Although Corporations and Limited Liability Companies offer their owners similar protections from liability, differences between the two entities can be found. For instance, when transferring property from an LLC, the Iowa Revised Uniform Limited Liability Act requires that the record (i.e deed) must disclose whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed; whether the conveyance is in [...]
The Institute for Financial Literacy, a non-profit corporation, recently published its Annual Consumer Bankruptcy Demographics Report. The findings indicate that the profile of the typical American bankruptcy filier may be changing. Among other things the report seems to indicate that the gender gap in bankruptcy filing is closing; Americans with advanced degrees are filing at [...]
Whether you are a seasoned business owner or a relative new-comer, the issue either has or will come up sooner or later. A customer tenders payment of a sum less then the full amount due and owing for services rendered yet the check is marked "paid in full," "acceptance of this check is payment in [...]
The best time to make decisions regarding how to exit a business venture is at the beginning, especially if the business is to have more than one owner. Why? Because, although this my seem a little cynical, it is in all likelihood precisely the time when the soon-to-be business partners will be most closely aligned [...]
In a national study entitled "Value of Third-Party Debt Collection to the U.S. Economy in 2007: Survey and Analysis" , which was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by ACA International, it was determined that in 2007 the collection industry was able to return $40 billion in bad debt back to large and small businesses that had previously extended [...]
Mechanic's Liens are a valuable tool used by contractors to help insure that they are fully compensated for the materials they supply and the improvements that they make to buildings or land. However, if you are a contractor providing materials or making improvements to an "owner-occupied" dwelling, essentially a residential remodeling contractor, then the mechanic's lien that you file may not be worth much more than [...]
The Iowa Court of Appeals recently had before it a sad (sad for the child that was injured and sad for the dog) and somewhat surprising dog-bite case in which they decided that a fact question was created, necessitating further review, when a landlord had knowledge that a dog had a propensity towards violence and yet that landlord allowed the dog to remain on the property. The abbreviated facts [...]
Four Legacies Mortgage - Chief Inspiration Officer - Brent Rauch recently put together an informative article addressing the phenomenon of accidental landlords if you review his article pay special attention to the section titled: Tenents of Tenants. It has been my experience that the wrong tenant can make being a landlord a nightmare (side note: [...]
Given the current real estate market with its increasing foreclosure rate and ensuing credit crunch, individuals and families are choosing to rent rather than buy. If you have the financial ability and the interest in owning rental property then this could be an intriguing possibility. However, there is more to owning rental property than simply finding [...]
I can't speak for all businesses, but from my perspective most businesses have a signed agreement before they provide services for either an individual or a business. However, invariably it is those transactions in which the agreement was never actually signed that cause the most problems for the business owner. The typical fact pattern goes something like [...]
