Mirror of Justice

Estate Planning Basics and the Law

July 18th, 2009 at 07:08pm Under Probate Law

Estate Planning Basics And The Law
Having a plan that determines how your assets are used during your life and after your death is a critical process that requires expert legal advice. Estate planning can help you decide how your assets are distributed. You may need to set aside resources for your long-term care. Plus, you might need to appoint someone to manage your estate in the event that you lose your own ability to do so. You may decide that a portion of your estate should be given to certain charitable organizations. Each of these circumstances can be included in an estate plan with the help of a lawyer.
Benefits Of Planning Your Estate
Without an estate plan, your assets can be distributed in a way that’s contrary to your wishes. When you die, a number of important legal issues regarding your assets emerge. The manner in which your estate is divided amongst your heirs, how taxes are handled, donations to charities and transfers of property are only a few of the many concerns an estate plan can address.
With the help of an experienced estate planning lawyer, you can ensure that your assets will be used according to your wishes. Your plan can distribute assets from your estate to your beneficiaries quickly and seamlessly. Your lawyer can help you determine an executor of your estate in the event of your death. An estate plan can minimize the taxes owed by your estate by giving the allowable maximum to various beneficiaries. If you’re a business owner, you can make sure your business operates uninterrupted by detailing plans of succession and distribution of income.
Potential Pitfalls Of Poor Planning
Millions of people fail to plan how their assets are divided when they die. As a result, their estate often ends up in probate. This is a process that’s best avoided whenever possible. In probate, a court examines a will (if one exists) and divides a person’s assets accordingly. When a will doesn’t exist, the court decides how best to allocate the assets from an estate. The entire process is time-intensive and expensive. You can avoid having your assets end up in probate by hiring an estate planning lawyer to set up trusts and other arrangements.
Using The Law To Protect Your Assets
The law stipulates how your assets can be divided after you die. With the help of an experienced attorney, you can leverage the law to protect your assets. A lawyer can help you ensure your estate isn’t vulnerable to a long and costly probate process. He can help you minimize the tax liability your estate will suffer upon your death. The sale and distribution of tangible assets can be detailed according to your preferences. By planning your estate with the advice of a qualified attorney, you can be confident that your affairs will be in order when you die. Not planning your estate well in advance can lead to an excessive and time costing adventure for your loved ones.

To Avoid Probate You Need a Living Trust Besides a Will

July 18th, 2009 at 07:08am Under Probate Law

Ensuring that a client’s estate does not go through probate is one of the main goals of estate planning. Why? Because probate costs money, takes time, and can cause major aggravation.
First, here are some of the important terms in estate planning: Living Trust – a trust set up during a person’s lifetime (during which the trust may be changed or revoked) to avoid probate.
Probate – the legal process by which a will is proved to be valid and binding (can be a lengthy and expensive process).
Will – a formal legal document directing the disposition of assets upon death.
Why it is important for an estate to avoid probate: In the May 2008 American Bar Association Journal an attorney in Chicago says: “Probate in Illinois is relatively painless, so long as there is no litigation associated with it. Probate requires only two court appearances, and the decision-making does not require court approval, so long as there is no litigation or upset heirs interfering with the administration of the estate.” There can easily be totally unexpected upset heirs interfering with the administration of the estate. And even just paying an attorney’s hourly rate for two court appearances and various court filings can cost heirs a great deal of money.
Probate fees can take a big bite out of a small estate: Attorney’s and executor’s probate fees are set by law in some states, such as in California. The estate’s attorney in California will be paid $13,000 for a small estate of $500,000, which with California housing prices is a small estate. And if the executor doesn’t waive the fee, he or she will also receive a fee of $13,000.
That’s right, $26,000 in fees for an estate that might consist of only a small residence! Plus court filing fees, probate referee fees, certified copy fees and aggravation too much to mention.
Privacy issue – probate is a public process: Another problem with probate is that it is a public process. A will becomes part of the records at the courthouse, and anybody who wants to can read it. If there’s a contentious relative being left out of a will, or if privacy is valued, probate should definitely be avoided.
A living trust solves these problems: What is needed so that an estate doesn’t have to go through the legal obstacles of probate? A will is not enough to avoid probate. A living trust is needed.
A living trust has the same instructions for the disposition of property that would be expected in a will. But since the trust is a pre-existing legal entity, it continues after death. Therefore, the estate does not have to go through probate since there are no assets that have to be “proved.”
Pour-over will takes care of any assets not transferred to the trust: A will is still needed in case there are any assets that have not been transferred to the trust. For example, the proceeds of a wrongful death lawsuit would be picked up by the will because these proceeds didn’t exist at the time the trust was set up. The will “pours” everything it covers into the trust, which is why it is known as a “pour-over” will.
The above information is only considerations for you to discuss with your own estate planning attorney; the information is NOT legal advice. The providing of this material does not establish an attorney-client relationship.

