline exactly how they will be enforced in every one of your business relationships.

3. Communicate your boundaries upfront: It’s important that you discuss these expectations with your clients, answer any questions they have, and get them to sign off before you start work. With a written policy in place, you won’t have to waste time and energy figuring out how to handle things if a client fails to show up for an appointment or pays their invoice late—you’ll simply follow your established protocol.

Along these same lines, keep in mind that giving away your services, having overly long consultations with prospects, and giving out free or discounted services all work to discount your value. This can not only leave you feeling unappreciated, but it also sets up unhealthy expectations in your future dealings with clients.

Time is money, so make sure you are being compensated fairly for your time. Again, having clear, well-drafted agreements is a key way to communicate and enforce this particular boundary. And if you are unclear about the value of your time, and how to create boundaries around your time, ask us about our Money Map To Freedom program.

Using this program, we’ll show you how you can take back your non-renewable resources of time, energy, and attention to create all the money you need to live a life of true freedom. Additionally, we’ll help you establish healthy boundaries around money and time by mapping your income needs, your available time, and then assist you to wisely incorporate this data into your calendar and schedule to ensure it all works. Contact us for details.

4. Be consistent with enforcement: Overly demanding clients often don’t realize they’re overstepping boundaries—and this is particularly true if you’ve let them cross your boundaries already without saying anything. If you answer a client phone call during your off-hours or perform extra work that’s beyond the scope of your agreement without getting paid for it or without at least clarifying your boundaries, you’ve set a precedent that your time doesn’t really matter, and such behavior is likely to continue.

Setting boundaries is all about creating habits, and the most effective way to create a habit is by doing something consistently. If you don’t consistently enforce your boundaries, you are setting yourself up to have your boundaries crossed again and again. If this is happening, it’s not your clients’ issue to solve, it’s yours. Fortunately, clear enforcement of boundaries and consistent upholding of your agreements will typically solve this problem—at least with those clients that are worth keeping.

5. Get comfortable saying “no” and ending relationships with problem clients: When establishing boundaries, don’t think just about what you can do, but what you really want to do with your work. This is your business after all, so align your boundaries with your priorities and passion, so you have the freedom to do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.

This means getting comfortable saying “no” to clients and projects that are not in line with the vision you’ve set for your business. This may even require you to end relationships with clients who refuse to honor your boundaries. While you may feel anxious about turning down work or cutting ties with problem clients, you’ll be better off in the long run.

In the end, you aren’t going to lose any clients worth having by setting boundaries. In fact, most clients will respect you more for clearly defining the terms of the business relationship—it shows you are a professional who takes the job seriously. Ultimately, not every client is a good fit for your business, and establishing healthy boundaries is one way to weed out the bad ones before they cause serious problems.

Enlist Our Support

If you need support establishing healthy professional boundaries, reach out to us, your Family Business Lawyer™. Whether it’s helping you define your boundaries, putting your boundaries in legally binding agreements, or taking the appropriate actions to enforce your boundaries with your clients, we are here for you. Schedule your visit today to learn more.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule your appointment at 907-312-5436, or find a time for us to call you. 

When creating an estate plan, people are often most concerned with passing on the “big things” like real estate, bank accounts, and vehicles. Yet these possessions very often aren’t the items that have the most meaning for the loved ones we leave behind.

Smaller items, like family heirlooms and keepsakes, which may not have a high dollar value, frequently have the most sentimental value for our family members. But for a number of reasons, these personal possessions are often not specifically accounted for in wills, trusts, and other estate planning documents. 

However, it’s critical that you don’t overlook this type of property in your estate plan, as the distribution of such items can become a source of intense conflict and strife for those you leave behind. In fact, if you don’t properly address family heirlooms and keepsakes in your estate plan, it can lead to long-lasting disagreements that can tear your family apart.

Heirlooms & Keepsakes: Little Things With Big Value

Heirlooms and keepsakes are both prized for their sentimental value, but these possessions are slightly different from one another in terms of the manner in which the items are passed on. 

Heirlooms: Heirlooms are passed down among family members for generations, and the passing of heirlooms sometimes involves traditions. For example, the first daughter to marry inherits grandmother’s heirloom wedding ring.

Keepsakes: Keepsakes, on the other hand, are possessions that are given or kept specifically for sentimental or nostalgic reasons, and these items may only get passed on once. For example, photo albums are a typical keepsake that are treasured by many families. If a keepsake gets passed on multiple times, it may eventually become a family heirloom.

Although just about any personal possession could be considered an heirloom or keepsake, some of the most common examples of these items include the following:

• Jewelry
• Photographs
• Books
• Art
• Musical instruments
• Furniture
• Clothing
• Bibles
• Recipes
• Family documents (such as birth certificates, baptism records, and citizenship papers)
• Collections (such as sports memorabilia, coins, stamps, and doll collections)

Issues Raised By Passing On Heirlooms & Keepsakes

In the legal world, both heirlooms and keepsakes are considered “non-titled personal property.” As mentioned earlier, when there is no plan in place for the distribution of these items following the owner’s death, it can create bitter conflicts among family members. Indeed, fights over heirlooms and keepsakes can cause close family members to never speak with one another again.

In her book “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” Professor Marlene S. Stum, an expert in family social science at the University of Minnesota, warns of the infighting that can occur when there’s no plan for who inherits these personal effects.

“What surprises many people is that often the transfer of non-titled personal property creates more challenges among family members than the transfer of titled property,” says Stum. “Research has shown that disputes over inheritance and property distribution are one of the major reasons for adult siblings to break off relationships with one another.” 

Given the potential trouble the distribution of heirlooms and keepsakes can cause for your heirs, you’ll want to take extra care in seeing that these family treasures are passed on properly. And this means incorporating them into your estate plan in one way or another. 

Strategies For Peacefully Distributing Heirlooms & Keepsakes
While there is no one perfect way to distribute these items in your estate plan, your primary goal should be to maintain harmony among your loved ones during an already emotional time. As with most sensitive issues, clear communication is vital to this process.

Because your family members can have vastly different values associated with certain heirlooms and keepsakes and you may have little idea about how each person feels, you should speak with each family member in advance. By talking with family members about their feelings and expectations regarding your possessions ahead of time, you will have a much better idea how to distribute these items to your loved ones with the least amount of conflict.

