If I give my agent immediate powers, do I forfeit all rights to make financial decisions?
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
If I Give My Agent Immediate Powers, Do I Forfeit All Rights to Make Financial Decisions?
If I give my agent immediate powers, do I forfeit all rights to make financial decisions?
Monday, May 30, 2016
Happy Memorial Day
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
-George S. Patton
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Can Anyone Else Revoke a Power of Attorney I Have Granted?
Can anyone else revoke a power of attorney I have granted?
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Medical Power of Attorney
A Medical Power of Attorney gives specific instructions, prepared
in advance, that are intended to direct medical care for an individual
if he or she becomes unable to do so in the future. Plainly speaking, a
Medical Power of Attorney is made in anticipation of a medical
emergency. If you are in an accident or suffer a disease or disorder
that may leave you incapable of making a sound medical decision, a
Medical Power of Attorney permits you to choose in advance who will
represent and enforce your interests. The person authorizing the other
to act on his behalf is the "principal" and the one authorized to act is
the "agent".
A Medical Power of Attorney should be given to someone whom you trust unreservedly; this is an individual who will be making decisions for you when you are incapacitated, even if you are not on life support or terminally ill. However, an agent does not have the authority to act until the principal's attending physician certifies in writing that the principal is incompetent.
A Medical Power of Attorney is not legally effective unless the principal signs a disclosure statement that he or she has read and understood the contents before signing the document. If the principal is physically unable to sign, another person may sign the document in his or her presence and at his or her directive. Two qualified witnesses, who are competent adults, must witness the procedure. At least one of them must not be related to the principal, the principal's attending physician or the attending physician's employee, entitled to a part of the principal's estate, an individual who has a claim against the principal's estate, or an officer, director, partner or business office employee of the healthcare facility.
An individual may revoke the Medical Power of Attorney by notifying either the agent or the principal's health care provider of his or her intent to revoke the document. This revocation will take place regardless of the principal's capability to make sound medical judgments. Further, if the principal executes a later Medical Power of Attorney, then all prior ones are revoked. If the principal designates his or her spouse to be the agent, a divorce revokes the Medical Power of Attorney.
An agent, acting in good faith, will not incur criminal or civil liability for a medical decision made under a Medical Power of Attorney.
A Medical Power of Attorney should be given to someone whom you trust unreservedly; this is an individual who will be making decisions for you when you are incapacitated, even if you are not on life support or terminally ill. However, an agent does not have the authority to act until the principal's attending physician certifies in writing that the principal is incompetent.
A Medical Power of Attorney is not legally effective unless the principal signs a disclosure statement that he or she has read and understood the contents before signing the document. If the principal is physically unable to sign, another person may sign the document in his or her presence and at his or her directive. Two qualified witnesses, who are competent adults, must witness the procedure. At least one of them must not be related to the principal, the principal's attending physician or the attending physician's employee, entitled to a part of the principal's estate, an individual who has a claim against the principal's estate, or an officer, director, partner or business office employee of the healthcare facility.
An individual may revoke the Medical Power of Attorney by notifying either the agent or the principal's health care provider of his or her intent to revoke the document. This revocation will take place regardless of the principal's capability to make sound medical judgments. Further, if the principal executes a later Medical Power of Attorney, then all prior ones are revoked. If the principal designates his or her spouse to be the agent, a divorce revokes the Medical Power of Attorney.
An agent, acting in good faith, will not incur criminal or civil liability for a medical decision made under a Medical Power of Attorney.
Friday, May 27, 2016
What Happens During Probate
Probate is the court process that determines whether your will is legally valid. The probate court is also where your estate is officially distributed to your creditors and the beneficiaries under your will. Depending on the value and complexity of your estate, the probate process can take several months .... or it may be eligible for a simplified process.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Personal Finance Tips - How to Set Up a Financial Power of Attorney To Help Handle Your Affairs
If you have a good deal of money or assets it is probably a good idea that when you are planning your estate that you also consider setting up a financial power of attorney. What this is, is a document that will give another person the legal power or right to handle all of your financial affairs. To do this you don't even have to go to court. You just need to be of sound mind when you set up this type of an arrangement.
