
Remember the safe deposit box
Estate planning clients often give much thought to avoiding probate (see related article). Wynn at Law LLC helps jog your memory to make certain you haven’t ‘forgotten’ an asset that would trigger probate. A common one forgotten, as an example, is the safe deposit box. Yes, banks still have them in the vault. In fact, it’s a common storage place for the Last Will and Testament. Why not? It’s safer than a home safe, and someone always has a key. But what else is in there?

Avoid these five small-business-crushing scams
Consumers aren’t the only victims of fraud. Wynn at Law, LLChears about thousands of small business scams every year. A reward of our business is being able to work with entrepreneurs to get a business off and running (see related article). It doesn’t take much more than a single scam to derail that dream.

‘By-Owner’ real estate sellers need protection
One article earlier in the Wynn at Law, LLC archives mentioned our current real estate market cycle as being a seller’s market. There’s not much supply, and plenty of demand. Even in a hot seller’s market, there’s a temptation to increase the net price received for the property by offering it For Sale By Owner, or FSBO. (Real estate pros pronounce it ‘fizzboh.’)

Minding summer’s attractive nuisances
Warmer weather has at last arrived. School’s winding down. That means more kids out and about. When a kid spots something in your yard and says, ‘Wow, that looks like fun,’ there is probably the potential for litigation. Wynn at Law LLC’s team isn’t the downer you’ll neglect to invite to your neighborhood party, but we do help clients stay clear of ‘attractive nuisance’ trouble. I’m talking about a pool. A trampoline. A ladder. A junked fridge. Kids are drawn like magnets to them and other adventures.
When adventure turns into trespass, misadventure and injury and it ends up in court, the property owner is under fire… not the trespasser.

Being neighborly while protecting your rights
When you buy a property, one of the things Wynn at Law, LLClooks at closely is whether or not the property has easements. The most common easement is the right to travel over your land, like you’d give to the power company. This is known as a ‘right of way.’ Property owners commonly grant easements for the placement of utility poles, utility/cable/phone trenches, water lines, or sewer lines. If an easement is in place, the legal title to the property still remains in your name as the owner. The person or company granted the easement owns the right of way.

Make an equitable real estate offer with these five tips
Wynn at Law, LLC is honored to be part of more successful real estate offers than we can count since the 2008 recession. Every one of them had five components in common that made for ‘clean’ bids and negotiations without animosity.

Don’t cash out your IRA to avoid bankruptcy
Bankruptcy filing – or the prospect of it – usually puts Wynn at Law LLCclients in full-out panic mode. One of the most alarming, last-ditch, hail-Mary ideas coming from this desperation is to cash out a retirement plan to avoid bankruptcy court. In some cases, people can ‘borrow’ against their company retirement plan, usually a 401(k). This is as dangerous as cashing out to cover the financial struggle.
Don’t. Touch. This. Money.
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Get your real estate lawyer sooner
One of the oddities of Wynn at Law, LLC‘s flow of phone calls is this: A potential client will call within seconds of getting a $180 speeding ticket, but will wait to call until well into buying a $300,000 home. The stakes are so much higher in the latter, and in fact, a real estate attorney on the front end can end up saving you money. Here are four ways how:

Spot the five early warning signs for bankruptcy
Most of Wynn at Law, LLC‘s bankruptcy clients face sudden situations that have them considering filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. I’m talking about things like massive medical bills or sudden job loss. Finances can be a difficult balancing act at other times as well, so I put together a quick list of warning signs.