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Jonathan Barlow

Clear Counsel Law Group / Jonathan Barlow

How is a Corporation a Nonprofit?

 

 

How the Government Determines is a Corporation is a Nonprofit

Transcript:

Hi my name is Jonathan Barlow. I'm an attorney here at Clear Council Law Group. I often have business clients ask me, "What makes a corporation a not for profit corporation or  nonprofit corporation?" The short answer to that is that you elect to be treated as a nonprofit corporation when you create the corporation with the state. The longer answer to that question is this: what makes a not for profit is simply as it says in it's name. You operate the business without the intent to generate profit that is paid out to the owners of the business. In other words, if the business does make profit, that profit has to stay within the business. It can't be passed out as distributions to the owners of the business. The owners are not profiting on the business of the corporation.

 

nonprofit, Nevada, Las Vegas, corporations

 

Now, a lot of people use not for profit corporations or nonprofit corporations in connection with a charitable entity or a charitable organization under the federal tax laws. These are sometimes called 501CS organizations. They are usually created for a charitable purpose. You create the not for profit corporation at the state level. You then obtain the 501CS status from the IRS. Together you're able to operate a charitable entity. That's basically the nuts and bolts of how you become a not for profit corporation and how that could be an advantage to people in that situation. If you have any questions about not for profit corporations feel free to give me a call here at Clear Council Law Group and I'll do my best to answer those questions for you.

 

Corporations / Corporations Videos / Estate Planning / Probate / Probate Videos - 01/29/2016
Caucus, Nevada, Democrats, republicans, trump, hillary, bernie, cruz

The Answers to All of Your Caucus Questions!

You knew all the fun had to end eventually, right? I wonder if the national parties (in collusion with the cable news networks) decided to move the first primary or caucus back to April, what the candidates would do? Could they possibly keep up this pace for another three months?

Assuming the caucus dates will not be moved (to the chagrin of some establishment types that need more time to buy this thing), we still have so many unanswered questions: Will Rick Santorum wear his patented sweater vest without sleeves once it gets warmer? How many pairs of fancy boots does Mr. Rubio own? Is there anyway to distract Bernie from discussing income inequality?

If only we had more time!

Whether you are all aboard the Trump-train, feeling the Bern, "in" with Hillary, or part of the CruzCrew, you have likely heard all you need and are ready to declare that all import vote in the primary process. Now the only remaining issue is: How?

Below is a composite of most Frequently Asked Questions about the caucus process:

 

When and Where is the Nevada Caucus?

For some reason, (I have a guess but it is not appropriate to speculate), the two political parties host their caucuses on different days:

The Democrats: 20 February 2016, Saturday. Registration starts at 11am, the doors close at 12 Noon. They claim that if you are not at your caucus location by 12 Noon, they may not let you in.1)if you call their bluff, let me know by email what happened! brian@clearcounsel.com. Find your caucus location here.

The Republicans: 23 February 2016. Tuesday night. You have to register Republican by 13 February to participate. If you do not register by 13 February, you will not be permitted to attend (There is a link below to help). Find your caucus location here. (You need to register to vote first).

 

What are the Requirements to Caucus?

Here in Nevada, the state government only administers general elections. The Democratic and Republican Caucuses are administered by their respective party. In turn, the rules are entirely determined by the state parties.

You must abide by the following necessary conditions to participate in the Nevada Caucus:

  1. You must be 18 years old by the date of the Presidential Election on November 8, 2016. Yes, this means, a high school senior (that is currently 17) that will be 18 years old by November may (and in fact, is very much encouraged) join his or her caucus meeting.
  2. You must be a Resident of the state of Nevada.
  3. You must register as a Democrat or Republican (we do not have a so-called "open primary" where folks of any party may vote in any primary). Does this mean that you have to vote for the same party that you caucus for? No! Don't let them tell you otherwise.

Important note for registration: If you are a democrat, you may register at the caucus site on the day of the meeting. If you are a republican, you have to register to vote by February 13, 2016. You may do so here.

Once more, because it is important, if you intend to caucus for a Republican, you must be registered to vote 10 days before the Caucus! Just click the link above, and so long as you have government-issued ID, you will be able to register to vote online.

 

What Happens at the Caucus Once You Arrive?

Upon arrival at your caucus site, you will register with the nice folks that will have a table near the door. Next, head over to your Presidential Preference Group if you already have a candidate in mind that you want to manifest a preference to support. If you have not made a decision yet, that's ok! There will be a grouping of folks for "undecided."

Important note: Standing2)or sitting with an initial group does not lock in your support for that candidate. You will have another chance to change your mind!

Next, (once everyone has arrived and sectioned off into their beginning preference) the Chair of your meeting will likely read/make statements from Nevada elected officials/party leaders.

After which, each campaign represented will be invited to speak on behalf of their candidate to persuade others in the room to help support their candidate.

