Should I Prepare My Own Will?
Very few people will disgree that having a will makes complete sense. Why have the state decide how to handle your estate when you have the opportunity to do it yourself. In addition, what estate planning will the state really do for you? Obviously none. You are already deceased. Planning is over. So if you accept the fact that a will makes sense, then how do you go about getting one? Many attorneys will prepare wills for you after you come down to their offices, answer some questions and they will draft documents. This of course is your most expensive alternative. Scheduling a lawyers time is expensive and you will likely have to miss work and travel to their office.
An efficient manner is to go online and prepare your own will or use a form book. There is no doubt that you can save money doing it yourself. However, do you really know what you are doing? Will the will be effective? Are there other clauses you should be including? The phrase they used to tell us lawyers in law school is ”the lawyer who hires themselves to represent themself has a fool for a client.” So how is it better to represent yourself with your will if you aren’t even a lawyer?
We have studied this problem at 1-2-3 Law Group and devised a hybrid approach. Do your question and answering online. Then talk to an experienced estate planning attorney to make sure questions are answered. Then review your estate planning documents online. Then come to one of our convenient offices to pick up the documents and have them notarized. The cost for this approach is less than visiting a lawyer directly and you get the benefit of communicating with an experienced estate planning attorney.
Estate Planning made easy and efficient. That is 1-2-3 Law Group’s promise.
The Making Law Easy Show Episode 7 - Know Your Credit Report
Professional Negotiators: Going Into Battle Without A Weapon!!
Some people who have been sued in local courts recently will first find out about the case by receiving a letter from what appears at first to be a law firm. However, if you receive one of these letters, you will soon discover that it is sent by a non-lawyer debt negotiator. Many of these services specialize in consumer debt, like credit cards and home mortgages. They can be amply described in three words: dangerous, dangerous and dangerous!
Why would anyone hire a professional debt negotiator instead of a lawyer in such a serious situation? When the complaint arrives, a responsive pleading must be filed within twenty days, unless an extension is granted. If no responsive pleading is filed and no extension is granted to file within that time, a ten-day notice may be issued under the Rules of Civil Procedure, followed by a default judgment. The whole case can thus be over, with a complete victory for the plaintiff, in about month after service.
With the clock ticking, hiring someone to negotiate a settlement who cannot legally prepare and file an answer makes little sense. Lawyers can and do negotiate settlements every day. But many attempts at negotiation fail, especially when one party believes that it has a strong upper hand. So the defendant is forced to hire a lawyer at the last minute – provided he is even aware that default judgment may be imminent.
Professional negotiators sell their services on the dubious basis that they know exactly how much to offer because they deal with similar creditors every day. They imply that they have some kind of cabalistic knowledge and that you or I, poor fools, would leave money on the table because we didn’t know the secret number. This dubious proposition ignores the obvious fact that negotiation is a test of power and they don’t have much. Every lawyer knows that a litigant often makes an unappealing settlement offer from the comfort zone of the office. He or she will only become truly motivated as the moment of truth draws perilously close – sometimes minutes away in the courtroom. Debt negotiators, who might be likened to warriors without weapons, can never make that moment of truth happen.
The law has come a long way in developing methods like private arbitration, mediation and conciliation as alternatives to expensive litigation. These methods often do work. But part of the reason is that the conflict can ultimately be resolved by force. Speaking softly may be an effective negotiating technique, but doing so while leaning on a big stick is still the approved method.
Question: When Is A Variance Not A Variance? Answer: When Everybody Is Doing It.
You make an application for a building permit and the zoning officer turns you down. He cites a section of the municipal zoning ordinance which specifically prohibits what you want to do. He says you can apply to the zoning hearing board for a variance. Should you?
Ordinarily, a variance is granted when the ordinance imposes a hardship on the property owner - but not always. Sometimes building practices and styles have changed while the ordinance is never updated.
One local municipality’s zoning prohibited internal illumination of business signs. The objective was to have lights shining onto the sign, rather than from the sign toward adjoining properties. But over the years, variances were frequently being granted because the sign location made it impractical to mount a spotlight that would properly illuminate the sign. At the same time, sign technology improved and backlit signs became more aesthetically pleasing and easier on the eyes. By now, the overwhelming majority of signs in that municipality are internally lit. Nevertheless, a variance must still be obtained to get a building permit for a backlit sign.