You being the principal in this document will then choose someone called the agent who will handle your affairs should there come a time in which for whatever reason, you can't. They can also be asked to handle your affairs if you are going to be gone and won't be able to take care of your affairs while you are away.
When you sit down to figure this out you are going to need to decide upon just how much authority that you are going to allow the agent to have. You may decide to give them general powers to handle all of it or you may just give him power to just take care of certain kinds of transactions like your stocks and bonds. They can even be asked to take care of financial issues while you are away on an extended vacation if need be.
You also need to figure out just how long you want their authority to last. It can be durable or it can be nondurable. A nondurable agent will lose their authority the minute you should become incapacitated in any way. So if you want to have them to continue on should you not be able to take care of things if you were incapacitated then you would want to make sure that you made them a durable agent.
You also need to figure out when the power of attorney will take effect. Understand that it will go into effect immediately as soon as the document is signed unless you set down a date in the document when it will take effect. Some documents with durable agents will not kick in until you might be declared incompetent or incapacitated by a doctor. You will also need to make sure there is a stipulation in the document that dictates when the power of attorney is ended, for instance you might stipulate that once a doctor says you are going to be OK and will be recovering, then the power of the agent will end.
Once you have your document written up you will need to have it signed by all parties involved and most states will require that you have the document notarized in front of two witnesses. If you don't want to do all of this yourself, you can always pay an attorney to write up your document for you.
When you decide to write up this kind of a document, the person that you pick needs to be someone you really believe that you know and trust well enough to honestly take care of your affairs for you whenever you might not be able to. Also remember that anything is possible so you might want to also name a second agent in case something should happen to the first one. Also make sure that if you would like to pay this person for performing their agent duties to state this in your document, otherwise they don't get paid for doing this.
Once you have your document written up and signed you should give a copy of it to your agent, a copy for yourself and you should also make sure that any agencies or businesses you do business with have copies as well and that would be banks, brokers, IRS or SSI.
Note: You can revoke your power of attorney at any time during your arrangement with them as long as you are mentally stable and you make sure that you send them a letter in writing stating you are going to revoke the document.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Power of Attorney - 6 Factors You Should Consider When Nominating the Best Agent
Ever wondered how your modest finances or properties are handled,
in case something occurs to you or you will have to go away somewhere?
In that case consider the power of attorney. What is power of attorney?
This is a legal document that would facilitate you to allow an
organization or a person manages your business matters and your
finances.
The principal is person who is creating or signing the power of attorney, while the agent or the attorney-in-fact is the person who would be granted with authority. Because the power of attorney will give the agent the control over banking, credit and other financial concerns, it is important to be made with care that's why legal assistance is important.
Power of attorney can be divided into 2 types, the general and the specific. The general power of attorney can handle different personal and business transactions while the specific power of attorney identifies specific transaction when the document would take effect.
Here are some factors you should consider when choosing the best agent for your power of attorney:
• Capability. It is much recommended to think about the capability of agent in managing legal matters and principal's property. You should not entrust your own finances to the agent who has problems in controlling over their own finances.
• Age. In case you are thinking about your child as the attorney-in-fact, you should consider the age. There are differences on every state of laws on creating the power of attorney. However approximately all of the laws accept that no agent must be under 18 or 21 years old.
• Work experience. It's good idea to award authority to agent who is competent and expertise in legal matters or in finances.
• Time. While deciding on the perfect agent to stand for you, at that time it is very vital to think about how much time they can provide in handling legal matters and financial.
• Location. It's advisable to consider agent who is not far from the property and the principal.
• Organization and documentation skills. The principal may perhaps require the attorney-in-fact to trace and correctly document the several transactions made whether it will be for personal, business or government purposes.
Other factor you should pay attention is how to decide the spouse as the attorney-in-fact. Nearly all military personnel will give the power of attorney to their spouses in case they are in battle. Other option is a close relative.
You do not always have to opt for a family member, you can decide on a non-relative attorney-in-fact. If the principal is slightly worried on giving many duties on one agent, then he or she may well find other co-agents. However you could do that only if the power attorney specifies the information or the limitation of the capabilities. Previous to making decision on agent in the power of attorney, the principal ought to talk to the agents first and ask them if they are keen to be agents.