Yet another important note: You do not have to do any public speaking if you do not want to! Folks volunteer for this responsibility; at the same time, the speaking gig is not assigned by the campaigns. The folks in your preference group will decide whom will speak for the whole.

After the speeches, there will be a fixed time for "persuasion." Now comes the fun part! At this point in the process, folks supporting any candidate may try to persuade other people to come join their preference group. Don't worry, no one is going to bully you/make you support any candidate. Better to think of this as the civil, community meeting portion of the event. After the persuasion period, folks head back to their preference groups and the total number of folks preferring each candidate will be calculated.

That's it. Does it take a little more time than voting in a booth? Sure. But this is so much more memorable and fun (and you can play on your phone the whole time if you want).

 

What Caucus Rules Do You Need to Know?

Viability, mostly.3)Your precinct chair will read the rules to the caucus when you get there

Because the democrats and republicans will administer there own caucuses, they make their own rules. Better yet, the each caucus is different from the other.

Let's start with the Democrats (because they go first).

The proceeding text comes from the 2008 Democrats Caucus guide, and the Nevada Democratic Party has confirmed4)through their spokesman Stewart Boss that these viability demarcations will be used in 2016 as well:

Caucus Viability Formulas Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 25% of Two (2) delegates attendees (# eligible attendees × .25).

Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 1/6th of Three (3) delegates attendees (# eligible attendees ÷ 6).

Caucuses which elect Viable groups must contain 15% of Four (4) or more delegates attendees (# eligible attendees × .15).

Always Round all fractions UP to a whole number when determining viability (e.g. If 1.1 Round to 2 --- If 1.8 Round to 2)

 

Did your eyes just glaze over? Stay with me here, I can easily summarize. If you live in the Las Vegas Valley, it is most likely you will be at a caucus with four or more delegates (The orange line). What you need to know is that the Democrats do not count preferences for a candidate unless s/he has a sufficient level of support, a la at least 15% of the total number of people present. 

Insider tip: Folks who really care about winning for his/her candidate should start counting participants as soon as the doors are closed to figure out the 15% threshold. For example, if you are (if not all in, but at least partly) "In for Hillary," and you count a total of 100 people at your caucus location, you will know that a candidate must have at least 15 folks in his/her corner to earn anything.

Continuing the hypothetical, if said Hillary supporter saw only 12 people standing on the side of the room to support Gov. O'Malley, it makes sense to make a beeline toward them once the persuasion period begins5)With a pitch like, "given that you don't have enough supporters present, don't you want your vote to count?"

I don't have anything against Mr. O'Malley6)minus what happened in Baltimore under his tenure, but it unlikely, given his poll numbers, that he will be viable at the Nevada (or Iowa) Caucus. Some polls have Mr. O'Malley as high as 6%, which leaves many a 2nd-choice voter to be recruited for the Bernie/Hillary campaigns. How funny would it be for O'Malley supporters to be the ones to determine the Caucus outcome7)By the way, this happened in Iowa in 2008. Many Edwards preference groups did not meet the viability threshold. If those folks' 2nd choice had been Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama, the entire course of human history could be different!8)There is no chance Mr. Obama is elected if he did not win Iowa...he has admitted as much.

 

The Republicans

For our Republican friends, don't worry, none of this viability silliness applies. One person representing each campaign will give a public statement, and then each person will vote for his/her preferred candidate on a paper ballot. All Republican votes will be counted as there is no viability threshold.

If you are still concerned about the process/have questions, please do not hesitate to call (ask for Brian) or email, and I will do everything I can to help. We are Clear Counsel are not making an endorsement for the primary season, but we all strongly believe in representative democracy, and therefore, will help anyone of any party.

Even if you are still unsure about the caucus and don't have time to call/write, just show up! I promise you will be able to figure it out; we all are Americans after all.

Thanks for reading.

More information:

http://nvsos.gov/index.aspx?page=1058

 

http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/21/confused-nevada-caucus-s-easier-than-you-think/79086178/

 

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 if you call their bluff, let me know by email what happened! brian@clearcounsel.com
↑2 or sitting
↑3 Your precinct chair will read the rules to the caucus when you get there
↑4 through their spokesman Stewart Boss
↑5 With a pitch like, "given that you don't have enough supporters present, don't you want your vote to count?"
↑6 minus what happened in Baltimore under his tenure
↑7 By the way, this happened in Iowa in 2008. Many Edwards preference groups did not meet the viability threshold. If those folks' 2nd choice had been Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama, the entire course of human history could be different!
↑8 There is no chance Mr. Obama is elected if he did not win Iowa...he has admitted as much
General Interest / Las Vegas / Nevada Law / News / Politics - 01/28/2016

How Your Spouse's Assets May Affect Your Bankruptcy Declaration

 

 

Must Your Spouse Declare Her Assets if You Declare Bankruptcy?