Additionally, you should decide ahead of time if you need to have any of your heirlooms or keepsakes appraised. In doing so, you provide your heirs with the necessary documentation to gauge the monetary value of these items, and you can save them from extra work while they are mourning your death. 

Again, the manner in which you distribute your heirlooms and keepsakes will depend largely on the items you have to pass on and your specific family situation. That said, here are a few estate planning strategies to consider when passing on these precious possessions.

Gifting during your lifetime: Of course, you don’t have to wait until you die to pass on your heirlooms and keepsakes, and you may prefer to give away certain special items while you are still living. By doing so, you get to personally witness the joy your loved ones experience when they receive the gift, and you can also personally explain the reasons you want each person to have a particular item.  

If your heirlooms and/or keepsakes have a high monetary value, you should keep gift tax issues in mind when you give them away. That said, the IRS has a high annual gift tax exclusion ($16,000 in 2022) and an equally high lifetime exclusion ($12.06 million in 2022), so few people will need to worry about such taxes.

Keep in mind, the lifetime exclusion amount will revert back to its pre-2018 level of around $5 million per individual in 2026, so if you are considering gifting high-value possessions, you may want to do it sooner, rather than later. In any case, if you have possessions you want to give away that might trigger gift taxes, meet with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® to discuss your options.

Include items in your estate plan using a personal property memorandum: As with other assets you want to pass on after your death, you should include heirlooms and keepsakes in your estate plan by adding them to your will or trust. The best way to do this is by using what’s known as a personal property memorandum.

A personal property memorandum is a separate document that is referenced in your will or living trust. The memorandum allows you to list which items you wish to leave to each individual and detail the reasons you are giving each item. In many states, if it’s properly incorporated into your will or trust, a personal property memorandum is a legally binding document.

Furthermore, unlike a will or trust, you can create and update your memorandum without a lawyer’s help. You can change your memorandum as many times as you like, just make sure you sign and date it each time to ensure authenticity. Your memorandum can be as long or short as you like, which allows you to account for even the smallest or seemingly insignificant possessions.

Most types of tangible personal property can be included in your memorandum, but it’s important to note that you cannot list certain assets in a memorandum, including titled property, such as real estate and vehicles; assets with a beneficiary designation, such as life insurance, 401(k)s, and bank accounts; or intellectual property, such as works protected by a copyrights or trademark. If you are unsure if you should include a certain possession in your personal property memorandum, consult with us.

Although you don’t need a lawyer to create or modify your personal property memorandum, if you need any help or support with yours, reach out to us, your Personal Family Lawyer®. That said, you should always enlist our assistance if you’d like to create or update your will or trust.

Pass on the values & stories behind the possessions: You may want to consider making audio recordings to accompany your heirlooms and keepsakes. In this way, your loved ones not only get to hear your voice, but they will also be able to learn the stories behind the possessions, as well as the reasons why you gave each person a particular item.

These stories not only help connect you with future generations, but having a strong family narrative also helps young people develop strong personal identities and boosts their self esteem. In the New York Times article, “The Stories that Bind Us,” author Bruce Feiler comments on this phenomenon: “The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem, and the more successfully they believed their families functioned.”

Best of all, you don’t have to worry about creating these recordings yourself, as we offer this exact service during our Family Wealth Legacy Interviews. In every estate plan we create for our clients, we will personally guide you to create a customized recording for the people you love, and then we will provide you with the recording digitally to ensure it will survive long after you are gone.

Don’t Let Anything Fall Through The Cracks
Of course, if no one can find your heirlooms and keepsakes, they aren’t going to do anybody any good. For this reason, it’s vital that you create and maintain a comprehensive inventory of all of your assets, including each of your family heirlooms and keepsakes. Fortunately, this is another service we offer all of our clients at no additional charge. Indeed, we will not only help you create a comprehensive asset inventory, we have systems in place to make sure your inventory stays consistently updated throughout your lifetime. 

To learn more and get your inventory started for free right now, visit the Personal Resource Map website to watch a webinar by Ali Katz, founder of Personal Family Lawyer®. Then, schedule a meeting with us, your local Personal Family Lawyer® to incorporate your inventory with your other estate planning strategies.  

Keep The Peace After You Are Gone
To ensure your heirlooms and keepsakes don’t create any unnecessary conflicts among your heirs, make sure that your estate plan includes all of your assets, especially your family heirlooms and keepsakes. As your Personal Family Lawyer, we can support you to ensure these precious treasures are protected and preserved as part of your Life & Legacy Plan, and that they pass to each of your loved ones in exactly the manner you would want, without causing a family feud. Contact us today to learn more.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Personal Family Lawyer® in Juneau, Alaska. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.  That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session,™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today at 907-312-5436 to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge; or book a time for our team to call you at a time you choose.

Few business owners are legal experts. Yet many act like they are veteran attorneys when it comes to their legal agreements by thinking they can simply wing it and create their own contracts or rely on cheap, fill-in-the-blank legal forms they purchase for cheap online.

However, this is playing with fire. In fact, you could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees and court costs—or even end up going out of business entirely—just because of one poorly constructed legal agreement. 

Unless you have a law degree, far too many things can go wrong with your agreements when you take the do-it-yourself route. To show just how complex legal agreements can be and demonstrate how ill-prepared you are to manage the creation of your own agreements, here are a few of the most common mistakes you are likely to encounter if you try to go it alone. 

1. Deal terms that don’t actually make sense: We see it all the time… a business owner comes to us after the breakdown of a partnership, a joint-venture relationship, or a client relationship, and when we try to understand the actual terms of the deal, the terms didn’t make sense to begin with. One of the best ways you can use a lawyer is to have him or her review every deal for terms that make sense, and then ensure the deal terms are being documented clearly enough that anyone could understand them.

2. Failure to establish a clear performance standard: It’s a no-brainer to enforce an agreement with a vendor who doesn’t deliver or a contractor who misses a deadline—the facts are clear in these situations. However, things can get much trickier when it comes to areas of an agreement that are more subjective, such as poor performance.

In your agreements, you must be extremely specific about the goals, objectives, and deliverables of the other party to ensure they meet the duties outlined within the agreement. If not, you are likely to get stuck with a shoddy product or a poorly performing team member, with no way to remedy the situation.

If you are hiring a new employee, for example, you should establish clear, measurable outcomes for the role, with specific metrics for success, along with time frames for specific goals and objectives to be achieved. Then, include this information in the employment agreement, so it’s abundantly clear what the expectations for the position are for the team member and for you.

