Areas of Practice Business Law: The form of business chosen for a business entity potentially affects every aspect of its operations. Our firm assists our clients in formation and business planning in deciding whether they want to operate as a closely held business, limited liability company, partnership, or corporation. We advise our clients about directors’ and officers’ liability, dissolution, franchising, reorganization, trade association membership and activity, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, business successions, and shareholders’ rights. Our firm handles both transactional and litigation matters. Bankruptcy: Our firm represents individuals and commercial clients in bankruptcy proceedings that are initiated by either an insolvent individual or business, or creditors seeking to have the debtor’s remaining assets distributed among the creditors, thus discharging the debtor from further obligation or restructuring and reorganizing the insolvent’s debt structure. Business and Commercial Law: We provide a wide variety of services to our business clients from assisting in selecting the type of organizational entity under which to operate, preparation of agreements, sale and purchase of businesses, obtaining financing and funding for business operations, and employee relations, to dissolution. Estate Planning: A cornerstone of our law practice, estate planning is the area of law in which our clients plan for distribution of their assets upon their death to family members, friends, or favorite charitable organizations. It also is the area of law that allows for the planning for legal problems that arise when a person is living and suffers severe physical and/or mental incapacities due to illness or disease. Estate planning may include the preparation of trusts, wills, and powers of attorney for legal, financial, and health care matters. Estate planning may actually involve the complex interaction of numerous areas of the law, including: trust, probate, business, real and personal property, income tax, estate tax, gift tax, insurance, agency, and pension plan law. Estate Administration: Our firm handles trust and probate administration matters, as well as conservatorships and guardianships. We routinely handle estate accounting, estate tax, gift tax, and fiduciary tax matters both at the state and federal level. Estate administration involves advising the estate's personal representative concerning proper handling of estate assets, accounting for and preserving estate assets, filing proper and timely tax returns, reporting estate matters to state courts and state/federal taxing agencies, insuring that all death benefits are collected, all state claims are properly handled, and that all assets are properly distributed. This complex area of law is a very important component of our law practice. Litigation and Appeals: Our firm represents and advises clients who are or might become involved in a lawsuit or appeal as a result of a dispute, including prevention and settlement, in such areas as contract and property disputes, business and commercial matters, and trust and estate litigation. Real Estate: Our firm represents both commercial clients and individuals in all proceedings and transactions that deal with real property—land and the structures attached to it—including purchase and sale, construction, mortgages and foreclosures, leases, zoning, title examinations, quiet title actions, closings, and management. Taxation: Our firm represents individuals and commercial clients in matters with tax implications, identifying and addressing state and federal tax issues, structuring transactions in such a way as to minimize taxes and avoid inherent tax problems.