Transcript:

Matt: Hi, Matt McArthur, Clear Counsel Law Group bankruptcy attorney here. I recently received a question that I receive on a regular basis. It was from an individual who was married that wanted to file without their spouse, wanted to file for bankruptcy and not have any negative ramifications on their spouse's credit. What they wanted to know was whether or not their non-filingphad to disclose their financial information to the bankruptcy court. The answer is yes. The reason is twofold.

First, if the individual is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, even though the spouse is not filing bankruptcy with this person, we still have to look at the non-filing spouse's income to determine whether or not the person looking to file for bankruptcy passes the Chapter 7 means test. If an individual makes too much money, if the household income is too great, then that individual won't be allowed to file for this specific kind of bankruptcy. Because the person is married, the non-filing spouse, whether they're filing or not is included in the analysis of what the income is for the household.

 

spouse, bankruptcy, Nevada, Las Vegas

 

We have to look at the non-filing spouse's income. We also need to look at the non-filing spouse's property. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it's a liquidation. We determine whether or not a filing person has the ability to protect all property that they have a legal right in. Even though the spouse is not filing bankruptcy, if you live in a community property state, like Nevada, the spouse that is filing for bankruptcy may actually have a legal right to property that is owned by the non-filing spouse so the non-filing spouse's property could come into question. If it is separate property, then obviously that is not subject to liquidation. I see that we have a question related to this topic. Brian?

 

Brian: Does it make sense then to just file Chapter 7 bankruptcy together as a couple because the property and the income will be subject to it?

 

Matt: Yes, for many cases it makes most sense to file jointly for both spouses. The reason you would do that is you're disclosing all of this information about income and assets anyway so you might as well gain the advantage of getting a discharge for debts that are in both spouses' names. There may be a reason why one partner might not want to file for bankruptcy. It wouldn't appear on the non-filing spouse's credit report, the bankruptcy wouldn't and it might make it easier to qualify for obtaining mortgage loan within the first couple of years after the filing of bankruptcy. Otherwise, the advantages of filing jointly outweigh a separate filing.

If you're thinking of filing for bankruptcy and you're a married individual and you're worried whether or not it would be best to file alone or together, please come in and see me. I'll discuss the ramifications of both scenarios with you. We can talk about what makes best sense for you in your particular situation. I look forward to seeing you soon. Take care.

Bankruptcy / Bankruptcy Videos - 01/25/2016

Is It Necessary to Register Your LLC in Multiple States?

 

 

When Should You Register Your Small Business in Multiple States?

Transcript:

Jonathan: Hello. My name is Jonathan Barlow. I'm a business law attorney here at Clear Counsel Law Group. A question that we recently received was this: If I have a Nevada LLC and I then do business in another set outside of Nevada, do I have to register in that other state as well?

The short answer to that question is yes, you should register in that other state. Now you can continue to keep the home state as Nevada and you would be treated as what's called a foreign entity in the other state. Typically, if you're doing business in another state, those state laws will require that those businesses also register with their state, and that therefore they can collect their filing fees and other things that they want from you in order to continue to do business. You could run afoul of the laws of those other states and face penalties, and interest, and problems like that if you fail to register in another state where you're doing business.

 

Nevada, Las Vegas, register, LLC, small business

 

Now they're may be exceptions to that rule in those other states. Of course if you go outside of the state of Nevada to do business, I strongly encourage you to talk to a competent attorney in those areas who can advise you specifically about those state requirements. Brian had a question about this.

 

Brian: A quick question. How much business do you have to do in another state before you need to consider registering in that state?

 

Jonathan: That's a great question. How much business do you need to do? Again, each state's going to have a different requirement. There may be different amounts of revenue levels before you have to register. There may be exceptions to registration. Nevada has certain businesses that don't have to register with the state to do business in the state of Nevada. To give you a specific answer to that question, I can't do that because it's going to be state-specific depending on what state you go to. Again, you can set it up in Nevada, and Nevada have has very favorable laws related to LLCs and corporations. Makes it a good place to file for your home base, including no state income tax. If you do take your business outside of the state of Nevada, you can talk to me or other attorneys who would be able to advise you specifically about what you should do in that other state. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to to give us a call here at our office and we'll answer your questions.

 

Corporations / Corporations Videos / Estate Planning - 01/22/2016
Nevada Caucus, Iowa, Trump, Bernie, Hillary, Cruz, Jeb

Your Much-Needed, All-Encompassing Caucus Preview! Now with a Small Debate Recap

**Updated With a Debate Recap**

 

To be the man, you have to beat the man.

-Pro Wrestling Proverb

 

 

The First GOP debate of 2016 affirmed my analysis of the race, see below. It is still a two-man contest between Mr. Cruz and Mr. Trump. Fox Business held the first laissez-faire debate of the season last night where candidates could come and go into conversations as they please, and answer only the questions they wanted. In terms of raw entertainment value, this was the best debate by far; each of the candidates is getting better with practice, some improving faster than others.1)Even Jeb!