3. Not defining what constitutes a breach: Along with establishing clear expectations for performance, it’s also vital to consider all of the things that can go wrong in a business relationship before work starts. From there, you need to establish a clear process for addressing each issue in the agreement.

For example, in the above scenario where you are hiring a new team member, you need to think about how you would deal with the team member if things didn’t work out as expected. What would happen if the team member needs to leave, can’t perform, or isn’t performing for some reason? What is each of you entitled to in the event the relationship needs to end? All of these scenarios need to be thought through and addressed in the agreement.

4. Failure to give yourself an out: In addition to terminating an agreement due to a breach, you need to consider how the relationship might end due to less acrimonious circumstances, as well. By giving yourself a clear exit strategy, rather than being caught off-guard or surprised when things change, the relationship can successfully adapt to the transition with ease.

When entering into an agreement with a new business partner, for instance, you should think about and plan for all of the ways each of you might potentially exit the business. What would happen in the event you decide to sell the business? What would happen if the business failed and you had to shut your doors? What will happen when one (or both) of you dies or if one of you becomes incapacitated? You need to get clear about all of these eventualities, and then document them in your operating agreement or corporate bylaws and/or a buy-sell agreement.

5. Failure to address conflict resolution: Along with having an exit strategy, your agreements should also address how to resolve any disputes that may arise—preferably without resorting to costly litigation, which should always be a last resort. To this end, consider adding terms to your agreements that require alternative dispute resolution processes, such as mediation and arbitration, before either party can file a lawsuit.

By including a clause requiring mandatory mediation or arbitration in your agreements, you can have better control of potential disputes before they occur and help ensure contractual conflicts are handled in the most productive way possible, without getting stuck battling one another in court. 

6. Not protecting your intellectual property: Your intellectual property is among your company’s most valuable assets, and as such, it needs to be fully protected in your legal agreements. This is especially important when working with independent contractors.

Unlike employees, with whom you generally own automatic copyrights to everything they produce while working for you, contractors typically retain full rights to their work—unless they’ve signed a written agreement stating otherwise. To this end,if you don’t have a properly drafted agreement in place, you may not even own the work you pay someone to produce for you. 

To secure ownership of your intellectual property, you need to include work-for-hire and copyright assignment clauses in every contractor’s agreement to ensure you actually own the work you are paying for. And yes, this means every single person, even those you may have worked with for years without a single problem.

Treat Your Agreements With The Respect They Deserve

Just as you would never try to wire your office’s electrical systems yourself if you weren’t an experienced electrician, you shouldn’t try to do the same with your company’s legal agreements by pretending you’re an attorney. When it comes to implementing such a critically important element of your operation, you should always consult with a licensed and experienced business lawyer.

Whether you need new agreements created or want us to review agreements you already have—even those drafted by another lawyer—meet with us, your Family Business Lawyer™.  We will support you to not only create clear concise agreements, but also implement an agreement process that will allow you to more effectively navigate the inevitable changes that take place in every relationship, while dealing with conflict in a way that’s both healthy and productive. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule your appointment at 907-312-5436, or find a time for us to call you. 

As we head into summer, many parents will see their children graduate high school and prepare to leave home to attend college or pursue other life goals. This can be an exciting and emotional time, and with so much going on, estate planning probably isn’t at the front of your (or their) mind right now.    

However, estate planning should actually be a top priority for both you and your kids.

Here’s why: Once your kids turn 18, they become legal adults, and many areas of their life that were once under your control will become entirely their responsibility, whether you take action or not. To this end, if your kids don’t have the proper legal documents in place, you could face a costly and traumatic ordeal should something happen to them.  

If your child were to get into a serious car accident and require hospitalization, for example, you would no longer have the automatic authority to make decisions about his or her medical treatment or the ability to manage their financial affairs. Without legal documentation, you wouldn’t even be able to access your child’s medical records or bank accounts without a court order.

To deal with this vulnerability and ensure your family never gets stuck in an expensive and unnecessary court process, before your kids leave home, have a conversation about estate planning and make sure they sign the following three documents. 

1. Medical Power of Attorney

The first document your child needs is a medical power of attorney. A medical power of attorney is an advance healthcare directive that allows your child to grant you (or someone else) the immediate legal authority to make healthcare decisions on their behalf if they become incapacitated and are unable to make these decisions themselves.

For example, a medical power of attorney would allow you to make decisions about your child’s medical treatment if he or she is incapacitated in a car accident or falls into a coma due to a debilitating illness like COVID-19. 

Without a medical power of attorney in place, if your child suffers a severe accident or illness that requires hospitalization and you need to access their medical records to make decisions about their treatment, you’d have to petition the court to become their legal guardian. While a parent is typically the court’s first choice for a guardian, the guardianship process can be slow and expensive—and in medical emergencies, time is of the essence.

Not to mention, due to HIPAA laws, once your child becomes 18, no one—not even their parents—can legally access his or her medical records without prior written permission. However, a properly drafted medical power of attorney will include a signed HIPAA authorization, so you can immediately access your child’s medical records to make informed decisions about his or her treatment.

2. Living Will

While a medical power of attorney allows you to make healthcare decisions on your child’s behalf during their incapacity, a living will is an advance directive that provides specific guidance about these decisions, particularly at the end of life.

For example, a living will allows your child to advise if and when they want life support removed should they ever require it. In addition to documenting how your child wants their medical care managed, a living will can also include instructions about who should visit them in the hospital and even what kind of food they would want provided. For example, if your child is a vegan, vegetarian, or takes specific supplements, these things should be considered and documented in their living will.

Additionally, given the pandemic, speak with your child about the unique medical decisions related to COVID-19, particularly intubation, ventilators, and experimental medications. At the same time, your child’s living will should also outline their quality of life decisions to ensure their emergency medical treatment doesn’t end up doing more harm than good.

Although you’ll find a variety of medical power of attorney, living will, and other advance directive documents online, your child has unique needs and wishes that can’t be anticipated by these fill-in-the-blank documents. Given this, we recommend you and your child work with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® to create—or at the very least, review—their advance directives.

3. Durable Financial Power of Attorney

Should your child become incapacitated, you may also need the ability to access and manage their finances and legal affairs, and this requires your child to grant you durable financial power of attorney.