Probate and Estate Planning

July 16th, 2009 at 07:08pm Under Probate Law

The information you obtain from this article is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.
There are few things in life that are an absolute certainty. Morbid as it sounds, death is one of those certainties. However, life is not predictable and could take a turn for the worst at any moment. Unlike other unpredictable events in life, the certainty of death provides an opportunity to prepare for it. People do not usually think that it is necessary to prepare for death until old age, but due to this unpredictability, it is never too early.
The process of allocating everything a person owns, or his/her estate, is known as Estate Planning. This planning will ease the process of dividing your estate amongst your heirs or loved ones once death occurs. It will save them time, money, and effort, and will make sure that your desires for your estate are met.
There are a number of ways that estate planning can be accomplished. The most basic type is a simple will, but other ways include planning your funeral arrangements, life insurance, and other directives. Some people question the importance of planning funeral arrangements, but it can help surviving loved ones enormously. It makes things less complicated for loved ones when death occurs by allowing them to express their grief, rather than hiding emotions during the funeral arrangements.
A comprehensive plan can meet your needs and desires while meeting other important estate planning objectives. These include avoiding probate, reducing the amount of estate shrinkage during this process, providing sufficient liquidity to cover costs of the estate settlement, minimizing federal and state taxes related to the process, and helping to maintain your family’s standard of living by not burdening them with other financial burdens. Of these, avoiding probate is one of the more significant objectives to meet.
Probate occurs when the legal system becomes involved in how the estate of a deceased person should be settled and distributed. In many cases, probate is not necessary. If a person is married without a legal will, the estate will be transferred to their spouse upon death. If a will does exist, a person will be chosen by the deceased to be the executor of the will. This person, a family member or attorney, is responsible for following the instructions about what is to happen with the estate. Life insurance policies, bank accounts, or other items that name a beneficiary or have a “payable on death” clause are not generally probate issues.
If a will does not exist and the person is not married, and in many cases even when a will does exist, the court system then becomes involved, leading to probate. The purpose of probate is to make sure that debts are paid and that the estate (property, possessions and money) is properly distributed to loved ones according to the wishes of the deceased.
Probate proceedings can vary from state to state, so it is important to seek professional help from an attorney that has experience with wills and probate cases. The death of a loved one and distribution of possessions that may have sentimental value to survivors can be an unpleasant situation. Seeking legal counsel will help to protect your rights and help you understand what is happening and why, but even with help, probate cases can take more than a year to be completed. If everyone involved can agree to work together to respect the wishes of the deceased, probate can be a smooth process that becomes more a remembrance of the deceased rather than an ugly quarrel over estate.
The best way to avoid putting loved ones in the hassles of a probate situation is to prepare a comprehensive estate plan for when death occurs. Estate planning not only saves time and effort of your loved ones, but also gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your own wishes and desires for your estate will be fulfilled. To avoid making mistakes, seek out professional advice from a qualified attorney who can help with the process and can help you get the most out of an estate plan.
The information you obtain from this article is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.

Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers Outlines the Potential Impact of Upcoming Massachusetts Sjc Ruling on the State’s Consumer Protection Act

July 16th, 2009 at 02:56pm Under Consumer Law

 

DATELINE:  BOSTON, MA…

An upcoming ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has the potential to be a very significant case not only for consumers, but also for the Commonwealth as a whole according to Attorney Lee M. Holland of Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers.

 

At issue in Joseph Iannacchino & others v. Ford Motor Company & another is the extent to which a plaintiff must sustain a demonstrable injury or loss before looking to the courts for relief from allegedly unfair or deceptive practices under Chapter 93A.  Once they clear this hurdle, for instance, they can access the statute’s powerful treble damages provisions.  Accordingly, the answer is important to anyone who does business in Massachusetts and may potentially face such claims.

 

The Case in a nutshell.