Mr. Cruz showed last night that yes, indeed, he can win this thing. What you are about to see is the first candidate in the race actually stand up to Mr. Trump:

 

 

That "Constitution didn't change since September" line was great. Mr. Cruz's gab gift is such that Mr. Trump even smiled at a few of his quips! If you can't stand up to Mr. Trump, how will you face Mr. Putin?

Shockingly, Mr. Cruz then found a way to make Mr. Trump sympathetic. Don't believe me? Watch:

 

 

Five months ago, I would have never imagined Mr. Trump could do that. Unfortunately for Mr. Cruz, he had to burn many a bridge to get himself to his peculiar status as the "insider/outsider"2)Could someone not from Texas pull this off even??. Mr. Cruz may not have enough allies left in the establishment to muster a sufficient challenge to overcome the momentum of the Trump Train.

It's clear after last night though; Cruz can win.

 

 

Welcome to our Iowa/Nevada caucus3)Yes, some New Hampshire too preview! In only4)haha, yeah only eleven months from now, all this jockeying will be over and the cable news will have to go back to talking about...What did they talk about before? Oh right! Airplanes lost at sea! Weird how no planes got lost over Bermuda during most of 2015; it is as if they know when to get lost to maximize news coverage, or something.

I know you see eleven months noted above and you're thinking "Pshh, eleven?? Call me in October and I'll see what these folks are up to." Ah, my good friend, you do have a little time to head over to Kingman and burn your hard-earned money on an immoral national lottery that the Nevada Gaming Board would never permit5)because of the horrendous odds, but we will need your attention upon your return!

The Caucuses are coming; the caucuses are coming! Shockingly, our two-party political system has produced candidates from each party that differ to such an extent that these primaries will have a significant effect on the political process and the country as a whole. Not only should you be voting the celebrate the sacrifices of the countless others that died for your right of popular political participation, but because you can have a tangible effect on what it means to be an American for five, ten, maybe even twenty years from now.

So we best get this right, eh? This isn't like those previous caucus seasons when you could pick any of the handful of politicians from one party and the policy result would not differ. You happen to be privileged enough to live in a country where you can actually participate in its future6)At the risk of being mercilessly mocked on the twitter, it is worth taking a moment and appreciating how lucky we are all to live here. You could have ended up in any of the nearly 200 countries in the world, and we are in the richest/most free. Yes, we have many an issue, but it is important not to lose perspective.

Time to get informed then? Insiders tip: don't tell your coworkers you just noticed last night that we have a caucus in a months' time. Play it like, "yeah, I've been following this stuff this whole time, I just didn't want to talk about it too much to make y'all feel bad." People seem to get defensive if you only recently made your 2016 caucus choice, as if your preference has less value than the bro who has been praying that Mr. Trump run for office since 2003.

Above, you see the most recent Nevada caucus polling. There is not much Nevada polling, and frankly, none of it would matter much anyway. We see the press (and Mr. Trump) playing a lot with national polls, yet there is no national caucus to decide the candidate for each party. No, the caucus or primary takes place in a pre-ordained sequence, meaning, in a Samuel Huntington7)Huntington wrote political theory about developing countries saying the the order in which institutions are established matters significantly to the outcome.-esq way, sequences matter! If New York voted first, followed by Texas then California, we would be looking at a completely different race!8)Shout-out to William Vollmann whose excessive use of exclamation points I am currently [poorly] emulating

My point being that the result of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina will affect the caucus here, so taking snap-shots of the current Nevada polling doesn't mean that much/have much value. In turn, to understand potential outcomes for the Nevada caucus, we need to glance at the state of the race in Iowa and New Hampshire.

After tossing the coin, the Republicans9)not surprisingly advised by Bill Belichick opted to defer to the 2nd half, so we will start with your friends, Hillary and Bernie.

 

The Democrats and Their Caucus

I haven't written much about our Democratic friends, as there really wasn't much news to report. Hillary was up by 20 points, nationally and in all the early states, and there was no reason to presume that Bernie would be able to rise above the 30% plateau attributed to his support in November. Then there was Christmas, New Year's...and all of a sudden:

 

Whoa! #Bernmentum indeed. I always knew America would take to democratic socialism, it just needed the right, pretty spokesman to do the job10)On a related note, Bernie's hair is combed in nearly half his television appearances now, much marked improvement. Trends/momentum are important for the caucus, and as you can see above, Hillary must be having nightmares of 2008 all over again (she was up by about the same amount in 2007 December over Obama and Edwards).

I have no insider Hillary knowledge11)I should disclose here that they offered my a job in 2008 but I declined, but my guess is that Team Hillary hoped to hire all the Obama operatives (I watched these folks work in 2008, they are very impressive), and then transfer his popular support directly to Hillary. The plan did not go as hoped. Hillary has been unable to form Hope and Change 2.0 and instead is dealing with all the same issues she had in 2008 with the base democrats, just with new topics. In 2008, the base dems saw Hillary as a war hawk, and her rival campaigns used the base's hatred of Mr. Bush's Iraq adventure to defeat Hillary.