Durable financial power of attorney gives you the authority to manage their financial and legal matters, such as paying their tuition, applying for student loans, paying their rent, negotiating (or re-negotiating) a lease, managing their bank accounts, and collecting government benefits if necessary. Without this document, you’ll have to petition the court for this authority.

Start Adulthood On The Right Track
Before your kids leave the nest, discuss the value of estate planning and make sure they have the proper legal documents in place. By doing so, you are helping your family avoid a costly and emotional court process, while also demonstrating the importance of good financial and legal stewardship, which sets your kids on the right track from the very start.
As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we will not only help you draft these documents, we can also facilitate a family meeting to discuss the importance of estate planning with your kids. From there, we hope this will begin a life-long relationship with your children, as they start on their journey into adulthood and beyond. Contact us today to schedule your appointment.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Personal Family Lawyer® in Juneau, Alaska. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.  That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session,™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today at 907-312-5436 to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge; or book a time for our team to call you at a time you choose.

As a business owner, it’s inevitable that you will face minor conflicts and disputes at some point. Whether it’s a client who refuses to pay a bill, an independent contractor who fails to fulfill the terms of their agreement, or a vendor who stiffs you on an order, dealing with such issues is a simple fact of doing business.

However, given the time and expense involved, filing a lawsuit in civil court to resolve such minor disputes typically isn’t worthwhile, especially if you are only trying to recover a few thousand dollars. And taking the matter to a collections agency usually isn’t a viable option either, since average fees run between 25% to 50% of the total amount recovered. 

If you can’t resolve the dispute privately, taking the case to small claims court may be your best option. Small claims courts are specifically designed to resolve relatively low-collar cases quickly and inexpensively, without the need to observe the complex formalities of traditional court proceedings, and without incurring costly legal fees.

If you are considering taking a case to small claims court, here are a few answers to some basic questions about the process.

What types of cases are resolved in small claims court? 

Small claims courts are real courts, and a judgment issued by a small claims court is just as binding and enforceable as one made in a traditional civil court. Small claims court can be a quick and inexpensive way for your business to collect on unpaid debts and resolve contractual disputes with clients, vendors, and other companies. However, you can only take your case to a small claims court if the money you’re seeking to collect is below a certain amount, which is known as the court’s jurisdictional limit. 

These limits are different for each state, with some as low as $2,000 and others as high as $25,000, so be sure to review our state’s jurisdictional limit before filing your claim. Additionally, be aware that no state allows for small claims court cases involving divorce, guardianship, name changes, bankruptcy, or to seek an injunction against another individual. These cases all require you to file a lawsuit in state civil court.

Where should I file my small claims lawsuit?

If the other party does business or lives in our state, the law typically requires you to file your lawsuit in the small claims court district closest to that person’s residence or business headquarters. In some cases, you also may be able to file in the district where a legal agreement was signed or the dispute in question occurred. Check with the local small claims clerk for more detailed information.

Note that if the other party you are looking to sue has no business or other contact within our state, you’ll likely have to file your case in the state where the individual lives or does business. That said, unless the other party lives in a nearby state, out-of-state small claims lawsuits can be cost prohibitive due to travel expenses, so be sure to factor in the cost of traveling before you file your claim.

How does the small claims court process work?

First, let’s get clear on some terminology. The person who initiates the claim is the plaintiff, and the person who is being sued is the defendant. The process begins when the plaintiff files a statement of claim with the county or district where the case will be held. You can typically get all of the necessary paperwork for filing your claim from our local clerk of court website. You’ll also need to pay court fees, but they’re typically small, ranging from $20 to $200. There are also now apps that will help you file your small claims court case.

Once filed, the court may schedule an initial pretrial conference and/or order the parties to mediation. If the case can’t be resolved via mediation, the court will set a trial date, which will typically be a month or so from the time the claim was filed.

Small claims procedures vary by state and district, but in general, the hearings are fairly informal and don’t involve complicated legal procedures or strict rules of evidence. That said, you still need to prepare and present your case before the judge. Be sure to bring all of the documentation needed to help prove your case, such as contracts, invoices, photos of damages, copies of emails, and/or sales receipts. Some states also allow you to call witnesses.

One of the biggest advantages of small claims court is the time it takes for your case to be decided. Unlike traditional civil court, where cases can drag out for months or even years, a small claims judge will typically issue judgment on the spot, once both sides have presented their arguments and evidence.

Do I need an attorney?

Small claims court is designed to be easy to navigate, without the need for an attorney. Indeed, avoiding costly attorney’s fees is one of the primary benefits of these courts. For this reason, some states even prohibit lawyers from being present.

Of course, if you are going to file a case in small claims court and you are a Family Business Lawyer client, you should definitely call and discuss your strategy with us first, and we can advise you about how to proceed, and/or assist with collecting a judgment.

How do I collect a judgment?

Unfortunately, the court won’t collect your money for you. If you win your case and are awarded a judgment, unless the defendant agrees to pay you or you both agree to a payment plan, you may have to go back to court to get a lien on the defendant’s property or have the court order a wage garnishment.

As your Family Business Lawyer™, we can offer you support and guidance on the best ways to collect on your judgment to ensure you get all the money you are owed.

Can I appeal my case if I lose?

In many states, the plaintiff cannot appeal if he or she loses. If the defendant loses, he or she can generally file an appeal, and if it’s accepted, a new trial will be held in a higher court. Upon appeal, the small claims court trial is completely negated, as if it never happened. 

We’re Here If You Need Us

As your Family Business Lawyer™, we can help you decide whether or not to take your particular dispute to small claims court, as well as help you prepare your case. And while you likely won’t need us during the trial, we’re here to support you in whatever way you might require, providing you with the best chance to win your case and collect on your judgment. Contact us today to learn more.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule your appointment at 907-312-5436, or find a time for us to call you. 

The road to retirement is a long one, and as with any journey, it helps to have a few key milestones along the way to help gauge your progress. While your individual retirement plan and goals will be unique to your income, family situation, and desired lifestyle, most Americans share a number of common retirement milestones.

These milestones are based on your age, along with important dates and deadlines related to Social Security benefits, Medicare, and tax-advantaged retirement plans. Although you should work with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® and financial advisor to develop a comprehensive retirement strategy as part of your overall Life & Legacy Plan, we include several of the key milestones here.