When carrying out the task, no organizations will control the agent. It will just depend on the principal as well as principal's relatives to supervise if the agent is carrying out what is predetermined in the power of attorney.
The principal is person who is creating or signing the power of attorney, while the agent or the attorney-in-fact is the person who would be granted with authority. Because the power of attorney will give the agent the control over banking, credit and other financial concerns, it is important to be made with care that's why legal assistance is important.
Power of attorney can be divided into 2 types, the general and the specific. The general power of attorney can handle different personal and business transactions while the specific power of attorney identifies specific transaction when the document would take effect.
Here are some factors you should consider when choosing the best agent for your power of attorney:
• Capability. It is much recommended to think about the capability of agent in managing legal matters and principal's property. You should not entrust your own finances to the agent who has problems in controlling over their own finances.
• Age. In case you are thinking about your child as the attorney-in-fact, you should consider the age. There are differences on every state of laws on creating the power of attorney. However approximately all of the laws accept that no agent must be under 18 or 21 years old.
• Work experience. It's good idea to award authority to agent who is competent and expertise in legal matters or in finances.
• Time. While deciding on the perfect agent to stand for you, at that time it is very vital to think about how much time they can provide in handling legal matters and financial.
• Location. It's advisable to consider agent who is not far from the property and the principal.
• Organization and documentation skills. The principal may perhaps require the attorney-in-fact to trace and correctly document the several transactions made whether it will be for personal, business or government purposes.
Other factor you should pay attention is how to decide the spouse as the attorney-in-fact. Nearly all military personnel will give the power of attorney to their spouses in case they are in battle. Other option is a close relative.
You do not always have to opt for a family member, you can decide on a non-relative attorney-in-fact. If the principal is slightly worried on giving many duties on one agent, then he or she may well find other co-agents. However you could do that only if the power attorney specifies the information or the limitation of the capabilities. Previous to making decision on agent in the power of attorney, the principal ought to talk to the agents first and ask them if they are keen to be agents.
When carrying out the task, no organizations will control the agent. It will just depend on the principal as well as principal's relatives to supervise if the agent is carrying out what is predetermined in the power of attorney.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Over 100 Legal Document Services at By the People
Rene of By the People in Fairfield CA gives a short overview of their services and the number of legal documents they can help with. For questions, call Rene or Tammy at 707-428-9871 and you can visit their website at http://www.bythepeopleca.com
Sunday, May 22, 2016
How Do I Set Up an LLC Without a Lawyer?
Limited Liability Companies (LLC) are business entities that got
their start in 1977 and are considered to fit somewhere between sole
proprietors/partnerships, and fully incorporated companies. Existing to
fill the gap between corporations and sole proprietors LLCs can help to
segment personal and business assets and liabilities while at the same
time maintaining a simplified tax structure. An LLC is not corporations
but is a company structure to operate like a corporation.
Liability
An LLC is in itself its own legal entity so long as it is treated as one. The LLC can assume obligations of debt. In other words the LLC, not the members, hold a loan and the liabilities that go along with it. If however the members of an LLC use the entity as their personal bank or for personal matters it is possible that the LLC will not be recognized as a separate entity if a lawsuit is filed.
Taxes
As far as taxes go LLCs are considered by the IRS as pass-through entities. This means income passes through the business and goes straight to the LLC members just as they would with a sole proprietorship or partnership. These profits or losses are filed on each individual's tax return. A caveat to this is that LLCs can be taxed as a corporation if the members elect to do so. So, if treated appropriately an LLC can shield its members from the liabilities of a corporation without assuming the tax overhead a true incorporation must maintain.
How to File
If you are thinking about forming an LLC for your business, spend the next 20 minutes educating yourself on the difference between Sole proprietorships, LLCs, and S corporations. My guess is that for most people starting out as a sole proprietorship will be sufficient for current needs and much cheaper than filing for an LLC.
If you have done your homework and have decided that an LLC is the way to go, what next? The steps to filing an LLC are not complex and although requirements vary from state to state, setting up an LLC is a simple process that can usually be done in an hour.