Instead of foreign policy12)apparently all the politicians in Washington believe in war in perpetuity now that Mr. Obama has embraced the Bush doctrine, now Hillary is getting attacked for being too moderate on the income inequality, which happens to be Bernie's pet issue/the issue he speaks best on. The difference eight years later is that as opposed to the 5 competing campaigns teaming up to defeat Hillary in Iowa13)She was that much of a sure-thing then, promise, Bernie is doing it all by himself14)well, along with his coalition of the willing. Unfortunately for Hillary, it looks like the old Edwards/Obama/Biden supporters did in fact come together in a big tent, just against her. Again.

Things are even worse in New Hampshire, Bernie's next door neighbor:

 

https://twitter.com/RichardAngwin/status/685634979179593728

 

I don't know about KABOOM, but yes, Bernie is doing well. Does it mean he has got this thing locked up? Not even close. Hillary is up big in South Carolina, and as you saw above, polled very well in Nevada in late December.

The state count could be 2-2 come Super Tuesday. Hillary is not going to go down easy, folks. Take a look at this ad they put out yesterday:

 

 

Pretty effective on the liberals and their hatred of all things gun. Hillary is at risk of the sky falling on her campaign if she does not win one of the first two states. The every-moment-of-the-day15)trademark pending media will just go crazy with their hot-takes and "I told you so's".

Yet if the worst occurs, and if she can get out of Nevada with the score 2-2, Hillary is still a -200 favorite to win the nomination, given her fundraising.

Like I said before, your Nevada caucus preference16)This is correct term for a caucus, not "vote," talk like you've done this before really matters!

 

The Republicans and Their Caucus

 

"More than 1,000 words and no Trump talk yet?? I thought you said we were going to 'Make Caucusing Great Again'?"

Ok ok ok, sorry. Yes, your friend Mr. Trump has turned out to be a much better politician than anyone (besides the Donald) gave him credit for. And yes, like I wrote a few weeks ago, he remains the front-runner.

..But there is a bit of overcast for Team Trump. Of course, though, we have to start with a national poll that Trump dominates:

 

Twenty-eight points! The republicans found lots of folks to run for President, yet none of them have any military or state experience. Imagine if Jim Webb didn't promote organized labor and registered republican; no way Mr. Trump is up by this much. More than a dozen candidates for President, and the candidate with the most military experience was a JAG lawyer and already dropped out17)Come back Lindsey!. You have to think that if Gen, Petraeus didn't ruin his career with the book lady, he would have been the nominee for the Republicans, and given all the worry over terrorism, he'd probably be polling pretty well.

But here we are, with a combination of first-term senators, governors, and private sector folks with a combined zero days of military experience. Thus, Trump.

 

But sequence matters with the republicans too! Let's see what's going on in Iowa:

 

Mr. Cruz is winning! (probably). Guy is working his tail off in Iowa; I have no doubt he will have visited each of Iowa's 99 counties by caucus day on 1 February. Iowa voters take their responsibilities very seriously, as they say, they got to kick the tires of a candidate two or three times before an individual would even consider caucusing for him or her.

If Mr. Cruz can pull off the upset and defeat Trump, the sequencing effect likely takes hold (people want to vote for a winner after all). An Iowa win for Mr. Cruz could completely change the dynamics of the race (for him and Mr. Trump only, sorry kids). If Mr. Trump blows out his establishment opponents in the first two states, he potentially18)can't believe I'm typing this could sweep the field. He's up Yuge in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and if he sweeps the first four states, I cannot imagine another candidate will be able to raise enough money to compete with him. Mind you, Mr. Trump has spent very little19)around 2 million dollars, compare with the 9-figure expenditures of the Jeb PACs, and will likely have sufficient funds available to get the vote out on Super Tuesday.

But if you think Mr. Trump will just allow Mr. Cruz to take away his nomination, think again. By early February, expect all the country to know that Mr. Cruz was born in Canada20)stay tuned for a more in depth discussion on the qualifications for the office of the President. "Natural born citizen" confuses many. What isn't clear is how well-organized21)in this context it just means, he employs plenty of staff, has lots of volunteers/veterans of the process Mr. Trump is. Look at these articles, for example:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/trump-builds-data-juggernaut-217391

 vs.

Both of these pieces can't be accurate. Did The Times just find dull Trump supporter in Ottuma to make him look bad? Is The Politico just trying to get back in Mr. Trump's good graces? We will find out in three weeks. As much as the press loves the "yeah well it's neat that all them folks came out for the rally, but are they really going to vote" angle22)example , given how well Mr. Obama did in 2008, might be time to give the candidate the benefit of the doubt that if you can get that many folks to attended a political rally in freezing weather, a good number of these folks are likely to caucus.23)Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, he was never able to muster the same enthusiasm for the rest of his party

The future of the Party of Lincoln rests in Iowa. Will they go the way of the Whigs/No-nothings? Will the populist-right break off and form their own party if the nomination is taken away from Mr. Trump? Stay tuned!