That said, if you are a business owner, your primary investments are going to be in your business, so you can turn it into a machine that can run without you for extended periods of time. At first, this may be just to take vacations or handle family emergencies, but eventually, you’ll want to have the freedom to retire entirely, sell the company, or transfer it to the next generation. If this is your situation, your retirement milestones will be much different than those shared here, and they should be considered in the context of our LIFT (legal, insurance, financial, and tax) Planning for your business. If you own a business, please contact us for support with LIFT planning.

However, if you work for someone else, or your income is otherwise dependent on being employed, here are several key milestones to consider as your plan for retirement.

Age 21 to 49: Make savings a habit

The key to having a comfortable retirement is by saving as much as possible as early in your career as possible. Time, tax breaks, and compounding interest all add up, and by getting into the habit of saving when you are young, it will be exponentially easier to reach vital retirement goals as you get older.

With this in mind, one of the most important things you can do at this age is to take full advantage of employer-sponsored retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs and other tax-advantaged plans, especially if your employer offers a match. A common rule of thumb is that you should save at least 15% of your pre-tax income each year. If that’s not possible, then save as much as you can—and at least enough to get the full benefit of your employer’s matching contribution if one is offered. 

For 2022, you can contribute up to $20,500 to your 401(k) or 403(b) plan, while the contribution limit for both traditional IRA and Roth IRAs is $6,000. Since you are likely to be in the workforce for several decades, you’ll have a higher tolerance for market volatility and risk, so you will likely want to consider investing with a focus on maximizing growth, rather than taking a more conservative approach. 

Age 50: Catch-up contributions begin
Once you reach 50, you are likely in your peak earning years, so you should be maxing out your contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts. To help you achieve this, the IRS allows those age 50 and older to make an extra annual “catch-up” contribution.

In 2022, the catch-up contribution limit for a 401(k) or 403(b) is $6,500, which gives you a total contribution limit of $27,000 annually. For traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs, the catch-up contribution is capped at $1,000, which equates to a total limit of $7,000 annually. 

Since you are likely nearing retirement age, you will have less tolerance for risk, so you may want to consider revisiting your retirement portfolio to determine if it’s the right time to start making a gradual shift from investing primarily for growth to a more conservative strategy that’s focused primarily on generating income. And if you haven’t already, now is the time to find a financial advisor, who in conjunction with us, can support you in planning for and reaching your retirement savings goals.

Age 55: 401(k) withdrawals possible under the Rule of 55

Although you generally must wait until age 59½ to make withdrawals from your 401(k) without incurring a 10% penalty, the IRS allows for a “separation of service” exception for certain workers. Also known as the Rule of 55, if you quit, were laid off, or otherwise terminated from your job during or after the year you turn 55, you can take withdrawals from your 401(k) or 403(b) penalty-free from the account associated with that job.   

That said, you are still required to pay income taxes on any withdrawals from your 401(k) or 403(b) in the year they were taken. Moreover, IRAs are not eligible for this exception, and for those accounts, you must wait until age 59½ to take withdrawals without any penalty.

Age 59 1/2: Penalty-free retirement account withdrawals begin

Outside of the “separation of service” exception, this is the age when you can begin taking withdrawals from your retirement account, such as a 401(k), 403(b), and IRAs, without the 10% early withdrawal penalty. While you are free to make penalty-free withdrawals from your retirement account starting at this age, you are not required to make any withdrawals until age 72.

Though not subject to a 10% penalty, all withdrawals from your retirement accounts are subject to federal income taxes in the year you make them. Given this, you may want to consider setting aside some of the withdrawal to pay taxes.

Age 62: Social Security eligibility begins

This is the earliest age you can begin claiming Social Security retirement benefits. However, if you take Social Security early, your monthly benefit will be reduced by as much as 30%, depending on your date of birth. Conversely, your benefit amount increases each year until you start claiming benefits, or when you reach age 70, whichever comes first.

The age at which you are eligible for 100% of your Social Security benefit is known as your full retirement age. The full retirement age used to be 65, but in 1983, the law changed and gradually pushed the full retirement age up to 67, depending on the year you were born. As such, the dates below show your full retirement based on your birth date. 

Year of birth:        Age to receive full Social Security benefits

1943-1954: 66 

1955: 66 and 2 months 

1956: 66 and 4 months

1957: 66 and 6 months 

1958: 66 and 8 months

1959: 66 and 10 months

1960 or later: 67

Age 64 3/4: You can enroll in Medicare

You can enroll in Medicare at any point during the seven-month period that begins three months before the month you turn 65. Medicare is our government’s basic health insurance program for those age 65 or older.

Unless you are still covered by the health insurance of your employer or your spouse’s employer, you should consider enrolling in Medicare during this seven-month window to cover expenses related to inpatient hospital care, doctor visits, outpatient care, and prescription drugs. If you do not enroll during this initial window, you may have to pay higher premiums for life should you choose to enroll later on.

That said, if you still have health insurance from your employer or your spouse’s employer, you can postpone enrolling in Medicare until that coverage ends, without having to pay higher premiums.

Age 65: Medicare begins and you can enroll in Medigap

If you enrolled in or are receiving Social Security, you qualify for Medicare coverage on the first day of the month in which you turn 65, regardless of whether or not you are retired. On that same day, the six-month enrollment window for the Medicare supplemental insurance known as Medigap also begins. Medigap is private insurance that helps you cover a portion of the out-of-pocket copays and deductibles of traditional Medicare.

If you plan to continue working after age 65 and are covered by your employer’s health insurance plan (or your spouse’s), speak with the employer and your benefits coordinator to see how signing up for Medicare would affect that coverage. Depending on the size of the employer, you may be entitled to a special enrollment period of up to eight months after the employer-tied coverage ends to sign up for Medicare with incurring a penalty.  

Age 70: File for Social Security, if you haven’t already
As mentioned earlier, the longer you wait to claim Social Security between your full retirement age and age 70, the higher your benefits will be. In fact, your benefits increase by 8% for each year you wait between your full retirement age and 70. But once you reach 70, your benefits no longer increase, so don’t put off filing for Social Security past this age.

Age 72: Required minimum distributions (RMDs) begin

Once you reach 72, you are required by law to begin taking distributions from tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as a 401(k), 403(b), and traditional IRA. These are known as required minimum distributions (RMDs), and your first distribution must be taken by April 1 of the year you turn 72. Thereafter, annual withdrawals must be taken by December 31 of each year.

