Lawyer for Hire

[mackler]

Why Would You Want to Hire a Lawyer?

Legal documents come in a multitude of forms: contracts, leases, deeds, wills, declarations, drafts, promissory notes, bylaws.  Maybe you're buying a house, maybe you're starting or running a business, maybe you're about to sign your first big record deal.  Sometimes you can read or create these documents yourself, but the reality is that business relationships that begin with the best of intentions can end up in nasty litigation down the road.

Many lawyers make a career out of navigating their customers through these lengthy and expensive court battles.  My goal is to help you to avoid disputes by explaining to you what you're getting into before you sign on the dotted line.

If your situation involves legal documents then I can help you.  I can help you to understand those documents, to negotiate their content, to write them, or to revise them as best serves your interests.  If you've already signed a legal document, I can explain to you what it means in terms of your options and possible outcomes.  I am fluent in both legalese as well as Plain English, and I can draft your documents in one, the other, or a combination of both as best suits your needs.

What's it Going to Cost?

I know that lawyers have a reputation for being unnecessarily expensive.  I am different.  I don't pay for a fancy office, I don't drive a fancy car, and I don't go around in a fancy suit (unless I have to appear before a judge or something).  If you would rather pay for my time than for my dry-cleaning, if you don't mind discussing your situation over a table at Murphy's instead of in a mahogany-paneled corporate suite, and if you like the idea of saving yourself money, than I can offer you an alternative to what is typical in the legal industry. 

I am always happy to provide a free consultation (provided there are no conflicts of interest), and for a limited time I am offering this porcupine special: if we both decide that it makes sense for you become a new customer of mine and you mention that you read this ad here, your first hour of my service as absolutely free.  And yes, that means that if I can finish what you need in under an hour, I won't charge you any fee.  (Out-of-pocket expenses are extra, e.g., postage or photocopying). 

If your job takes more than an hour, then what your exact costs will be depends on how complex your situation is, how busy I am at that moment, but also on your own means.  I will work with you to figure out the best way to get you what you need in the most affordable way possible.  But I will never charge you for anything without a clear agreement between us before I start the clock, and there will never be any surprises on your bill.

About Me

I am a graduate of the Seattle University School of Law which has the #2 ranked legal writing program in the country.  I am a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD).  I am a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association (NHBA).  While I personally would prefer a competitive system of professional certification for lawyers, the fact is that right now the NHBA does have a monopoly on certifying this profession in New Hampshire.  I do not endorse this monopoly system, but since I want to let my customers know that I am competent to serve them I have submitted to and passed the NHBA's very rigorous examination procedure and I have obtained their permission to call myself Attorney at Law.

To get in touch with me, PM me on this site, or phone me anytime.  I am here to help you.

Adam Mackler, Attorney at Law
816 Elm Street # 135
Manchester, NH 03101
(603) 719-0093

[AntonLee]

good deal thanks for posting this

[mackler]

Today's legal column answers a common question that porcupines who want to create "Porc Manors" have: if I'm buying a house, should I put it in my name, or use an LLC, DBA, or a trust.

But first, dear readers, I must qualify everything here by saying that I do not have enough information about your situation to give you advice.  This is just for information purposes.  I advise you to come up with a plan to meet your specific needs, ideally with the help of a qualified counselor.  Which form of business entity is right for you depends on what your goals are.  Each has its benefits and disadvantages.

DBA (for "doing business as") is just another name for yourself.  It's a tradename for a sole proprietorship.  The main things it does are allows you to advertise using the tradename, and to have a bank account in the business name, so the business name is on checks and people can write checks to the business name and you can deposit them into the DBA's bank account.  It does not limit your personal liability.  In other words, if the DBA somehow ends up owing someone money, then the creditor can come after your other property even if it's not in the name of the DBA, it can try to garnish your wages or inheretance, and do all the other things that creditors do to defaulting debtors.  Avoiding that might be a benefit of an LLC or a trust, but may also partially be possible otherwise (through the use of a non-recourse loan, for example)

A DBA could be the grantee of a deed to real estate (i.e. the owner) so that someone looking to see who owns a particular piece of land sees the DBA's name, and not the name your parents gave you.  The thing I would be worried about is when it comes time to sell the property.  Buyers want to make sure that the person signing the deed is actually the owner or authorized by the owner to sell the property.  RSA 349:1(I) requires DBA names to be registered with the State.  A phone call to the State can reveal who the DBA owner is, so it may not give you much more privacy than just using your own name.

LLC stands for "Limited Liability Company," and the name indicates the feature of that business form that provides its main benefit: limited liability.  If an LLC owns the building, and something happens that results in the building owner owing money, then only the building-owning LLC's property will be liable to the creditor.  You may own the LLC, but as long as the building is owned by the LLC and not you personally, then your other property is much much harder for a creditor to reach through legal methods.  Depending on how the LLC is created, it can also provide a greater measure of privacy.