Publish a Notice
Some states require a notice of intent to be published. This can be as simple as running a classified ad in your local paper. Specifics on this will vary and your secretary of state can provide you with the steps required.
Licensing
The last bit to think about is obtaining other appropriate insurance, permits, and licenses for your new LLC. Each industry had its own unique set of requirements so be mindful of this once your business is established.
Conclusion
LLCs are considered by many to be a great way to establish a small business. There is little required to get one started and protection they provide could be priceless. That said an LLC may not be needed for everyone. Only you know the entity type most appropriate for your business.
Liability
An LLC is in itself its own legal entity so long as it is treated as one. The LLC can assume obligations of debt. In other words the LLC, not the members, hold a loan and the liabilities that go along with it. If however the members of an LLC use the entity as their personal bank or for personal matters it is possible that the LLC will not be recognized as a separate entity if a lawsuit is filed.
Taxes
As far as taxes go LLCs are considered by the IRS as pass-through entities. This means income passes through the business and goes straight to the LLC members just as they would with a sole proprietorship or partnership. These profits or losses are filed on each individual's tax return. A caveat to this is that LLCs can be taxed as a corporation if the members elect to do so. So, if treated appropriately an LLC can shield its members from the liabilities of a corporation without assuming the tax overhead a true incorporation must maintain.
How to File
If you are thinking about forming an LLC for your business, spend the next 20 minutes educating yourself on the difference between Sole proprietorships, LLCs, and S corporations. My guess is that for most people starting out as a sole proprietorship will be sufficient for current needs and much cheaper than filing for an LLC.
If you have done your homework and have decided that an LLC is the way to go, what next? The steps to filing an LLC are not complex and although requirements vary from state to state, setting up an LLC is a simple process that can usually be done in an hour.
- Articles of Organization
The first step is to contact your secretary of state and obtain the required form for filing a LLC. In some cases this will be a simple fill in the blank form. The state of Washington for example has an online application. The processes guides you through establishing a legal name, completing the certificate of formation, establishing the registered agent, defining the members, and guides you through the initial annual report. The fee for WA is roughly $200.00, additional costs may apply depending on how you file. Google your secretary of state to find out more of the specifics. - Registered Agent
As you fill out your articles of organization you will be required to define the registered agent for the LLC. In most cases this will be you. The registered agent is the person or business that is designated to receive important documents on behalf of the LLC. The most appropriate individual for this is generally the one spear heading the business. - Operating Agreement
The operating agreement is the internal agreement between the members of the LLC. It is not required to form the LLC but it should be drafted to state the rights and responsibilities of the members. The operating agreement should contain but is not limited to the following;
- Capital Contributions. How are the members expected to make capital contributions if the business needs additional capital?
- Management Decisions.When the members are faced with important management decisions, does each get one vote, or do they vote according to their percentage interests in the LLC? Majority shareholders may feel they deserve a larger say.
- Financial Withdraws. How do owners go about draws from the profits of the business?
- Buy Out/Cash out. How do members leave the LLC? Will they receive an immediate payout of their capital contributions?
- Compensation. If a member does leave how much should they be paid?
- Share. While there are not actual shares within a LLC it should be defined how or if a departing owner is allowed to sell an interest to an outsider?
Publish a Notice
Some states require a notice of intent to be published. This can be as simple as running a classified ad in your local paper. Specifics on this will vary and your secretary of state can provide you with the steps required.
Licensing
The last bit to think about is obtaining other appropriate insurance, permits, and licenses for your new LLC. Each industry had its own unique set of requirements so be mindful of this once your business is established.
Conclusion
LLCs are considered by many to be a great way to establish a small business. There is little required to get one started and protection they provide could be priceless. That said an LLC may not be needed for everyone. Only you know the entity type most appropriate for your business.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Uncontested Divorce Made Affordable - By the People
Divorce is probably never easy, but it doesn't have to be expensive. Rene of By the People in Fairfield CA talks briefly about help with uncontested divorces with our without children. Rene or Tammy will be happy to answer all your questions. Call them at 707-428-9871 and you can visit the website at http://bythepeopleca.com
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