As summer fades into fall and school resumes, millions of seniors are entering the home stretch of their high school careers and marking their official entry into legal adulthood at age 18. 

According to cognitive scientists, some individuals’ brains do not finish developing until they are in their late 20s or early 30s, and many parents would be quick to agree. But in the eyes of the law, when a child reaches 18, they can vote, get married, sign a mortgage, join the military, move out of their parents’ home, and do many other things that only adults are allowed to do. This also includes creating an estate plan. 

Increasing costs and rising interest rates have impacted many businesses. If your business is in crisis, there are steps you can take that could improve your business’s financial condition and help it successfully move forward. Entrepreneurs are competent, but they cannot do everything on their own. There comes a time when a business owner needs to ask for help from a team that can provide counsel and services to help them overcome their financial distress. 

Written contracts are the backbone of business relationships. They outline the rights, obligations, and expectations between parties and provide a legal framework that ensures parties keep their promises. Absent written contracts, business relationships are less clear, trust is tenuous, and deals may be unenforceable.

A distribution from a limited liability company (LLC) is a payment of cash or property made by an LLC to the LLC’s owners, also known as members. Although state law sets forth certain default rules, LLC members can specify in the LLC’s operating agreement when and how profits are allocated, distributed, and taxed.

Equipment leasing is an alternative to purchasing new equipment. Amid volatile interest rates and inflated equipment costs, more businesses are turning to leases as they look for ways to preserve cash while acquiring the equipment they need to operate. Equipment leases typically enable businesses to avoid the need to make a large down payment, which is usually required for an equipment purchase, but they may include a purchase option at the end of the lease period. 

Whether you are an entrepreneur starting a new business or are running a well-established business, your success often depends on safeguarding innovative ideas and information that give you an edge over competing businesses. If you have spent years perfecting a secret recipe for the doughnuts that you sell in your bakery or developing a customer list for your insurance agency, it is crucial to take steps to prevent a former employee, business partner, or third party from taking that proprietary information and using it to compete against you. A well-drafted nondisclosure agreement is an important tool that can protect valuable confidential business information.

Only a small number of jurisdictions have laws requiring employers to provide information about employee compensation in job postings, but pay transparency is becoming a best practice in corporate America. There is a growing movement among organizations of all sizes to now include pay ranges in their job postings, regardless of whether they are subject to pay transparency legislation.

Many Americans dream of leaving their nine-to-five job to start their own business—and in recent years, more people than ever have been doing it. A record number of new business applications were filed in 2023, marking the third consecutive year of historic small business growth and adding to the economic engine that drives the US economy. Starting a business provides a world full of fresh possibilities, both exciting and daunting.  Consulting with a business lawyer can help set your business up for success if you are starting a new business.

When you are first starting a business, operating it as a sole proprietorship may make a lot of sense. Sole proprietorships are simple and inexpensive to set up and maintain: they are operated by a single taxpayer and are the most common form of business organization.

From a tax and legal perspective, businesses that are owned and operated by one person and have not been formed as a separate legal entity such as a limited liability company (LLC) are automatically considered to be sole proprietorships.

Keeping things simple has its advantages in business. But as your business grows, matures, and becomes more complex, it may be beneficial to structure it as a separate legal entity, such as an LLC.

If you or your loved ones have not yet created a will, you are not alone. In fact, according to a recent survey, not having created a will puts you among the majority of Americans. 

Like many Americans, you may wait for a major life event to occur before putting your final wishes into a formal estate plan, but this is not advisable. Estate planning should be done early, often, and with attorney assistance to ensure it serves its purpose and stands up to scrutiny.