Ruiz Doolan Law Firm Blog

Living Will A Living Will is vital in bringing out your end of life decisions. If at any point you’re unable to  communicate your wishes or a doctor has diagnosed you as being incapable of doing so, a Living Will allows your family and physicians to make sure your own personal choices are being respected. When to Use a Living Will: You want to stipulate your needs so that it is more probable they will be carried out. You are facing the prospect of operation or a hospitalization. You want to make a comprehensive estate plan. You have been diagnosed with a incurable illness. The Difference Between a Living Will from a Power of Attorney: A living will and a durable healthcare Power of Attorney allow you to choose someone you trust to make certain medical decisions on your behalf. You must be at least 18 to create either document or you must be of sound mind. That means no one is allowed to coerce you into making a living will or healthcare power of attorney.  T

Your relationship with yours vendors is important. Not only they give the services you need, a lot of small business just starting up rely heavily on them. Some people use them for marketing, some for product. But did you know you can negotiate their fix prices? You can also negotiated their standard contracts. People who start their own business are tied up with the growing of the business and the client side of the business they often forget that their vendors' contracts are just as important.  Certainly they pay for it. Base on our on experience I can tell you we have gotten rid off of so many vendors that did not perform. We often see people who want to tie our clients with one year contracts without any guarantees. Why would anybody sign for that? Sadly they do. Who ever tells you these contracts are not negotiable you can always say there is another vendor. There is 100 vendors. Here at the Ruiz Doolan Law Firm we have dealt with these issues for our clients. We have gott

                During the school year, visitations schedules with the non-custodial parent generally stay the same. Children have school schedules, commitments and responsibilities that require commitment and a strict schedule.  Whether its alternate weekends or split weeks or once a month visits, there is commonly an increase or drastic change in visitation times during the summer. Children are no longer in school and spend extended periods with the parent they generally see for only a short period of time. Parents can take their children on vacation. Conversely, visitations can decrease if the child goes away to summer camp, visit relatives overseas or decides to spend more time on the weekends with friends.                   It is crucial that during the divorce proceedings or parenting time negotiations these issues are brought up and discussed before final agreements are reached. Parents have to be mindful of not only their own limited time with their children but also the c

Equality in marriage, but what about Divorce?                 Same sex marriage was legalized in the state of New Jersey in October of 2013. When it comes to divorce, same sex-marriage couples will follow the same procedure as opposite-sex married couples. What that means is that one party will need to file a complaint for divorce stating at least one of New Jersey’s grounds for divorce, including but not limited to irreconcilable differences. Following that filing the court will process the case in the same manner as it has been processing opposite sex divorces for years. What that means is that there are no additional grounds, paperwork or proofs that are required in a same-sex divorce. There are no additional court appearances required. That does not however mean that the process will be easy. All that means is that everyone is being treated the same way when it comes to divorce.                  When it comes to couples that were married in a civil union, the process

Abuse and the Internet, a whole new look at Domestic Violence in New Jersey              Each year thousands and thousands of people filed domestic violence complaints in the New Jersey courts.  It is easy to see domestic violence when you have a victim that has physical injuries clearly before you. It is not as easy to see violence when the injuries are emotional and the abuse came in the form of words, emails or texts. More and more abusers are using multimedia to attack their victims. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter as well as multiple chat applications are being used as perfect avenues to torment victims. Abusers can stalk without even leaving their homes, they can post messages on their victim’s message boards, send texts to their friends and family and even contact their employers. Not all of these actions are easily traceable as there are now applications that permanently delete your messages within a short period of time, making it harder for victims to prove what has happened

Getting into Business with a Friend? You may need a Joint Venture Agreement. I) What is a Joint Venture Agreement? A joint venture agreement is a contract made between two or more individuals or companies to be in a joint venture.  People who create a joint venture agreement want to collaborate on a project while remaining independent. For example: Company A and Company B want to enter in a joint venture agreement for the specific purpose of building houses. II) Consideration and Planning for A Joint Venture Agreement: When planning to enter a joint venture agreement there are a few factors to consider: 1) The Form of the Joint Venture: Will the joint venture be in the form of a partnership, LLC. or a contract between companies. 2) Scope of Business 3) Ownership and Control 4) Dissolution 5) Assets 6) Governance 7) Management 8) Budgets 9) Disputes 10) Taxes 11) Financing 12) Breaches 13) Debt 14) Transfers Without a properly drafted joint venture agreement the