In the Iannacchino case, the plaintiffs are contending that the defendants violated the Consumer Protection Act by failing to recall and fix certain vehicles that allegedly have a defect in their door latching mechanisms that exposes consumers to the risk of serious injury or death. The defendants evaluated the latch mechanisms and decided against initiating a recall.

 

The Superior Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claim since the plaintiffs had been able to use the allegedly defective vehicles, and had not suffered any direct personal or economic injury as a result of the alleged defect. In the pending SJC appeal, the plaintiffs challenge the trial court’s dismissal of the claim.

 

Pros and Cons.

Notes Holland, “Several strong but competing arguments exist for the SJC to consider. On one hand, consumer advocacy groups argue that the ultimate goal should be improved consumer safety, and that it would be perverse to interpret existing law to require a consumer to suffer physical injury as a prerequisite to bringing a claim where it can establish that a defect exists which reasonably poses an increased risk of causing harm to consumers.

 

Conversely, it can be argued that consumers are adequately protected under existing law, but even more so by demand for improvements in safety. Manufacturers have an economic interest in achieving safe products where the market demands them, such as in the consumer automobile industry. Litigation regarding an alleged safety defect that has not resulted in any physical injury consumes resources that manufacturers might otherwise invest in product research and development, thereby hindering efforts to advance safety.

 

Broader societal costs may exist as well. For instance, an unanticipated increase in the litigation risks to which corporations doing business in the Commonwealth are exposed could operate as a disincentive to economic growth . . . .”

 

Stay tuned for the verdict.

It is true that the Iannacchino plaintiffs have been able to use their vehicles and have not suffered any direct injury. Assuming a defect exists in the door latches, however, it is also true that the Iannacchino plaintiffs face an elevated risk of injury every time they go for a drive. Does that elevated risk mean they can sue under the state’s Consumer Protection Act? Stay tuned for the SJC ruling, expected in June 2008.

 

Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C.

Formed in 1991, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. is committed to providing high quality, comprehensive legal services to its clients. Featuring a breadth and depth of experience and perspective usually found only at larger law firms, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. offers sophisticated legal counsel to entrepreneurs, businesses, individuals, families, and institutions.

The firm’s areas of expertise include litigation and dispute resolution, corporate law, employment matters, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, taxation, real estate, bankruptcy, and municipal law.

 

The expertise and collegiality of the firm’s fifty plus members, associates, and support staff has consistently resulted in the building of lasting relationships of trust and confidence.

 

The offices of Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. are located at 101 Huntington Avenue, Prudential Center, in Boston, MA 02199. For additional information, or to arrange for a consultation, please call 1-617-218-2000, e-mail info@tbhr-law.com, or visit www.tbhr-law.com.

 

 

Probate Auctions On E-bay

July 16th, 2009 at 07:08am Under Probate Law

Whenever a person dies and leaves behind debt creditors, the administrator or executor of that person’s estate faces certain challenges in quickly selling real and personal property in order to satisfy creditors. The probate process is long and drawn out, and every shortcut available should be sought in order to shorten the amount of time that property is tied up in the process. Recently, with the great success of E-bay, people have discovered a quick and efficient way to unload property in order to satisfy debts. Not only has E-bay made the general premise of auctioning easier, it has also made it more understandable and desirable to the masses.
It is the jurisdiction’s Probate Court’s responsibility to ensure all probate assets are collected, maintained, and distributed among the decedent’s heirs, beneficiaries, and/or creditors in accordance with the will of the decedent as expressed through that person’s testamentary will and the laws of that jurisdiction. This process is known as the administration of a decedent’s estate, and it can cause great difficulties to even the most experienced executor. Once the person dies, the executor or administrator must first make an accounting to the Probate Court to determine the value of decedent’s estate. Second, they must seek to pay any taxes or debts owed. Only after the debts and taxes are paid, do the decedent’s heirs or beneficiaries get any of the probate property. As the probate process can often take more than a year, using E-bay, or other comparable online services can assist in satisfying the creditors and debts owed by the estate. However, it should be pointed out that under Massachusetts law, creditors do have one-year to make any claims against the estate.
Even a quick browse through E-bay listed properties presents many real properties for sale which are currently in probate. Utilizing E-bay and other online auction tools can allow a person to achieve the greatest value for the estate, since auctions can be held across the country, creating a true marketplace for the decedent’s property. Online auction sites allow for the administrator or executor to realize a more accurate value for what is being sold. This tool can actually demonstrate that the executor has fulfilled his or her fiduciary duties. However, when selling real probate property over an online auction site, the administrator of the estate should first seek court approval. While auctioning off real property from a probate estate will help move the process along, it might not have a substantial effect on the overall speed of the probate process itself, though it can be of assistance in clearing up creditors and determining priority of payment. The true value of sites such as E-bay lies in their ability to allow the seller to achieve the greatest amount for the property as possible. While only hundreds might attend an auction in person, E-bay allows thousands of people to participate in the auction, all the while driving the price up and leaving more money to the estate.
The valuable advocate must have a clear understanding of the best ways in which to assist their clients or their client’s estate in obtaining the best value for any property in probate. Utilizing newer technologies in order to gain value or speed the hassles of probate can create substantial good will in the eyes of the client or their estate. The role of the effective attorney is to reduce problems and headaches and to make life easier for clients. If an attorney can also reduce costs, increase value and speed along the probate process, he or she just might have found lifelong clients. Additionally, having a clear understanding of available technologies can help to assist executors of estates in fulfilling their fiduciary duties of successfully executing the intent of the decedent.