If you have a little extra time, I suggest this Guardian piece written by Ms. Abdul pictured below (right), on why she brought her extra-large Koran to a Trump event in Reno. I am happy to report the Reno folks kept their disrespect to micro-aggressions. Yay Nevada.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/i-went-to-donald-trump-rally-in-my-hijab-supporters-arent-just-racist-caricatures

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Even Jeb!
↑2 Could someone not from Texas pull this off even??
↑3 Yes, some New Hampshire too
↑4 haha, yeah only
↑5 because of the horrendous odds
↑6 At the risk of being mercilessly mocked on the twitter, it is worth taking a moment and appreciating how lucky we are all to live here. You could have ended up in any of the nearly 200 countries in the world, and we are in the richest/most free. Yes, we have many an issue, but it is important not to lose perspective
↑7 Huntington wrote political theory about developing countries saying the the order in which institutions are established matters significantly to the outcome.
↑8 Shout-out to William Vollmann whose excessive use of exclamation points I am currently [poorly] emulating
↑9 not surprisingly advised by Bill Belichick
↑10 On a related note, Bernie's hair is combed in nearly half his television appearances now, much marked improvement
↑11 I should disclose here that they offered my a job in 2008 but I declined
↑12 apparently all the politicians in Washington believe in war in perpetuity now that Mr. Obama has embraced the Bush doctrine
↑13 She was that much of a sure-thing then, promise
↑14 well, along with his coalition of the willing
↑15 trademark pending
↑16 This is correct term for a caucus, not "vote," talk like you've done this before
↑17 Come back Lindsey!
↑18 can't believe I'm typing this
↑19 around 2 million dollars, compare with the 9-figure expenditures of the Jeb PACs
↑20 stay tuned for a more in depth discussion on the qualifications for the office of the President. "Natural born citizen" confuses many
↑21 in this context it just means, he employs plenty of staff, has lots of volunteers/veterans of the process
↑22 example 
↑23 Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, he was never able to muster the same enthusiasm for the rest of his party
Bankruptcy / Estate Planning / Las Vegas / Nevada Law / News / Politics / Probate - 01/13/2016

Bankruptcy and Taking the Credit Counseling Class

 

 

Attending a Credit Counseling Class is Necessary to File for Bankruptcy

Transcript:

Hi, Matt MacArthur at Clear Counsel Law Group, here to speak to you about one of the requirements of filing for bankruptcy. One of the recent questions that was submitted to our firm was, "Do I have to take a class before I can file for bankruptcy?" The answer is, yes. There is a requirement for all individuals who wish to file for bankruptcy that must be completed before we can actually file or start the case. That is a credit counseling course from an accredited agency must be completed before we file the case.

 

credit counseling class, Las Vegas, Bankruptcy, Nevada

 

It's a fairly simple straight forward class. It typically lasts about an hour. You are able to take this session online. I've seen the prices of this class range from anywhere between $8 to $40 or $50. The quality in the different classes may vary from different agency. If it were me filing for bankruptcy, I would probably just go with whatever the easiest, cheapest option was that's allowable by the court. Once this class is done, you'll have satisfied the requirements to complete the course, and there will be a certificate issued to the individual that took the class. That certificate has to be filed with your case in order for the bankruptcy to ultimately be successful.

This is Matt MacArthur giving you a little bit more insight as to the requirements of filing for bankruptcy. If you're thinking about filing bankruptcy, please come see me, and I'll take care of you. See you soon.

Bankruptcy / Bankruptcy Videos - 01/12/2016

Before Declaring Bankruptcy, When Should You Stop Using Your Credit Cards?

 

 

When Should You Stop Using Your Credit Cards?

Transcript:

Matt: Hi, Matt McArthur, Clear Counsel Law Group. Question that I was just recently provided was, if I'm thinking about filing or planning on filing for bankruptcy when is it advisable to stop using my credit cards? My first instinct is to respond immediately. If you know you're going to file for bankruptcy, you shouldn't be getting yourself deeper into the hole. Continuing to use your credit cards when you know that you are planning on filing for bankruptcy can be what we call bad faith. By bad faith it simply means that you know you're going to file bankruptcy and you have no intention of repaying this debt. It's essentially unfair, unjust, morally wrong to continue to rack up the bill on these credit cards when the credit card company has no idea that you are filing bankruptcy, but you do. It puts the lender, the people that are making these purchases on your behalf in essence, at an unfair disadvantage.

 

credit cards, debt, bankruptcy, Las Vegas, Nevada

 

With that being said, generally speaking, if you have used credit cards recently but you've only recently decided to file for bankruptcy because you've taken a hard look at your financial situation and come to the realization that you're not going to be able to repay the debt, that doesn't mean you can't file for bankruptcy sooner than later. It just essentially goes to what your intent is. If you had the true, honest intent to repay these debts at the time you made the purchases you should be all right. Definitely the best advice I can give is if you know you're thinking of filing bankruptcy stop using the credit cards immediately.

