We are at the forefront of a movement. We have the opportunity to create our own image. We have the obligation to ourselves and our customers to mold our industry into a system that benefits all. I'm excited by the continuing possibilities and the dynamic impact we have on our customers' lives. We can do what we do best, and we can begin by creating a solid foundation within our own industry.
The Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers (FALDP) has created a Turn Key Business bundle to help you launch a legal document preparation business. The tools, the training, and the business structure together in one bundled business package – for only $499. America was built on the backs of small business. If you or someone you know needs additional income and would like to learn more, please visit us online.
The first thing to know about the business of legal document preparation is that there is plenty of work to go around. There is so much demand for our services that it is difficult to fail. I don't mean to say that our work is easy, or minimize the work we do. If it were easy then everyone would be a legal document preparer or even more to the point – if it were easy everyone could prepare their own documents.
Consumers face multiple hurdles when faced with a legal task. First, most people don't learn legal survival skills in school. In fact, many legal document preparers started their formal academic training only after graduating from the school of hard knocks. Many LDP's survived devastating divorces, bankruptcies, or law suits; and they not only live to tell the tale they have capitalized on overcoming their own personal challenges.
There is plenty of work to go around. Competition is good. Cutthroat unfair business practices are completely unnecessary. One of my tenets is that there is no place for greed in business. Make money, absolutely, that's what we're here for. But, the moment a business person, particularly in a business which is designed to help consumers, gets greedy, karma comes calling. I promise.
I hope you enter this business for the primary reason to help people with their legal documents. There are various tried and tested business models for a legal document preparation business. Some LDPs are mobile, others have bricks and mortar stores, and still others operate completely virtual businesses. It's all up to you. For more information please call 800-515-0496 or read more on our site - Turn Key Business page.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
What's Your Game?
Business and life have often been compared to games. Knowing which game you're playing at any given time and being agile enough to smoothly switch from one game to the next may well make the critical difference between losing and winning the everyday games of life and business. Skill, strategy, knowledge, chance, persistence, all may make all the difference.
Economists have an elaborate system called “game theory”, which is based on the assumption that everyone always acts in their own best interests. One classic example is the “prisoner's dilemma”, and the question is whether one player's strategy would (or should) change if the other player's strategy is known. It goes like this:
Two men are captured near the scene of a burglary and are questioned separately by the police. Each has to choose whether or not to confess and blame the other. If neither man confesses, then both will serve one year on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. If each confesses and implicates the other, both will go to prison for 10 years. But, if one burglar confesses and implicates the other, and the other burglar does not confess, the one who has collaborated with the police will go free, while the other burglar will go to prison for 20 years on the maximum charge.
The strategies in this case are: confess or don't confess. What should they do? What would they do? The result could be that acting in his own self interest could make matters worse or better, depending on the actions of the other. The actions of the other are done in secret, and remain a mystery until the outcome is disclosed.
Their best bet is for neither to confess, and each to serve a year in prison. But having no way to know what the other will do could make the situation far worse for one of them. The confess or not to confess strategy meets the outcome (also called pay off; or penalty) of sentencing.
The games we play in life and business are rarely as clear cut as the prisoner's dilemma. The analogies are endless. I often see attorneys playing pool, setting up their next shot as they go – three ball in the left pocket. Have you ever wondered why an attorney keeps a client's will in his office for “safekeeping”? So he gets the probate business, of course. He set up his next shot.
Civil and family lawyers keep their clients' issues burning and churning in ongoing volleys. Tit for tat, ping for pong or tennis, depending on the tournament level, temperature and the prize to be won or lost. So often, counsel, lost in the game, forget or ignore the desperate client wishes who only seek an end and some sort of resolution. The forgotten client was forced to pay and play above his level.
Chess is a game of skill and strategy. All pieces are in the open. Each play is transparent, subterfuge is impossible. But, skill and strategy take many forms. Knowing the perfect moves isn't enough. Patience is a skill. Waiting patiently for your opponent to make a mistake is a wonderfully passive aggressive way to win. Distraction is also fun. Annoy your opponent until he makes a mistake – doesn't work with everyone, but it works often enough to be useful.
Games of chance are good to know in this life. Kenny Rogers said – know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away. Machiavelli played games of skill and games of chance. I believe that knowing what game to play when and nimbly dancing from one game to the next is the way to win. Or if you didn't win, you can find a new game.
