Your Legal Checkup
Below are a series of documents which many households need to be on top of their legal affairs or which many people encounter at work. We will be adding strategies and tips about these documents and other documents over time.
Living Will - Enables you to instruct others to what extent they should try to keep you alive should you be incapacitated and also in terminal condition or a state of permanent unconsciousness. Visit our Estate Planning Section for more information.
Power of Attorney - Enables others to make decisions for you if you are incapacitated or unable to make decisions for yourself. This includes financial and healthcare decision making and can be general or specific. Visit our Estate Planning Section for more information.
Will - Distributes your assets to the beneficiaries you select, appoints a trustee to oversee your estate, and gives instructions on what to do with your assets. Appoints an executor to oversee your estate. Visit our Estate Planning Section for more information.
Social Security Trust - Protects assets and income when you are receiving social security or other government benefits when you are receiving income. Visit our Elder Law Section for more information. Visit our Elder Law Section for more information.
Pre-Nuptial Agreement - Protects assets if your marriage ends. Enables you to decide what assets to share. Visit our Family Law Section for more information.
Post-Nuptial Agreement - If your marriage is in trouble or your financial situation is about to change, you can ask your spouse to sign a post nuptial agreement to protect your assets and determine how assets are shared in the event you get divorced. Visit our Family Law Section for more information.
Protection From Abuse Order - An order to protect you from unwanted contact with a relative, spouse or someone you had a relationship with. This can be used in cases of abuse either physical or emotional. Visit our Family Law Section for more information.
Individual Tax Records - These are your tax returns and the receipts, cancelled checks, credit card statements, W-2’s, 1099’s and other documents used to prepare your tax returns. These records should be saved for seven years.
Employment Agreement: An employment agreement is an agreement between a company and its employees. Its purposes can vary but generally they can attempt to restrict the employee from competing with the company when they leave the company, attempt to prevent the employee from taking confidential information, describe the legal remedies for violating the agreement, can attempt to prevent the solicitation of customers and employees for a period of time after leaving the company, can describe who owns any ideas and inventions created while working for the company and can have many other objectives. These agreements should be read closely. Please contact our Corporate Law Section if you have questions about signing or drafting an employment agreement.
Contracts: A legally binding agreement involving two or more people or businesses that sets forth what the parties will or will not do. Most contracts that can be carried out within one year can be either oral or written. Major exceptions include contracts involving the ownership of real estate and commercial contracts for goods worth $500 or more, which must be in writing. A contract is formed when competent parties — usually adults of sound mind or business entities — mutually agree to provide each other some benefit, such as a promise to pay money in exchange for a promise to deliver specified goods or services or the actual delivery of those goods and services. A contract normally requires one party to make a reasonably detailed offer to do something — including, typically, the price, time for performance and other essential terms and conditions — and the other to accept without significant change. For more information contact our Corporate Law Section.
Credit Report: A report issued by three credit reporting agencies that identifies your financial obligations including mortgates, credit cards, and loans. This document gives you and others a sense of your financial health. Your ability to borrow money is affected by your Credit Report. You should check this report for errors. Bankruptcy Law Section
VISA - A U.S. visa allows the bearer to apply for entry to the U.S. in a certain classification (e.g. student (F), visitor (B), temporary worker (H)). A visa does not grant the bearer the right to enter the United States. The Department of State (DOS) is responsible for visa adjudication at U.S. Embassies and Consulates outside of the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) immigration inspectors determine admission into, length of stay and conditions of stay in, the U.S. at a port of entry. The information on a nonimmigrant visa only relates to when an individual may apply for entry into the U.S. DHS immigration inspectors will record the terms of your admission on your Arrival/Departure Record (I-94 white or I-94W green) and in your passport. Visit our Immigration Law Section for more information on immigration.