Note: RMDs don’t apply to Roth IRAs, because contributions to these accounts are made with after-tax dollars. 

It’s extremely important to stay on top of your RMDs, because if you miss one, you could owe a penalty of up to 50% of the amount you should have withdrawn. The amount you must withdraw for your RMD depends on the balance in your account and your life expectancy as defined by the IRS.

To calculate your RMD, visit the IRS website, and refer to the table in IRS Publication 590-B. From there, locate your age in the table, and find the “life expectancy factor” that corresponds to your age. Then, divide your retirement account balance as of December 31st of the previous year by your current life expectancy factor. This should give you the amount of your RMD.

Start Planning For Retirement Now & Consider Creating a Work-Until-You-Die-Happy Plan

While all of these recommendations relate to you saving enough for retirement, your best bet to ensure your retirement years are as plentiful as possible is to create a reality with your work life that you never have to retire from. Instead, consider how you can invest in education and training that will support you to happily contribute your skills and continue to get paid through the rest of your life. 

Work-until-you-die might sound like a terrible plan, but only if you don’t love your work. If you do love your work, contributing your talents until you die (and getting paid for it) is a great plan for a life worth living and a legacy worth leaving. And it will keep you younger and healthier far longer than working at a job you dread, but have to stay in to earn a living.

If you are relying on a work-until-you-die plan (rather than saving enough to stop working), make sure you have plenty of long-term care and disability insurance in place to cover your needs in the event that you cannot work. We’ll write future articles on long-term care insurance and disability insurance that will help you to choose the right coverage. And if you need a referral to a great insurance advisor for these types of coverage, please contact us, as we provide this support to all of our clients.

Consider What’s At Stake
When preparing for your senior years, it’s not enough to simply hope for the best. You should treat retirement planning as if your life depended on it—because it does. Without an effective plan, you risk a future of poverty, penny pinching, dependence, and even an early death due to unhappiness. The stakes could hardly be higher.

While the best way to ensure a comfortable retirement is to start planning (and saving or building a work-until-you-die-happy plan) as soon as possible, it’s also critical to seek the guidance and support of professionals, who can help you develop strategies to maximize your investments and savings, while minimizing taxes and avoiding common pitfalls. As your local Personal Family Lawyer®, we will work with you and your financial advisor to educate and empower you to choose the most effective planning strategies to ensure your journey to retirement is as smooth as possible.

And if you need help finding a financial advisor, we will introduce you to the experienced professionals we trust most. With their support and ours, you will have peace of mind that you and your family will be well-protected and well-planned for no matter what. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Personal Family Lawyer® in Juneau, Alaska. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.  That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session,™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today at 907-312-5436 to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge; or book a time for our team to call you at a time you choose.

When running a small business, every dollar counts, so it’s critical to keep a tight rein on your expenses, especially when you are just starting out and have limited revenue. If not monitored carefully, spending can quickly get out of control and put a serious strain on your operation’s financial health.

Outside of hiring an experienced bookkeeper to keep track of your expenses and monitor areas where you might be bleeding cash, there are several other ways you can keep your expenses in check. And you don’t need an accounting degree to put these strategies into practice.

With this in mind, here are five cost-cutting measures that can help your company stay in the black.

1. Encourage Remote Work

During the pandemic, telecommuting and remote work became the norm rather than the exception. And even now that the shutdowns are over, many companies are choosing to keep a large number of their workers at home or adopt a hybrid approach, allowing employees to work both from home and in the office.

One of the main reasons for this shift lies in the tremendous potential to cut costs. In fact, according to Global Workplace Analytics, employers can save up to $11,000 per year for each employee working remotely at least half-time. Beyond the direct cost savings, remote work also improves employee morale and job satisfaction, both of which help boost productivity—and in turn, your bottom line.

If remote work is possible for your company, you should seriously consider taking advantage of the reduction in overhead and expenses, as well as the improved morale and productivity it can provide. The following are some of the primary ways telecommuting can reduce your company’s expenses: 

• Reduces utility costs through lower electricity, internet, phone, and water usage
• Reduces the amount of office space (and real estate costs) required to house employees
• Reduces bill for cleaning services with fewer staff onsite
• Reduces office supply and food costs
• Reducing commuting costs for employees
• Reducing time lost to commuting

2. Utilize Independent Contractors

Employees are typically among your company’s biggest expenses. In addition to the costs related to recruiting, hiring, and training, you also have to foot the bill for their payroll taxes, as well as paying for unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and disability. Given these costs, one of the best ways to reduce labor expenses is to use independent contractors (ICs) whenever possible.

In addition to saving on payroll taxes and employment insurance, you also don’t have to offer ICs benefits and other perks, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off, nor do you have to provide them with equipment and office space. All of this seriously adds up, with studies showing that you can save up to 40% or on total labor costs by using ICs.

Plus, with the advent of the gig economy and online work-for-hire platforms, finding qualified ICs is easier than ever. That said, it’s imperative that you construct your working relationship with your ICs properly and have solid employment agreements in place when working with contractors, or you risk facing serious penalties that can end up costing you far more than what you save on labor. To this end, be sure to consult with us, your local Family Business Lawyer™ for guidance and support before you start bringing on ICs or to clean up your current agreements. 

3. Pay Invoices Early

You might be surprised by how many vendors are willing to give you small but meaningful discounts for paying your invoices early. For example, it’s common practice for vendors to offer a 2% discount when you pay your invoice in full within 10 days, instead of the typical 30 days. This discount is often represented by the terms  “2/10 net 30” on the invoice.

Paying invoices early also helps you establish strong relationships with vendors, which can open the door to even bigger discounts and more favorable payment terms down the road. Not only that, but paying on time helps you establish good business credit. And the better your credit, you are more likely to attract new vendors, investors, and lenders.

4. Use A Cash-Back Business Credit Card 

Speaking of credit, if you have a good credit score, you can qualify for business credit cards that offer cash-back rewards, and use those cards to pay for large or regular purchases for your business. The leading business cards offer between 1.5% to 3% cash-back on purchases, with some offering an even higher rate of return.

And if you travel a lot for business, you may want to look into business credit cards that reward you with airline miles instead, which can be just as—if not more—valuable than cash rewards. Provided you pay your balance in full each month and use them for purchases that you would have made anyway, these business cards basically offer you free money.