Economists have an elaborate system called “game theory”, which is based on the assumption that everyone always acts in their own best interests. One classic example is the “prisoner's dilemma”, and the question is whether one player's strategy would (or should) change if the other player's strategy is known. It goes like this:
Two men are captured near the scene of a burglary and are questioned separately by the police. Each has to choose whether or not to confess and blame the other. If neither man confesses, then both will serve one year on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. If each confesses and implicates the other, both will go to prison for 10 years. But, if one burglar confesses and implicates the other, and the other burglar does not confess, the one who has collaborated with the police will go free, while the other burglar will go to prison for 20 years on the maximum charge.
The strategies in this case are: confess or don't confess. What should they do? What would they do? The result could be that acting in his own self interest could make matters worse or better, depending on the actions of the other. The actions of the other are done in secret, and remain a mystery until the outcome is disclosed.
Their best bet is for neither to confess, and each to serve a year in prison. But having no way to know what the other will do could make the situation far worse for one of them. The confess or not to confess strategy meets the outcome (also called pay off; or penalty) of sentencing.
The games we play in life and business are rarely as clear cut as the prisoner's dilemma. The analogies are endless. I often see attorneys playing pool, setting up their next shot as they go – three ball in the left pocket. Have you ever wondered why an attorney keeps a client's will in his office for “safekeeping”? So he gets the probate business, of course. He set up his next shot.
Civil and family lawyers keep their clients' issues burning and churning in ongoing volleys. Tit for tat, ping for pong or tennis, depending on the tournament level, temperature and the prize to be won or lost. So often, counsel, lost in the game, forget or ignore the desperate client wishes who only seek an end and some sort of resolution. The forgotten client was forced to pay and play above his level.
Chess is a game of skill and strategy. All pieces are in the open. Each play is transparent, subterfuge is impossible. But, skill and strategy take many forms. Knowing the perfect moves isn't enough. Patience is a skill. Waiting patiently for your opponent to make a mistake is a wonderfully passive aggressive way to win. Distraction is also fun. Annoy your opponent until he makes a mistake – doesn't work with everyone, but it works often enough to be useful.
Games of chance are good to know in this life. Kenny Rogers said – know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away. Machiavelli played games of skill and games of chance. I believe that knowing what game to play when and nimbly dancing from one game to the next is the way to win. Or if you didn't win, you can find a new game.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
A Living Trust – What it is, and why you need it.
If you own property and want to make sure your property is passed on to the person you choose – you need a Living Trust. We're now offering a Living Will, and an Advance Health Care Directive at no charge, when you hire us to prepare your Living Trust documents. With a Living Trust you can rest assured and later on rest in peace, knowing that your loved ones are going to receive the property you promised them – without having to wait for a judge's order to make it so. For more information please call – 800-515-0496.
What is a Living Trust?
You can cancel your living trust at any time. You completely control when and if you create, change, or dissolve your trust. When you transfer property to a Living Trust you can sell it, rent it out, improve it, or do anything else that you want to do with the property, because although the Living Trust now owns the property, you as Trustee continue to control it. A Revocable Living Trust, also called an Inter Vivos Trust is a type of ownership, designed to ensure that your assets and property are swiftly placed into the possession and control of your designated heirs.
How is a Living Trust different from a Last Will and Testament?
A Living Trust is used along with a Last Will and Testament. A special type of Will which is often used is known as a “pour over will”. In a pour over will, the will maker includes language that leaves all assets and property to the Living Trust. Even though most of the property will be transferred to the Living Trust soon after forming the trust, the pour over will accomplishes additional tasks.
Sometimes people create a trust, transfer property into that trust, but later on acquire more property. When someone dies, and some of the property was not transferred into the trust, then the property that was not in the Trust must go through probate. So when there is language like – I leave everything I own to XYZ Living Trust – the chance of inadvertently omitting property cannot happen. Everything means everything. Likewise, some types of property, unlike vehicles or real estate, do not have a document to prove title. It is difficult for untitled property to be transferred into a Living Trust during a person's life, so simply stating that everything else that a person leaves behind is left to their Living Trust keeps it simple.
How does a Living Trust avoid probate? And what is probate anyway?
Probate is the legal process in which a deceased person's property is distributed to that person's designated heirs. Many people believe that having any sort of a will avoids probate – but this is a huge blatant myth encouraged by probate attorneys everywhere. A will does not avoid probate at all, and is not designed to do so. A will makes your wishes known – that's all. When someone dies without a will there is a specific order of who inherits and how property and assets are divided. When someone dies without a will, that person's wishes are unknown, so the law must be applied to the order of distribution of assets. The decedent may not have wanted to leave anything to certain relatives, but failing to leave a will at all can easily make this happen. If there is no will at all, the diamond ring that the decedent meant to give to her niece Sally, is instead handed over to her daughter Jean – after probate that is.
