Forced heirship is unique to Louisiana and can dramatically impact your estate plan. Likewise, collation can have a profound impact on the forced portion and on your succession proceedings. Forced heirship is designed to prevent a person from disinheriting certain children or grandchildren. It was born under the presumption that parents desire to treat their children equally. What is forced heirship? Per La. Civ. Code art. 1494, a forced heir must receive a portion of their parent’s estate. This is so regardless of a will or trust to the contrary. For example, if a will leaves everything to one child,
Ordinarily, courts issue orders regarding custody after hearing evidence at a trial. However, most family law practitioners know of and have utilized the ex parte emergency order of temporary custody. In emergency situations a parent may file a petition asking for temporary custody, and a court may issue an ex parte order awarding emergency temporary custody prior to a formal hearing. It is an effective tool if the procedural requirements are followed closely and used only in instances of exigent circumstances. Immediate and irreparable harm under La. Code of Civil Procedure: La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3945 sets forth the
Owners of closely held businesses may not think about what will happen when a co-owner wants to sell his or her interests in the business, unexpectedly passes away, files for bankruptcy, or goes through a divorce. If you don’t know what would happen to your business and its ownership in one of these situations, you should consider a buy-sell agreement or amending your existing business documents. Afterall, preparation and planning are essential to sustaining any business. These situations do not need to disrupt your business operations. Buy-sell agreements allow owners to avoid costly litigation while preserving their involvement in the company and
Most people recognize the importance of comprehensive estate planning, although they may choose to avoid it for as long as possible. One important part of your estate plan is your power of attorney (POA). Basically, a POA is a document that empowers an individual to make legal decisions for you in the event that you become incapacitated or are unable to do so for yourself. You can choose the extent of the authority you grant in the “agent” by working together with an experienced estate planning attorney to determine how to best represent your goals. The risks of not having
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates the collection practices of third-party debt collectors and law firms engaged in collections. The FDCPA is found at 15 USC 1692 et seq. It was designed to protect consumers by eliminating abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices. It also protects reputable debt collectors and law firms from unfair competition. Below is a comprehensive outline of restrictions and requirements that debt collectors must follow to ensure FDCPA compliance. When does the FDCPA apply? The FDCPA applies only to the collection of debt incurred by a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household
It has been a year since Louisiana’s new default judgment laws went into effect on January 1, 2022. Practitioners and judges alike have now had enough time to adjust to the changes in the law. As a practitioner who takes default judgments every week, these changes were of particular interest to myself, my staff, and my clients. One of the first questions I received last January was: “[i]s it going to be harder to get a default judgment?” My short answer then was that it appeared it would be a give and take; that one step in the process was
The attorneys of Roy M. Bowes & Associates, Petkovich Law Firm, LLC, and Mitchell A. Palmer are pleased to announce their merger to form Bowes, Petkovich & Palmer, LLC effective January 1, 2023. Our office will be located at 2550 Belle Chasse Highway, Suite 200, Gretna, Louisiana 70053 with telephone number 504-368-2700. Each predecessor entity brings unique experiences and visions to the new firm. After working together for several years, we determined that we should unite to enhance as a team and to more effectively represent our clients. We look forward to working with each other and more importantly for
Will Your Business Interruption Insurance Cover Your COVID-19 Losses? As businesses continue to shut down across Louisiana and the nation in response to city and state “stay at home” orders, business owners are worried about whether this public health disaster is covered under their business interruption insurance protection plans. If they listen to their insurance agents or the many media articles on the topic, they probably think they are out of luck. However, business owners have nothing to lose by filing a claim to test the waters, and if that claim is denied they always have the option to file
1. Stay at the scene: Never leave the scene of an accident, no matter how minor it seems. 2. Protect the scene: Put your vehicle in park, turn off the engine, and turn on your hazard lights. If you have them, use cones, flares, or reflectors to warn other drivers of your presence. If the wreck is minor, meaning there is little damage and no injuries, move the vehicles out of the way of traffic, especially if you are on the interstate. 3. Check for injuries: Check yourself, your passengers, and the other drivers and passengers for injuries. If in doubt,
The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) that decide social security disability cases at the hearing level frequently use a grid of the Medical-Vocational Rules to determine if a claimant is disabled or not. If the “grid rules” indicate a finding of disabled, then it is referred to as “gridding out” and the analysis essentially stops in the claimant’s favor. On the other hand, if the grids indicate a finding of not-disabled, it is still possible that you can be found disabled if your functional capacity is further eroded by other limitations and restrictions that prevent