New Tenant, but same old lease? You need an attorney. Not all lease agreements are created equal. In drafting the lease, the landlord needs to look beyond the standard clauses of amount of rent owed, date it is due and the term of the lease. It is crucial that each lease is individually drafted for that individual tenant as each tenant can create their own individual set of future problems. Failure to consider this and use a template lease for all new tenants will result in future problems when it is time to evict the tenant and/or collect rent that is owed. 'Landlord should look into the tenant’s rental history, income, as well as family resources when determining what terms need to go into the tenant’s rental agreement. Not every tenant that qualifies financially is a necessarily a good tenant to have. In fact, some tenants winding up costing the landlord both financially and emotionally.  These are the type of pitfall that can easily be avoided by using an expe

Despite the fact that we are six years after the recession. People are still struggling with their bills. We are often seeing that despite people finding work the pay is not the same. As a matter of fact people are probably making less that what they used to make 10 years ago. I do see signs of recovery when I speak to past clients from which we keep in touch. People always have the fear that once they file for bankruptcy they would not be able to get credit or that nobody will hire them because of their credit history. These fear has keep them tramped with their debt for so many years. I feel like sharing some of the success of people who filed for bankruptcy and have move on to prosperous  lives.   After their bankruptcy we have clients that now are able to rent without a guarantor, have gotten homes, and cars. I have also clients that become employed because they were not trapped with their debt and thus more appealing towards an employer. People don't realize that not havin

Business Attorneys In New Jersey Why Getting and Outside General Counsel is Cost Effective Star Ups and Small Business are more than 50% of employers in America.  They have to maintain their inventory, their employees and the payments on track in order to succeed. Having their own in-house counsel  is just too costly. The problem for a lot of this small companies and start-ups is when they try to do the legal work themselves. We see people with no legal background trying to file lawsuits, writing agreements and really getting themselves in a lot of trouble by not getting legal help. For example writing non-compete agreement, is not as easy as you won't copy with me sign here. Choosing your corporate entity, bylaws, articles of formation. An attorney can help you because it would save you from a lawsuit in the future. In the construction world we see small contractors performing work without contracts and getting into a Consumer Fraud Act Violation. As Business Attorneys

Divorce Mediation in New Jersey By: Marina Ginzburg, Esq. I. What should you expect from a Divorce Mediator in New Jersey? 1) Impartiality . People that are seeking the help of a divorce mediator need to know that the mediator does not take sides. We listen to both parties positions, their expectations and their needs and make recommendations in accordance to the facts presented. 2) Fair Dealing :  I am mentioning fair dealing because acrimonious process of divorce can have a painful and traumatic emotional reaction that often time one party gives up just to make the matter go away. This knee jerk reaction causes that party to put themselves in such as disadvantageous position that they may no be able to go back. By taking out the stress and the emotion of going to court the couple can reach a mutually acceptable agreement.   I mention the word acceptable because nobody is going to get 100% of what they want that is the reality.  The fact that the couple can work together and

Exporting plays a major role in the global trade. Business decide to export their products for many reason including but not limited to their expansion, saturation of the product in the United States, and the opportunities offered abroad for exponential growth. These days with new emerging markets in Asia and Latin America the ability for a company for growth outside of the United States is limitless.  How to start the process of exporting a product.  Some companies have their own in-house export department other higher agents to they job for them. The goal is maximize profits. When considering exporting to another country one must considered the barriers imposed by the country such as tariff and non-tariff. A tariff is duty imposed on goods leaving the country. A  Non-tariff barriers are restrictions such as quotas, taxes, and exchange rate controls. It is important that before thinking in engaging in exporting to consult an specialist in this area. The navigation of import and ex