With a clear and valid will probate can take anywhere from six months to two years. Dying without a will, called dying intestate, slows down the probate process more. Dying with a will makes the probate process faster and more clear, only because the decedent's wishes are known. Either way, the designated heirs cannot take possession or control of their rightful property until the judge says so.
When someone sets up a Living Trust, the assets are transferred from the person's name (we'll call that person Jane Smith) to the name of (Smith Family Living Trust) the Trust. The property is transferred during the person's life. For example, in her Living Trust Jane Smith names Jane Smith as the Trustee of the Smith Family Living Trust. Jane Smith then names another person or persons as Successor Trustees. Adult children are often chosen as Successor Trustees.
When Jane Smith dies, since she already set up the Smith Family Living Trust, her property is immediately in the control of her Successor Trustee. Or, if Jane Smith did not die, but was temporarily incapacitated the property goes into the temporary care and control of her Successor Trustee, she resumes her role as Trustee as soon as she is able.
For more information about creating a Living Trust, please contact the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers directly - 800-515-0496 - or visit our site and browse the Member Directory which includes of listings of our member legal document preparers throughout Florida.
What is a Living Trust?
You can cancel your living trust at any time. You completely control when and if you create, change, or dissolve your trust. When you transfer property to a Living Trust you can sell it, rent it out, improve it, or do anything else that you want to do with the property, because although the Living Trust now owns the property, you as Trustee continue to control it. A Revocable Living Trust, also called an Inter Vivos Trust is a type of ownership, designed to ensure that your assets and property are swiftly placed into the possession and control of your designated heirs.
How is a Living Trust different from a Last Will and Testament?
A Living Trust is used along with a Last Will and Testament. A special type of Will which is often used is known as a “pour over will”. In a pour over will, the will maker includes language that leaves all assets and property to the Living Trust. Even though most of the property will be transferred to the Living Trust soon after forming the trust, the pour over will accomplishes additional tasks.
Sometimes people create a trust, transfer property into that trust, but later on acquire more property. When someone dies, and some of the property was not transferred into the trust, then the property that was not in the Trust must go through probate. So when there is language like – I leave everything I own to XYZ Living Trust – the chance of inadvertently omitting property cannot happen. Everything means everything. Likewise, some types of property, unlike vehicles or real estate, do not have a document to prove title. It is difficult for untitled property to be transferred into a Living Trust during a person's life, so simply stating that everything else that a person leaves behind is left to their Living Trust keeps it simple.
How does a Living Trust avoid probate? And what is probate anyway?
Probate is the legal process in which a deceased person's property is distributed to that person's designated heirs. Many people believe that having any sort of a will avoids probate – but this is a huge blatant myth encouraged by probate attorneys everywhere. A will does not avoid probate at all, and is not designed to do so. A will makes your wishes known – that's all. When someone dies without a will there is a specific order of who inherits and how property and assets are divided. When someone dies without a will, that person's wishes are unknown, so the law must be applied to the order of distribution of assets. The decedent may not have wanted to leave anything to certain relatives, but failing to leave a will at all can easily make this happen. If there is no will at all, the diamond ring that the decedent meant to give to her niece Sally, is instead handed over to her daughter Jean – after probate that is.
With a clear and valid will probate can take anywhere from six months to two years. Dying without a will, called dying intestate, slows down the probate process more. Dying with a will makes the probate process faster and more clear, only because the decedent's wishes are known. Either way, the designated heirs cannot take possession or control of their rightful property until the judge says so.
When someone sets up a Living Trust, the assets are transferred from the person's name (we'll call that person Jane Smith) to the name of (Smith Family Living Trust) the Trust. The property is transferred during the person's life. For example, in her Living Trust Jane Smith names Jane Smith as the Trustee of the Smith Family Living Trust. Jane Smith then names another person or persons as Successor Trustees. Adult children are often chosen as Successor Trustees.
When Jane Smith dies, since she already set up the Smith Family Living Trust, her property is immediately in the control of her Successor Trustee. Or, if Jane Smith did not die, but was temporarily incapacitated the property goes into the temporary care and control of her Successor Trustee, she resumes her role as Trustee as soon as she is able.
For more information about creating a Living Trust, please contact the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers directly - 800-515-0496 - or visit our site and browse the Member Directory which includes of listings of our member legal document preparers throughout Florida.
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