If you are thinking about seeking a zoning variance, do an informal study of properties in your area. Note the address of every property nearby that appears to set a precedent for your proposed construction. If you wish, you can go to the zoning office and ask to look at the building permit files . Choose several of the most recent examples of the type of construction you wish to do. The inspector will tell you whether the owners needed a variance and what criteria were used in granting it.
Zoning appeals can be complicated and may involve legal principles. Unfortunately, this process may not always be user-friendly. This is why most landowners in zoning hearings are represented by lawyers. The board expects those appearing before it to be familiar with the ordinance and the applicable state law. Consulting a lawyer familiar with zoning, land development and construction law is always a good idea when contemplating an appeal.
Supporting Pittsburgh Entrepreneurs
I know for my first blog post I should be talking about 1-2-3 Law’s new website and what 1-2-3 Law Group is about. However, I am not going to do that. There will be plenty of time for my partner Brian Walters and I to do posts like that over the next few years. What I’d like to talk about now is one of my favourite topics -Pittsburgh Entrepreneurship - and some of the group/events I have promoted to give everyone an update. The most recent event is DevHousePgh to help cultivate the software development community in Pittsburgh. For detailed information on this event, I’d suggest visiting our website www.devhousepgh.org. However, I want to add that co-event promoter Jeff Hunter and I hope this event is as successful as the ongoing San Francisco event Super Happy Dev House which it is modeled after. We already have 35 RSVP’s from software developers, database creators, graphics experts, and other techies to go along with the dozens of people who have said they intend to come to the Rivers Club on Nov. 8th from 6PM - Midnight. We also have some outstanding sponsors who have been very supportive in getting the word out. At this point, we are pleased the event has every possibility of being a success and having our goal of 50 plus people attend. Now if the event can turn into economic development for Pittsburgh in the form of more software development, we have hit a home run.
I’d also like to put in a brief word on E-Lifelines and where it stands. I know E-Lifelines had a very successful Spin Networking event last year to go along with 2 extremely well attended speaking events. However, given my current two start up businesses (1-2-3 Law Group and Streaming Placements), it is likely that E-Lifelines will not be as active as it was in 2006. (Sorry, I gotta sleep sometime 
). However, I would like to do some targetted E-Lifeline events such as another Spin Networking event for Entrepreneurs to connect people who have succeeded as Entrepreneurs with start up Entrepreneurs. If someone wants to help me with this that would be great. If not, then look for another E-Lifelines event to occur in February which is when I can personally calendar it to happen. However, if anyone is starting a business and wants some mentoring, I will continue to try to help either personally or by asking someone else to help mentor you. I am just sorry that I can’t promote E-Lifelines mentoring as aggressively as I would like right now.
Feel free to comment to this post or better yet, let me know if you’d help me with some of these volunteer efforts.
Thanks again.
Karl Schieneman, Esq./MBA
Managing Partner 1-2-3 Law Group
2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
The Making Law Easy Show Episode 5 - DeMystifying the Registry of Wills
Listen to 1-2-3 Law Group interview Deputy Registrar of Wills, Marty Madigan on Monday Nov. 5th at 6PM.
BNA National Audio Broadcast
| November 19, 2007 | ||
| 2:00 pm | to | 3:00 pm |
Karl Schieneman will lead a national panel discussion on privacy issues involving data managed by the insurance industry on their enterprise wide systems.
Touchpoint Networking Event
| November 14, 2007 | ||
| 8:30 am | to | 9:30 am |
Panera Bread on McKnight Road. Come join a collection of home office based businesses hear presentations on issues which affect home based businesses.
Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association
| November 1, 2007 | ||
| 4:30 pm | to | 11:00 pm |
Happy Hour at Olive or Twist followed by the Pittsburgh Public Theatre Comedy of Errors
Rivers Club Business Alliance Luncheon
| November 13, 2007 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 1:00 pm |
Michelle Donovan gives a presentation on Six Degrees of Separation and networking.