The building could also be owned by a trust.  Trusts are a complicated area of law, and each state is different.  Traditionally a trust involved three parties: the person creating the trust is the "settlor," the person who legally owns the trust property is the "trustee," and the person who the settlor wants to have the benefit of the property is the "beneficiary."  So a common scenario would be be grandpa creating a trust for his baby grandchild Sonny to make sure that Sonny is old enough to be responsible before Sonny gets to control the money grandpa leaves for him in his will, for example.  Sonny doesn't own the money until he reaches a certain age, the trustee does, but the trustee is required by law to use it for the benefit of Sonny and not himself.

Often people want to be both the settlor and the beneficiary of a trust.  It's not clear to me how much benefit you can get from that.  The bottom line is that if the government decides it wants trust-owned property located in New Hampshire because the beneficiary of the trust owes the IRS money, for example, I doubt a trust is going to help.  Also, a risk with a trust is, you would not be the legal owner of the building, someone else, the "trustee" is.  Sometimes trustees don't do what the beneficiary of a trust wants, so you have to make sure it's someone you trust--hence the name.  The specific obligations of the trustee would be spelled out in a document called a declaration of trust.  Still, I can see certain privacy benefits.  I can't say much more without understanding your specific situation better.

Another thing to consider is that LLCs and trusts can be formed in jurisdictions other than NH, and even in jurisdictions other than US states.  (And I don't believe that NH is known for any special trust laws the way some other states are.)  Doing things that way can provide a lot of privacy.  The downside is that in certain situations, disputes cannot be resolved without litigation in far-away places.  The upside is that in certain situations, disputes cannot be resolved without litigation in far-away places.

Also, an LLC can be the beneficiary of a trust, and a trust can own an LLC, so you could have a setup where you are the beneficiary of a trust that owns an LLC that owns the building.  Or you could be the owner of an LLC that is a beneficiary of a trust that owns the building.  And you could add more layers in different jurisdictions.  Since every jurisdiction has its own LLC and trust laws, this can get very complicated, but you can imagine that a great degree of privacy can be achieved in this way.

How long is the processing for an LLC?

Actually, you can begin conducting business in the name of an LLC before the paperwork goes through.  You just have to make sure that the other parties in transactions with the LLC know that they are dealing with a (soon-to-be) LLC and not you.  For the same reason that you must put LLC in the name of the LLC, you must let other people know they're dealing with an LLC.  The reason is that other people have to be warned that if the deal goes bad, then they can only look to the assets of the LLC, and not your other personal assets.  The other thing to consider is that if for any reason the LLC does not come into existence, then you will be personally liable for whatever deal you got into expecting the LLC to be formed.  And if the building ends up being owned by a non-existent LLC, then you can understand that it will be hard to sell it.

A limited liability company is formed at the time of the filing of the initial certificate of formation with the secretary of state, which is effective at the close of business on the date it is filed, or at the date and time of acceptance by the secretary of state corporate database and application, if filed electronically.  So if I did it for you then it would take as long as it takes for us to draw up the papers and get them to Concord plus one day, or to submit them electronically.

If you've already made an offer to buy a house or building in your own personal name, and if the seller accepts your offer then you will be personally obligated to go through with it.  If the seller wants to change the deal so that it's the LLC or trust buying it and not you, then that's up to the seller to decide.  Or you could pay for the building, but the LLC or trust can become the owner.  Probably a seller would not care as long as he/she/it gets paid, but ultimately if the purchase agreement says that the deed will be transfered to you, then it's the seller's choice whether to be cooperative and to put it in a different name.

Of course, once you own the building, you can tranfer it to an LLC or put it in a trust, but the public records will probably show it being owned by you before going into the name of the LLC or trust, which might not provide you with whatever privacy you're looking for. 

How much does it cost to create an LLC?  Do I need to write by-laws?

The minimum forms for creating and maintaining an LLC are available here.  As you can see it costs $100 if you do it yourself, plus $100 per year.  You do not have to file bylaws, so if you're the only owner, then you can change them without needing anyone else's approval.  I am not familiar with legalzoom, so I can't tell you anything about them except they claim to provide this service.  If you want me to do it, if you're a new customer of mine, and I can do it in under an hour, then it would be the filing fee, plus postage or travel to Concord or any other expenses.  We'd have to talk about your specific situation to figure out how long it would take.

I hope this column helps some prospective porcupine landlords out there.  Get in touch with me if you want to go into more detail about your situation. 

If you have another legal question you would like to have answered, PM me.  I will select the best ones and post public answers.  If you want a private response, just let me know.

Adam Mackler, Attorney at Law
816 Elm Street #135
Manchester, NH 03101
603-719-0093

[KBCraig]

I'm not Dalebert, but +1 for the informative lesson!