5. Take Full Advantage Of Tax Deductions

Although taxes are the single-biggest expense business owners face, you can greatly reduce your tax bill by taking full advantage of every possible business deduction. And there are a ton of deductions available, some of which you may not be aware of, including a few only available this year.

While you should work with us, your Family Business Lawyer™ and CPA to ensure you don’t miss out on any deductions, here are some of the business deductions you definitely should take advantage of whenever possible.

Utilities: Any utilities used for your business are fully deductible. This includes things like water, electricity, trash, telephone, and internet. And as long as you use at least some of the time for business, remember to put the cost of your cell phone on the expense side of your P&L statement too.

Insurance: You can deduct 100% of the cost of most types of business insurance. This includes many types of coverage: health insurance, general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, business interruption insurance, professional liability/malpractice insurance, cyber insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, and vehicle insurance.

Office rent: If you rent your business property, you can deduct your lease or rental payments from your income taxes. 

Office supplies: Office supplies, such as paper, pens, printer ink, staples, envelopes, office furniture, computers, printers, etc., can all be deducted.

Business interest: Whether it’s a business loan or a business credit card, you can fully deduct interest charges. You can also write off any additional fees or extra charges on your business bank account and business card, such as monthly service fees and annual credit card fees.

Travel expenses: Many expenses related to business travel are fully deductible, such as airfare, car rentals, lodging, tolls, and meals.

Business meals: In most years, business-related meals (food and beverages) are 50% deductible, but for 2021 and 2022 only, the cost of business meals served by a restaurant is 100% deductible. And as long as it’s from a restaurant, meals served via takeout and delivery qualify too—you don’t have to actually eat on the premises.

Advertising and marketing: Any money spent on advertising or marketing your business is fully deductible.

Professional services: Any fees for professional services for your business, such as legal, accounting, and bookkeeping, are deductible. Of course, this would include the fees you pay us, as your Family Business Lawyer™, which can make our services even more affordable.

Keep Your Operation Lean

Outside of these measures, there are sure to be numerous additional ways you can streamline your finances. While it may sound funny given that we’re not cheap to work with, if you’re looking to cut unnecessary costs, and get the most bang for your business buck, start by sitting down with our firm for a LIFT Audit. 

As your local Family Business Lawyer™, we’ll assess your current financial systems and advise you about additional ways you can shore up any weak spots in your company’s financial foundation. 
Staying on top of your finances in this way will not only prevent you from running out of money, and it will also free up your time and energy to focus on the big-picture responsibilities needed to ensure your business not only survives, but truly thrives. Contact us today to get started.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Family Business Lawyer™. We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for businesses and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer a LIFT Start-Up Session™ or a LIFT Audit for an ongoing business, which includes a review of all the legal, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Call us today to schedule your appointment at 907-312-5436, or find a time for us to call you. 

Because estate planning involves actively thinking about and planning for frightening topics like death, old age, and crippling disability, many people put it off or simply ignore it all together until it’s too late. Sadly, this unwillingness to face reality often creates serious hardship, expense, and trauma for those loved ones you leave behind. 

To complicate matters, the recent proliferation of online estate planning document services, such as LegalZoom®, Rocket Lawyer®, and Trustandwill.com, may have misled you into thinking that estate planning is a do-it-yourself (DIY) affair, which involves nothing more than filling out the right legal forms. However, proper estate planning entails far more than filling out legal forms. 

In fact, without a thorough understanding of how the legal process works upon your death or incapacity, along with knowing how it applies specifically to your family dynamics and the nature of your assets, you’ll likely make serious mistakes when creating a DIY will or trust. And the worst part is that these mistakes won’t be discovered until you are gone—and the very people you were trying to protect will be the ones stuck cleaning up the mess you created just to save a few bucks. 

Estate planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Even if you think your particular situation is simple, that turns out to almost never be the case. To demonstrate just how complicated estate planning can be, last week in part one, we highlighted the first five of 10 of the most common estate-planning mistakes, and here we wrap up the list with the remaining five mistakes.

6. Not Updating Beneficiary Designations

In addition to reviewing and updating your core estate planning documents like your will, trust, and power of attorney, it’s crucial that you also update the documentation for your other assets, especially those with beneficiary designations. Some of your most valuable assets, like 401(k)s, IRAs, and life insurance policies, do not transfer via a will or trust. 

Instead, these assets have beneficiary designations that allow you to name the person (or persons) you’d like to inherit the asset upon your death. Oftentimes, people forget to change their beneficiary designations to match their estate planning goals, which can lead to disaster. For example, if you get remarried and forget to update your 401(k), your ex-spouse from 20 years ago could end up inheriting your retirement savings.

Additionally, some people assume that because they’ve named a specific heir as the beneficiary of their IRA in their will or trust that there’s no need to list the same person again as beneficiary in their IRA paperwork. Because of this, they leave the IRA beneficiary form blank or list “my estate” as the beneficiary. But this is a major mistake—and one that can lead to serious complications and expense for your loved ones.

It makes no difference who is listed as the beneficiary in your will or trust; you must list the person you want to inherit the asset in the beneficiary designation, or your heirs will have to go to court to claim the asset. 

And you should never name a minor child as a beneficiary of your life insurance or retirement accounts, even as the secondary beneficiary. If a child inherits assets, the assets become subject to control of the court until they reach the age of 18, and then, the assets are distributed outright without any protection or direction.

If you want a minor to inherit assets, you can create a special trust to hold the asset until the child comes of age, and name someone you trust to serve as a successor trustee to manage the assets until that time. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can support you to choose the appropriate trust for this purpose to ensure your child gets the maximum benefit from their inheritance.

7. Improper Execution
You could have the best estate planning documents in the world, but if you fail to sign them, or sign them improperly, they will fail. This might seem trivial, but we see it all the time. A loved one dies, their family brings their estate planning documents to us, and we can’t help them because the documents were either not signed or were signed improperly.

To be considered legally valid, certain estate planning documents like wills must be executed (i.e. signed, witnessed, and/or notarized) following very strict legal procedures. For example, many states require that you and every witness to your will must sign it in the presence of one another. If your DIY service doesn’t mention that condition (or you don’t read the fine print) and you fail to follow this procedure, the document can end up worthless.

