Blog

You’ve decided to start a business. Now What?

If you have already made the big decision to open a business, the first legal issue you must resolve is what type of business entity you want to form. There are several different business entity forms to choose from, ranging from a simple sole proprietorship to more complex corporate structures. The decision as to which business entity to choose is based on a number of factors that will be unique to your business and its particular goals, and can determine the success of your business. 

A wrongful accusation of domestic violence can be one of the most traumatic things a person can face, and domestic violence charges can often be more disruptive than any other kind of charge because of the collateral consequences they usually bring to the defendant’s entire family. No matter how strong or weak the State’s case may be, no matter how serious or less serious the alleged conduct, the court will always issue a no-contact order, even over the objections of the alleged victim.

Drug-related crimes have been a primary source of criminal prosecution for decades. It is estimated that 65% of those incarcerated in the U.S. are there for drug-related crimes. Drug-crime defense is one of the primary areas with which your criminal attorney should be familiar. Discussed below are just a few of the topics you will want to understand if you have been charged with a drug offense.

A criminal conviction can come with a lot of negative consequences above and beyond the fine you may be required to pay or the jail time you may be required to serve. Your criminal history may bar you from certain jobs, hinder you in obtaining housing, block you from getting into certain schools or obtaining student loans, affect your gun rights, voting rights, travel to Canada, or cause you to be harassed by law enforcement.

There are several ways to end a marriage in Washington State. Other than using a self-help method that involves faking your death, changing your name, and hiding in the cargo hold of a freighter to Shanghai, the traditional ways to end a marriage generally are: annulment, legal separation and dissolution.

The toughest part of a divorce, legal separation, or paternity case is usually the effect it has on children. Washington law tries to help parents work out a plan for raising their children with a focus on the children’s best interest. The intent is to eliminate the concepts of "custody" and "visitation," and instead provide a residential schedule - called a Parenting Plan - that specifically details the time that the children will reside with each parent. 

When you complete a divorce or custody proceeding, the court enters a “Final” Parenting Plan that defines the rights and responsibilities of the parties with regard to the care of and contact with the children. But a Final Parenting Plan is very often not truly final. Circumstances change, children change, and parents change. And the law makes room for you to modify your parenting plan when it is in the best interests of the children to do so.

You have just decided you want to move. Perhaps your employer has asked you (or your spouse’s employer has asked him/her) to relocate, or even told that you have to relocate in order to keep your job or get a promotion. Perhaps you have recently divorced or separated and want to be closer to your family of origin. Maybe you or a spouse is in the armed forces and have been assigned a new duty station.

Child support payments are intended to pay for the normal and ordinary expenses of raising a child, such as housing, food, clothing, education and medical care. Washington, like most states, uses Child Support Laws and Guidelines that are set by the state legislature to determine the correct amount of child support to be awarded. The court may also consider the needs and age of the children, the financial ability of the non-custodial parent, the earning capacity of the custodial parent, and the other responsibilities of both parents. Child support is addressed when couples who have a child or children and are in a divorce, legal separation, paternity, or non-parental custody case. Click here to calculate the amount of child support that would be applicable for your situation.

The first thing to remember in dividing assets and debts in a dissolution or legal separation is that Washington is a community property state, which means that each spouse has an undivided one-half interest in assets and debts acquired during the marriage. Wages and salaries earned during the marriage are also community property, so if wages and salaries earned during the marriage are used to pay for an asset - even if the assets was originally acquired by one of the spouses prior to marriage - the assets will probably be wholly or partially community property.

Traditionally called "alimony," spousal support is now usually called spousal maintenance. Washington State's spousal support statute provides only general guidance and no specific formulas regarding an award of maintenance, so spousal maintenance can be awarded any time there is a need on the part of one spouse and an ability to pay on the part of the other. It is only available to married persons, and therefore is not awarded in cases where parties live together, regardless of the length of the cohabitation.

There is no excuse for domestic violence. From the inside of a violent relationship, it is sometimes difficult to see your way out. By its nature, the abusive relationship may have you in a state of emotional isolation, financial dependence, and fear of physical harm. Psychological abuse may have you feeling hopeless, helpless and worthless. You may even be blaming yourself for the abuse and fearful that if you leave, your children will suffer.

The highways and roads of Washington State are shared by all variety of vehicles from tractor trailers to small economy vehicles. Every driver’s intuition tells them that a collision with a truck would be different than an ordinary collision between passenger vehicles, and every driver is aware of the catastrophic consequences that could occur in an accident with a commercial semi-truck.

Auto insurance can be confusing, and the different types of available coverage can confuse anyone not well-versed in the bewildering terminology of the auto insurance world. Let’s see if we can de-mystify this just a little and define some of the jargon related to auto insurance. After reading this article, hopefully you will understand better how to choose the auto insurance coverage that will be there when you need it.

The vast majority of all claims for personal injury settle before trial. Settlements from personal injury cases are obtained from insurance companies in order to help the victims repair or replace damaged vehicles, pay for medical expenses, and receive compensation for the damage to their lives resulting from the accident. A settlement is not the same thing as a jury award from a lawsuit. Settlements are agreements made outside of court, usually to avoid a lengthy and expensive legal process. Lawyers don't need to file a lawsuit in order to obtain a settlement from an auto accident; they have until the statute of limitations ends to negotiate a settlement to avoid filing a lawsuit. In Washington, the statute of limitations for auto accidents is generally three years. If a settlement isn't reached the statute runs and a lawsuit has to be filed, settlement can still be reached before a trial, although it can take 

Uh-oh. Out of nowhere, you were just in a car wreck. Now what? First, it doesn't matter if you are at fault or not; the rules are the same whether you are simply sitting at a stoplight thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner and some knucklehead rear-ends you, or whether you are the knucklehead who is reaching over to find that perfect Liberace song on your I-Pod and you rear-end somebody sitting at a stoplight.