Streamlining Probate Law – Execute the Executor and Avoid Probate Completely

July 13th, 2009 at 01:08pm Under Probate Law

Probate law primarily concerns the execution, interpretation, and contest of legal wills and estates. A probate court may be known by various names depending on where it is, however, probate law always concerns how a deceased person’s estate is handled by his executor or heirs. The word probate describes the process through which a person’s final wishes are carried out with regard to who should administer the process, how assets will be sold and divided, and what will happen to any existing estate. The estate is the term used to refer to the legal entity that is comprised of a decedent’s assets after they themselves have died. An estate may own property, profit, pay taxes, be sued, and owe debts.
A will is a legal document that exists under civil law. It is considered to be the last, definitive, and dying wish made by a person before their death, and for a will that has been ratified by a court, the legally appointed administrator of this process – the executor – usually either a legal professional or a competent friend or colleague of the deceased, has an obligation to ensure that the decedent’s last wishes are carried out to the extent that is practical, legal, and affordable. Under probate law, the executor is entitled to charge the estate a reasonable fee for their services.
A will may include simple instructions for dividing the property of an estate between the children of the deceased, or it may include detailed instructions for using the estate to establish a scholarship committee, or trust. Despite the finality of a will, it is possible to legally contest even a will that has been ratified by a court. If an executor is suspected of mishandling the affairs of an estate, beneficiaries are permitted to request that court ask the executor to account for their actions while administering the will.
When a person who has left a will dies, a named executor is responsible for administering the will. They are under no obligation to agree to this, as it is a time-consuming process that an administrator accepts a considerable deal of personal liability for managing. If the named executor refuses (or one is not named), the duty falls to the most senior beneficiary of the will. Except in emergencies, it usually takes longer than a month to appoint an executor.
All recipients in the will, and all people who would legally be recipients if no will were left must be informed of the death by post, giving them the opportunity to prepare a challenge to the will or appointment of an administrator or executor. Before any division of assets can occur, the deceased’s estate must pay all outstanding taxes that were owed at death, or have been incurred by the estate itself. Finally, during probate, all creditors are given an opportunity to come forward in order to be compensated by the estate for any outstanding debts that the deceased carried at debt.
Probate is invariably a costly process, and usually far more time consuming than most people care to tolerate, so methods to avoid probate completely are being increasingly utilized. Some jurisdictions include procedures for streamlining or avoiding the probate process completely to reduce loads on courts and cost to beneficiaries. For example, in the state of California, probate law includes a provision for people whose assets were worth less than $100,000 at the time of their death by which probate can be avoided outright. Similarly, assets conferred to a living trust or jointly held by another person under joint tenancy laws (for instance, a surviving spouse) need not be subject to the probate process.
Probate law is an expensive, drawn out process that often takes up to a year to fully complete. The processes by which a decedent’s assets are divided according to their last will and wishes can be quite complicated, and in many cases, vehemently contested. For this reason, anyone with doubts or questions about this area of law would be well advised to book an initial consultation with a firm that specializes in probate law.

La Quinta Business Lawyer’s Top Ten Things That Sarah Palin Would Change About the Constitution

July 13th, 2009 at 02:57am Under Constitutional Law

Here is La Quinta Business Lawyer Sebastian Gibson’s Top Ten:

1.The Vice President is in charge of the Senate.

