Cape Coral Legal Blog

Running your own business can be rewarding and offer you the kind of freedom most people can only dream of having. However, assuming the role of creator and operator for a company also comes with a lot of responsibility. You will have to consider things that most people never do and learn skills that you never would need if you were just an employee somewhere.

One important planning consideration that too many business owners overlook is the need to have some kind of plan in place in the event that you fall ill or are otherwise unable to take care of the business temporarily. Someone needs the authority to act on your expectations.

Florida is home to some of the most competitive small businesses in the south. While antitrust laws typically involve larger businesses, such as multinational corporations, it is important to remember that small businesses are not immune to allegations of anti-competitive prices. This may happen when companies collude with competitors to fix the price against consumers, or when competitors engage in underhanded activities to undermine each other.

According to CNBC, the Department of Justice uses a “no economic sense test” to determine whether or not a company violates antitrust laws. If a large monopoly made a business decision that only suited its desires to eliminate the competition, it would fail the test. Even when businesses play fair and gain a big advantage over competitors, it must take care with additional steps that may make it difficult or impossible for other companies in its industry to catch up.

One thing that many people don't think about when they are estate planning in Florida is the need to have someone make decisions for them if they aren't able to make those decisions on their own. Part of the reason for this is that estate planning advertisements usually focus on handing down assets when you pass away.

It isn't pleasant to think about not being able to make decisions for yourself, but taking the time to think about what you want done if this happens is important. You need to have someone named as your attorney-in-fact who can make those decisions for you in the same manner that you would make for yourself. This is done by setting up a power of attorney.

When faced with foreclosure, it's natural to want to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening. This leads to many well-meaning people to fall prey to foreclosure scams, which promise homeowners help that never actually materializes. Being able to identify these scams is a must to prevent you from throwing your money away. In this case, PennyMac offers the following advice. 

The first step is to understand how some of the most common scams work. You may be contacted by an individual who claims to have a strong relationship with your lender. After providing this person an upfront fee, and possibly a few mortgage payments, he or she will claim to be negotiating on your behalf to get a lower mortgage payment. In some cases, homeowners are even instructed to cease making mortgage payments until negotiations are complete. This leads to even more issues and might speed up the foreclosure process.