8. Choosing The Wrong Executors Or Trustees
In addition to laws regarding execution, state laws are also very specific about who can serve in certain roles like executor, trustee, or financial power of attorney. In some states, for instance, the executor of your will must either be a family member or an in-law, and if not, the person you choose must live in the state. If your chosen executor doesn’t meet those requirements, he or she cannot serve.

Moreover, some states require the person you name as your executor to get a bond, which is like an insurance policy before he or she can serve. Such bonds can be difficult to get for someone who has a less-than-stellar credit score. If your executor cannot get a bond, it would be up to the court to appoint your executor, which could end up being someone you would never want managing your assets or a third-party professional, who could drain your estate with costly fees.

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we will guide you to choose the most appropriate and qualified executors and/or trustees to manage your estate and assets.

9. Unintended Conflict Between Family Members
Family dynamics are—to put it lightly—quite complex. This is particularly true for blended families, where spouses have children from previous relationships. If you try to go it alone using a DIY document service, you won’t be able to consider all of the potential areas where conflict might arise among your family members and plan ahead to avoid such disputes. After all, even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate these complex emotional matters—but we can.

Every day we see families end up in lifelong conflict due to poor estate planning. Yet, we also see families brought closer together as a result of handling these matters the right way. When done right, the estate planning process is actually a major opportunity to build new connections within your family, and our lawyers are specifically trained to help you with that. 

In fact, preventing family conflict with proactive estate planning is our special sauce and one of the many reasons to work with us, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, rather than relying on DIY planning documents, which will not identify nor prevent unforeseen family disputes. 

10. Failing To Properly Name Guardians For Minor Children
If you are a mom or dad with children under the age of 18 at home, your number-one estate planning priority should be selecting and legally documenting both long and short-term guardians for your kids. Guardians are the people legally named to care for your children in the event something happens to you.

If you haven’t named guardians for your kids yet, use the link  below to find out how you can take care of this critical task right now. And if you’ve named guardians for your minor children in your will—even with the help of another lawyer—your kids could still be at risk of being taken into the care of strangers. 

For instance, if you’ve named guardians for your kids in your will, what would happen if you became incapacitated and were no longer able to care for them? Did you know that your will only becomes operative in the event of your death, and it would do nothing to protect your children in the event of your incapacity?

Or perhaps the guardians you named in your will live far from your home, so it would take them several days to get there. If you haven’t made legally-binding arrangements for the immediate care of your children, it’s highly likely that they will be placed with the authorities until those guardians arrive. 

And does anyone even know where you will is located and how to access it? How can they prove they are your children’s legal guardians if they can’t even find your estate plan?

These are just a few of the potential complications that can arise when naming legal guardians for your kids, whether in your will or as a stand-alone measure. And if just one of these contingencies were to occur, your children would more than likely be placed into the care of strangers. Sadly, we see this happen even to those parents who’ve worked with lawyers to name legal guardians for their children, and that’s because most lawyers simply don’t know what’s necessary for planning and ensuring the well-being and care of minor children.

However, as your Personal Family Lawyer® firm, we have been trained by the author of the best-selling book, Wear Clean Underwear!: A Fast, Fun, Friendly, and Essential Guide to Legal Planning for Busy Parents, on legal planning for the unique needs of families with minor children. As a result of this training, we offer a comprehensive system known as the Kids Protection Plan®, which is included with every estate plan we prepare for families with young children.

The Kids Protection Plan® was created by a nationally recognized attorney, who is a mom herself, to make 100% certain that her kids would always remain in the loving care of people she knows and trusts and never be raised by anyone she didn’t want. And now, you can put this same plan in place for your kids. 

While you should meet with us to put the full Kids Protection Plan® in place as soon as possible, protecting your children is such a critical and urgent issue, we’ve created a totally free website, where you can visit to get your plan started right now.

⇒ If you’ve yet to take any action at all, visit this easy-to-use and 100% FREE website, where you can take the first steps to create legal documents naming long-term guardians for your children. By doing this, you can ensure that should anything happen to you prior to creating your full estate plan, your kids would be cared for by the people you would want in exactly the way you would want. Get started here now: https://49thestateplanning.com/services/planning-for-families-with-minor-children/

After you’ve completed that step, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session™ with us, your Personal Family Lawyer®, so we can put the full Kids Protection Plan® in place. From there, we can determine if there are any other estate planning measures that your family might need to ensure the well-being and care of your children no matter what happens.

If you have already named long-term guardians in your will or as a stand-alone measure, either on your own or with a lawyer, we can review your existing legal documents to see whether you have made any of the most common mistakes that could leave your kids at risk. From there, we will revise your plan and put the proper protections in place to ensure your children are fully protected.

Life & Legacy Planning: Do Right By Those You Love Most
The DIY approach might be a good idea if you’re looking to build a new deck for your backyard, but when it comes to estate planning, it’s actually one of the worst choices you can make. Are you really willing to put your family’s well-being and wealth at risk just to save a few bucks?

If you’ve yet to do any planning, contact us, your Personal Family Lawyer® to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session, which is the first step in our Life & Legacy Planning Process. During this initial meeting, we’ll take you through an analysis of your assets, what’s most important to you, and what will happen to your loved ones when you die or if you become incapacitated.

If, as a result of this process, we determine that you really do have a very simple situation and you want to create your own estate planning documents yourself online, we will support you to do that. However, if as a result of the process, you decide you would like us to create a plan for you, we’ll support you to find the optimal level of planning for a price that’s right for you.

And if you’ve already created an estate plan—whether it’s a DIY job or one created with another lawyer’s help—contact us to schedule an Estate Plan Review & Check-Up. With our support, we will ensure your plan is not only properly drafted and updated, but that it has all of the protections in place to prevent your children from ever being placed in the care of strangers or anyone you’d never want raising them.

In either case, working with us will empower you to feel 100% confident that you have the right combination of estate planning solutions to fit with your unique asset profile, family dynamics, and budget. As your Personal Family Lawyer® firm, we see estate planning as far more than simply planning for your death and passing on your “estate” and assets to your loved ones—it’s about planning for a life you love and a legacy worth leaving by the choices you make today—and this is why we call our services Life & Legacy Planning. Contact us today to get your plan started.

This article is a service of Liz Smith, Personal Family Lawyer® in Juneau, Alaska. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love.  That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session,™ during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today at 907-312-5436 to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge; or book a time for our team to call you at a time you choose.