 

2. The President must be a woman.

 

3. No more interviews of politicians.

 

4. The democratic party is outlawed.

 

5. Only one news channel – Fox News.

 

6. Any more fake calls from disc jockeys pretending to be the President of France and Canada is out of NAFTA, whatever those initials stand for in the constitution.

 

7. All turkeys are pardoned.

 

8. Snowmobiles should be used in place of cars throughout the U.S.

 

9. Anytime a woman is elected governor in Alaska, she automatically becomes the President two years later.

 

10. Rewrite the whole darn constitution with PTA moms in charge this time.

 

Now here is everything (well, almost everything) you need to know in businessabout environmental, international law, election and campaign law, consumer law, class actions, constitutional, internet, publishing, advertising, media, food and wine, hotel and restaurant law, estate planning, wills, trusts, water law, agricultural, insurance law, bad faith, psychologist and psychotherapist defense, education law and child accidents.

You can also find all you need to know (well, mostly) in business about personal injury, car accidents, brain damage, wrongful deaths, business, real estate, landlord-tenant, homeowners association law, construction, patents, trademarks, corporations, entertainment law, advertising, copyrights, and litigation by searching for those subjects and adding the words La Quinta business lawyer or La Quinta business attorney to your search terms and looking for other articles by Sebastian Gibson.

 

You can also learn more about any of these business areas of law and how we can assist you as La Quinta business attorneys, or as lawyers in any city, by calling the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers which can be found on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com  .

 

1. Environmental and Toxic Tort Law in La Quinta – With multi-billion dollar energy companies spending more money to confuse the public on the threat posed by global warming than on research into alternative forms of energy, it will take all of us to sort fact from fiction and solve the growing problem of global warming. An additional danger to all of us comes from exposure to toxic materials in our daily lives from tainted food, to contaminated ground water, to dangerous viruses in the public and in hospitals to lead and mercury poisoning. If you experience unusual symptoms that a doctor can’t explain, you may have been exposed to a toxic substance and have a toxic tort claim that should be evaluated by us or another qualified La Quinta environmental attorney.

 

2. La Quinta International, Shipping and Maritime Law – A La Quinta international attorney with years of international legal education and experience such as you’ll find at our La Quinta law firm, can provide you with a wealth of practical knowledge and the ability to find answers to your international law questions. It is to your advantage to also have a La Quinta international lawyer working in cooperation with foreign counsel in other jurisdictions to ensure that the most cost-effective avenues are pursued to resolve your legal matter. However, many international matters can be resolved with letters between La Quinta international lawyers and foreign lawyers, and international mediations and arbitrations can also be utilized. If you have been injured on a ship or an oil rig you have rights under the Jones Act to be compensated for your injuries, medical treatment, past and future wage loss and care.

 

3. La Quinta Election and Campaign Finance Law – If you are considering running for political office or have already done so and are facing campaign finance legal issues, the time to hire a La Quinta election attorney with election law knowledge is at the first possible opportunity before you get into hot water that can sink your campaign or put your political career into jeopardy.

 

4. La Quinta Consumer Law and Class Actions – If you have paid for an item but have not received it, been promised an action or service that has not come to fruition or are considering ordering services or signing any type of agreement, the time to hire a La Quinta consumer lawyer is immediately in order to avoid being scammed, or defrauded. A La Quinta consumer attorney’s letter drafted forcefully but professionally will obtain the desired result, products or services in a good percentage of cases. Whether you ordered gold bars but did not receive them, were told that your car would be paid off when you traded it in on a new one or were promised that a pool would be completed in your back yard, a La Quinta consumer attorney can and should be hired for a modest fee to write a letter on your behalf and demand the required action, products or services. If you think you are just one of many who have been scammed or defrauded in some way, you may have a class action.

 

5. Constitutional, Publishing and Publicity and Privacy Rights, Internet Law, Advertising and Media Law in La Quinta – Defamation includes both libel and slander. Anyone in the media or publishing or broadcast world or with a web site is at risk of a lawsuit for claims of defamation or false advertising However, constitutional law questions also arise in civil rights discrimination cases, discrimination in employment and a wide variety of other legal matters. If you have been disenfranchised or your constitutional rights abused in any matter or if you have been accused of abusing the rights of others, contact a La Quinta constitutional lawyer as soon as it occurs. If others seek to profit with the use of your name or image you also have a claim for damages.