Follow-up question?

 

Brian: Yes. Will a judge or any other legal entity question your intent during the bankruptcy proceeding?

 

Matt: Not usually. Not unless there's a credit card company that, for some reason, has reason to believe that you were acting in bad faith. For example, if you were making large credit card purchases up to the week before you filed for bankruptcy that looks pretty suspicious, and it's possible that the credit card company could get involved in your bankruptcy case on a more detailed level where they file documents, motions, requests of the court to take a closer look at your situation. There's a number of ways they could get involved in your case, anything from appearing at the meeting of creditors to filing an adversary proceeding and asking that the debt not be wiped out.

That's why the best rule of thumb is if you actually know that you're going to file for bankruptcy, don't incur any more debt. It's dishonest and it's acting in bad faith. It can only cause problems in your bankruptcy case. If you're at all concerned about recent credit card uses and you're thinking about filing for bankruptcy, please come in and see me. I'll talk to you about the situation and I would give you a good expectation of what I would foresee happening in your case. We can give you all of the information you need to make the best decision possible for you. I hope to see you soon.

Bankruptcy / Bankruptcy Videos - 01/07/2016

What You Need to Know about an LLC Operating Agreement

 

 

What to Know about an LLC Operating Agreement

Transcript:

Jonathan: Hello, my name is Jonathan Barlow. I'm a partner attorney at Clear Counsel Law Group. A question that I'm often asked by my business clients is, "What is an operating agreement and why is it important?" In short an operating agreement is the document in an LLC that regulates how the business is operated. It tells us how profits are distributed. It tells us the respective responsibilities of the owners of the business. It tells us who the managers are, it tells us what authorities the managers have in regard to the business. Do they have authorities to make major decisions? Does that require a higher level of decision making? It tells us what percentage the votes are taken at. Does it require a 75% vote to take the action? In other words, it regulates the internal affairs of the LLC.

Now, why is the operating agreement important? That's a really good question and that goes to one of the main benefits of an LLC. Typically you want to set up an LLC to give yourself asset protection and that means that if the LLC incurs a debt or a liability and somebody sues the LLC they would not be able to come at you individually as an owner to get to your assets in order to pay that debt. It works the other way also. If you individually have a debt, say you hit somebody in the street, you owe somebody a whole bunch of money on a personal injury claim, and they come after you on payment on that. They cannot get to the assets that are held in the LLC in order to pay that debt. It creates a wall of separation or liability protection between those two.

 

LLC operating agreement, Nevada, Las Vegas

 

Why is an operating agreement important in that light? The operating agreement shows, or is one of the ways to show that we treat the LLC as if it is separate from us. We respect it as a business entity, we're not treating it as just a natural extension of ourselves. By showing the operating agreement, we show, "Hey, we have legal documents that say we are a separate entity. We operate the business according to the operating agreement. We should be treated as a separate entity and therefore, we should have that benefit of the asset protection between the LLC and the individual owner's." Brian has a good question here.

 

Brian: Hypothetically, if I was operating, let’s call it Drum Circle LLC, and me and my hippie partners just want to have an oral operating agreement because we trust each other would that have any legal value?

 

Jonathan:  Okay. An oral operating agreement, I've never heard of that, but the concept makes sense. You can have an oral contract, just like any other contract. You can orally state this is how we're going to operate the business. Yes, you can do that and you can have agreements amongst yourselves of what you're going to do in certain circumstances with the business. Of course, that has dangers and risks, which are disputes about what the agreement was. If a dispute ever arose one person may say one thing and the other may say a different thing. It also becomes difficult as I was talking about when you need to prove that the LLC is separate from yourself. I would be difficult to prove the oral operating agreement. It's much easier if you have a written paper copy of the operating agreement to show them and say, "Hey, here it is. Here's our agreement, this is why we treat it as a separate entity." Never the less, I suppose you could make arguments that no we did treat it as a separate entity and here's evidence of our oral agreement about how we did that, but in any event I always advise clients to be as formal as possible in creating their LLC and operating the LLC.

If you want help to create your operating agreement or to review your operating agreement to make sure that it complies with good requirements and will give you that asset protection. I encourage to give me a call or any of our other attorney's here at Clear Counsel Law Group and we'll do the best we can to help you with that.

Corporations / Corporations Videos / Estate Planning / Nevada Law - 01/05/2016

How Soon After Bankruptcy Will You Have Credit Again?

 

 

How Long Does it Take to Get Credit Again after Filing Bankruptcy?

Transcript:

Matt: Hi, Matt McArthur at Clear Counsel Law Group. Common question that's presented to me is when after filing bankruptcy am I realistically going to be able to apply for credit again. The answer to this question is almost immediately. There are several different ways to get new financing, whether it's through a credit card, secured credit card, or a new car loan. The options are pretty vast considering the individual has just filed for bankruptcy. Many of my clients will often tell me after we filed their bankruptcy case that they're getting more junk mail than they've ever received and it's full of credit card offers and prequalification offers for car loans. I always caution them to be very careful with these offers because one, they've just filed for bankruptcy and the point of bankruptcy is to get out of debt; and two, because they have just filed bankruptcy, they may not qualify for the best terms for these financing options that are available to them at that time.

