When your family discovers multiple wills during probate of a loved one’s estate, the most recent document should negate the other(s). However, before enforcing its provisions, the probate court must still validate that will. Unfortunately, when determining the valid will, legal challenges concerning each wills’ authenticity can arise from any legal heir or beneficiary. This is especially likely if the designations and assignment of assets are contradictory within multiple wills. Ideally, each heir or beneficiary would want to back the document that favors them the most. What is your family to ..read more

The more important the role that someone fills at a company, the more likely they are to have access to certain trade secrets. Businesses may give executives, managers and other professionals access to proprietary information like client lists, recipes and other trade secrets that make a business more competitive. Many organizations aim to limit the risk involved in hiring new workers by including certain restrictive covenants in their employment contracts to protect their competitive edge. Noncompete agreements have long been some of the most popular inclusions in employment contracts. Compan ..read more

In some cases, a person passes away after making poor financial decisions, and they have an incredible amount of debt. But it could also be that things happened that were outside of their control. Maybe they made wise decisions and simply contracted a deadly disease that cost millions of dollars to treat. Most people couldn’t absorb that kind of cost no matter how smart they were with money for the rest of their life. But even someone who doesn’t have extensive debt may still have minor debts that aren’t taken care of before they pass away. An example of this could be paying property taxes, pa ..read more

Construction companies and contractors depend on building a local reputation to continue attracting new clients. All it takes is a single major claim against a professional or a construction company for some prospective clients to look elsewhere for upcoming renovations, new construction or expansion projects. Construction defect claims are both reputation damaging and are also often very expensive for the business involved. It can cost thousands of dollars to reimburse someone for work that does not meet professional standards or to perform corrective work without compensation for labor and n ..read more

Those who work in positions of governmental authority have an obligation to the public. They must comply with the law and ensure that they uphold the basic rights of the people they serve. Government authority figures, including those who work at regulatory agencies and law enforcement professionals, should never let their career goals or emotions push them into actions that violate the civil rights of others. Unfortunately, even if you do your best to perform your job successfully while still respecting others, you may eventually find yourself accused of violating the civil rights of others ..read more

Some vendors will bend over backward to keep their clients happy and protect their reputations. Other businesses that provide supplies or services to companies may feel like they have cornered the market and therefore don’t have to worry very much about customer service. Sometimes, mediocre service can cross the line into an outright breach of contract scenario where your company doesn’t receive the goods or services that it should have according to the contract you signed. When a vendor breaches their agreement with your company you will have to make several difficult decisions. One of them w ..read more

As a contractor or someone who operates a construction company, you obviously want to meet your clients’ expectations. You probably work quite hard to balance the need to keep costs competitive with the desire to turn out the best possible finished product. Sometimes, despite all of your efforts, a client will be unhappy with the finished product and will make a construction defect claim against your company. The result could be an expensive insurance settlement or possibly even civil litigation. By learning about some of the more common construction defects that lead to civil claims, you can ..read more

The more income you earn and the higher the percentage of that income that you save from each paycheck, the more property you will have to address in your estate plan. For most people, the main purpose of estate planning is to take control over what happens to their property when they die and to provide for the people that they love in that situation. Recognizing that there are certain liabilities that can negatively impact the property you hope to pass on to the next generation can help you create a strong estate plan or update your existing documents to maximize what you leave for others. Wh ..read more