 

6. Food and Wine Law, Hotel and Restaurant Law in La Quinta – Today, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, bars and grocery stores face an ever increasing host of new regulations they never faced previously. From the usual licensing problems they face with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for adherence to and violations of ABC rules, to new state regulations involving menus and calorie counts in fast food restaurants and new rules requiring groceries to show the country of origin in labels on most of their produce and meat. The worst case scenario today for an establishment serving alcohol, is to serve a minor alcohol who later dies in an auto accident. Such an establishment will need legal representation by a La Quinta food, alcohol and restaurant lawyer before the ABC as well as legal defense of civil lawsuits filed against it.

 

7. La Quinta Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts – The current estate tax in 2008 affects only people who die with an estate in excess of two million dollars. In 2009, that amount will increase to three and a half million dollars and in 2010, the estate tax is repealed. That’s the good news. If, however, the estate tax repeal is not extended by 2011, the estate tax will kick in again. The worse news is that in 2011, if the estate tax repeal is not extended, the estate tax will kick in at one million dollars. The current federal estate tax rate is a whopping 47 percent. That stays the same in 2009. But other current provisions in the tax code change or end in 2010. In light of this, it is more important than ever to hire a La Quinta estate planning lawyer to draft your will and evaluate the need for a living trust to avoid probate fees ensure your estate goes to the beneficiaries you want it to go to. If you don’t have a will or trust at death, the state will determine who gets your estate, but it will usually be your spouse and children, of if you have none, your closest relatives.

 

8. Water, Agricultural and Natural Resource Law in La Quinta – It is hoped by American farmers and meat producers that the new Country of Origin Labeling Law taking effect in groceries will cause food shoppers to seek meat and produce from the U.S. over food items from other countries. But it is the water shortage in California that has California farmers faced with dire consequences. In 2008, the California Governor formed a Water Bank to stave off mandatory water rationing, but if California has another dry winter, or more fires that draw upon California’s precious water reserves, or if the state legislature does not address the state’s delta environmental problems and expand the state’s water works, with a bill that has been tied up while the legislators haggled over a budget, rationing across the state could become a reality. If you have a water or agricultural issue, the time to call a La Quinta agricultural lawyer with knowledge in this areas is before the issue becomes critical.

 

9. Insurance Law, Bad Faith, Psychologist, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Defense in La Quinta – As insurance companies feel the pain of the stock market crash and face the reality of the value of their own investments decreasing, we expect to see insurance companies delaying settlements, and flirting with violations of the insurance bad faith statutes. As the public becomes more and more depressed with the sinking stock market, loss of jobs, reduced income and less enjoyment out of life, we also see the likelihood of greater use of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists. When claims are made against these professionals without justification, our La Quinta law firm stands ready to defend them

 

10. La Quinta Education Law and Child Accidents – A recent court ruling in California has given temporary relief to parents homeschooling their children. However, we still expect further court rulings to make guidelines that will govern when or under what circumstances homeschooling of children will be permitted in California. Children, as any parent knows, can be injured any time, anywhere. What should not happen is any injury to a child that is the result of the negligence of another. To that end, our La Quinta personal injury lawyers championed protection for children and convinced at least one court and encouraged other personal injury attorneys to do the same, to uphold a new tort for negligent endangerment of a child.

 

If you have a legal matter in La Quinta, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Coachella, Rancho Mirage, Indio, Indian Wells, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Thermal, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms or anywhere in the Coachella Valley, our La Quinta law firm has the knowledge and resources to be your La Quinta Lawyers and your La Quinta Attorneys. Be sure to hire a Coachella Valley law firm with experience in Personal Injury, Car Accidents, Drownings, Brain Damage, Catastrophic Injuries, Wrongful Death, Business, Real Estate and Landlord Tenant Law, Homeowner Association Law, Construction, Trademarks, Patents, Corporations, Entertainment, Sports Law, Marketing, Advertising, Media, and Copyright Law, and who will endeavor to ensure that your rights are properly represented.

 

Additionally, if you have a legal matter which involves Environmental and Toxic Tort Law, Litigation, International, Shipping and Maritime Law, Employment, Election and Campaign Finance Law, Consumer Law and Class Actions, Constitutional, Publishing, Publicity, Privacy Rights, Internet Law, Advertising and Media Law, Food and Wine Law, Hotel and Restaurant Law, Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts, Water, Agricultural and Natural Resource Law, Insurance Law, Bad Faith and Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Defense, Education Law or a Child Accident in La Quinta or anywhere in Southern California, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com  and learn how a La Quinta attorney from our offices can assist you.