If you're looking at qualifying the finance the purchase of a home through a mortgage, you're more likely looking at a two to three-year time period after filing bankruptcy. Essentially, everything else though, credit cards and car loans, you're looking at almost an immediate turnaround after filing your bankruptcy case. Brian, you had a question related to this?

 

Brian: Would you advise people to get one credit card after filing bankruptcy to make small charges to rehabilitate their credit that way?

 

Matt: That's a very good question. There's different schools of thought on this. One school of thought is credit cards may be a source of weakness for you and it's better not to touch them at all. Don't even worry about your credit score. Just start going to a cash basis method where you set aside a little bit of savings and you're very meticulous and detailed with your monthly budget. You're able to then set aside a small savings and build up a rainy day fund. If you ever need to purchase something that's an emergency or something that may not fit into your monthly budget, then you then borrow for yourself in a sense and you can pay for the purchase outright rather than relying upon credit.

Now, I don't necessarily subscribe to that theory because I think that there are many practical uses of having a good score. What I would recommend is yes, getting one small card and only purchasing things on it on a monthly basis that you would be purchasing anyway, and built that into your monthly budget. For example, if you have a car and you regularly fill it up once a week, or however often that is, just decide that you're going to make all your gasoline purchases on the card and pay it off in full every month. That's going to provide you with a positive payment history after filing the bankruptcy, and it will help rehabilitate your credit score post-bankruptcy.

That would be my advice after filing bankruptcy. Do apply for one small card and don't go nuts with it, but make small, modest purchases that fit into your budget anyway and pay it off every single month. You'll see your credit score rebound or go up immediately after filing bankruptcy, and that will just help the rise of the credit score. My name's Matt McArthur, experienced bankruptcy attorney. If you're thinking about filing bankruptcy, worried about your credit score and how that may relate to the bankruptcy, please come in and see me and I'll take care of you. Take care.

Bankruptcy / Bankruptcy Videos - 12/31/2015

Protecting Your LLC: How to Transfer the Rights to a Family Member

 

 

Transfer Your Interest in an LLC to a Family Member

Transcript:

Jonathan: Hi, my name is Jonathan Barlow. I'm a partner attorney at Clear Counsel Law Group. We handle estate planning and we handle business planning. The question we have today that I'm going to answer blends these two areas in one question. The question is, how can I transfer an ownership interest in my LLC to a family member? There's basically two times that you might think about a transform happening. One, while you're alive, and two, after you pass away.

First, if you think about wanting to transfer an ownership interest while you're alive, I highly recommend that you do this as formally as possible to make it very clear that you did both intend to transfer the interest and that you actually did transfer the interest. That can be done formally through a simple document. We call it an assignment of ownership interest. In that document, you simply recite that you are an owner of the business in such and such a percentage, and that you hereby or give such and such as percentage or amount to the person you want to give it to. Sign it, date it, have it notarized. That actually acts as a formal transfer of ownership interest. It formalizes it and makes it very clear what your intent was.

After you pass away, if you have an intent to transfer the interest after you have died, you want to make sure you also do that very formally. You could that either in a will or in a trust. If you do it through your will you're probably going to have to ... or your family member will have to go through probate in order to get their interest in your business, which could delay the operation of the business while that process is happening. The best way to plan for an after-you-die transfer is through a trust.

In your trust, just like any other asset, you can specifically list 25% of my business or half of the business or all of the business to be transferred to my son John when I pass away. That can happen pretty easily and quickly after you die through the use of a trust. Those are the two best ways to do that and transfer those ownership interests. Brian has a question about this.

 

Brian: What happens to your LLC if it goes into probate?

 

Jonathan: That's a good question. If the LLC, which becomes an asset of your estate when you die and in order to get it transferred out of your estate to whomever's going to inherit it, it goes through probate, what happens to the business? That's an interesting question. If there's not already other business managers operating the business, if the person who passed away is the only manager, the personal representative or executor of the estate can be appointed with authority to continue the business of the LLC. The court would grant that person, the executor, authority to step in the shoes of the manager of the business and continue with the operations of the business while the probate is occurring until it is transferred out of the probate estate to the heirs.

That may or may not be a good idea. That's also a reason why you want to think about using a trust to avoid that potential process. Because that executor may not have the business acumen that you would want them to have in order to operate your business. Thus again, using it through a trust allows you to be much more formal and specific about how you want that ownership interest to transfer, and the management interest as well. If you have questions about your LLC, about your ownership interests, how to transfer those, I encourage you to give me a call or any of the attorneys here at Clear Counsel Law Group, and we'll do our best to answer your questions.

Corporations / Corporations Videos / Estate Planning - 12/30/2015
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