Monday, November 5, 2007

Common Questions Asked About Last Will Forms

WHAT IS A LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT? A Last Will and Testament controls the distribution of your property at death and you may give some one you trust guardianship over your children after your death. No property is transferred or effects will take place, a will is not effective as long as you’re living.

CAN MY LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT BE CHANGED? Yes. Changes to a will are made by simply making a new will and destroying the old one. Or you can just add on to your will with a "Codicil".

A Codicil is a legal document that must be signed and executed in the same way you executed your will. This is where downloadable, printable legal form websites will help you quickly draw up a new will or add to it. The best practice to use is to consult an attorney about changes to your will you want if you are afraid to make the original will invalid.

WHAT IS MY LEGAL RESIDENCE? Your legal residence is the state where you’re true fixed and permanent home, a place where if you’re temporarily absent you will return.

IS MY LEGAL RESIDENCE IMPORTANT WITH REGARD TO MY WILL? Yes. Your legal residence may affect which state you have to file your will in and the amount of state inheritance or estate tax that may be paid at death.

WHAT IS MY ESTATE? Your estate consists of all of your property, personal belongings, and cash which you own. You can also list things you are entitled to own at the time of your death. Your estate should also include your insurance policy and who is the primary, or even secondary beneficiary. You may also wish to divide your estate among several persons.

WHAT IS A BENEFICIARY? A beneficiary is the person whom you will leave your estate too. You may leave all your property to one single beneficiary or you can divide your estate among several people.

WHAT IS A SECONDARY BENEFICIARY? Those who will inherit your property if your primary beneficiary dies before your death. You can keep the chain going and include as many third beneficiaries, fourth, fifth, and so on.

CAN I DISPOSE OF MY PROPERTY IN ANY WAY? Yes, but not exactly in all states. Some states require that a married person give their spouse some part of their estate. Plus your guardianship should be chosen with great care because this person will be charged with the duty of raising your children and managing their legal affairs.

SHOULD I NAME A GUARDIAN FOR MY CHILDREN IN MY WILL? Yes. A guardian should be named in a will. This will ensure that your children and their portion of your estate is cared for and protected in case both parents die.

WHAT IS AN EXECUTOR? An executor or executrix (if female) a so-called "personal representative" is the person who will manage and settle your estate according to the will. You should also consider naming a substitute executor in the event that the named executor fails to act as the executor of your estate.

WHAT IS PROBATE? A court procedure where a will is proved valid or invalid. Probate proceedings will also finalize your estate, taxes and guardianship of your children.

HOW LONG IS A WILL VALID? An executed and properly drawn will is valid until you change it or it is revoked. However new tax laws, marriage, birth of children, and sometimes a substantial change in property/assets can determine whether your will is adequate and your property/assets will pass in the manner you chose.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T MAKE A WILL? You have no say in how your property is divided.

WHAT HAPPENS TO PROPERTY HELD IN THE NAMES OF BOTH HUSBAND AND WIFE? Joint bank accounts and real property held in both names usually get passed to the survivor and NOT by the deceased's will, depending on your states laws.



http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Common-Questions-Asked-About-Last-Will-Forms/34672

What is the Green Card Lottery About?

The green card lottery is where the Department of State annually awards green cards to immigrants. This is a lottery that is done by a random computer selection. The technical term for it is the Diversity Visa program. The people that conform to the rules and learn to speak English will be able to enter the lottery program.

This is a great way for people that want to become residents of the United States without having to wait for many years. The immigrants that want to apply will have to obtain an application so that they can fill out the necessary paperwork in order to become a legal candidate for this program. This is a once in a lifetime chance for a lot of people and they will take the opportunity very seriously.

You can find the application for this green card lottery online. There are many federal websites that will help people obtain the applications so that they can get a head start on applying for this great program. Once the application is filled out and sent in, it will have to be reviewed. Once the government approves it, that applicant will then be placed in the lottery. There are no paper entries allowed anymore. It all has to be done online or electronic.

There are 50,000 green cards that are given out to many immigrants from all over. These people have complied with all of the rules and taken the time to do all paperwork and make themselves eligible for the program. The individuals that apply must have a high school diploma and two years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience.

Each applicant is limited to one application in the green card lottery. If there is more than one application received, the individual will be disqualified. It is important to follow the instructions and the rules completely. There are so many qualified people that are thrown out of the green card program each year because of the multiple applications that are submitted.

If qualified a husband and a wife may apply to the green card lottery. They may each submit one application and it either is selected into the lottery the other would be entitled to derivative status. This will allow both of them to be entered into the United States. All of the entries must include the name, date and place of birth of the applicant’s spouse and all natural children.

This is an opportunity that you have to sign up for early in the game or you may miss your chance for approval. It is something that most people only dream about and knowing that there is the green card lottery leaves hope in the minds of many people that they will one day be allowed the same freedom of living in the United States.


http://www.articlefrenzy.com/Article/What-is-the-Green-Card-Lottery-About-/18221

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Types of Law

Every citizen ought to know the Law of the Land. There is no excuse for not knowing the law. It will not help a person defend him or herself in a legal crisis. Ignorance can never be explained away.

Even when you have not acted against the law, you might need to know the law in order to protect yourself from people who might violate the law. To know ones rights and privileges is not only beneficial, it is absolutely essential. You will never know when the information you have at your disposal might come in handy. Having it ready before any crisis strikes will help you take immensely wiser and more informed decisions which you will not regret later. Just as there are varied disciplines in the field of medicine, there is a wide range of divisions when it comes to law. For instance, everyone knows that you don't visit a general physician for a severe heart ailment. You want to consult a heart specialist in this case. Likewise, for every particular type of law, there are specific attorneys who specialize in that particular field. It really helps to search and identify the suitable attorney for your particular case, instead of heading to the nearest or most familiar attorney for every case.

This article briefly lists the types of law:

Admiralty Law
The Admiralty Law is also known as Maritime Law and governs all U.S. All countries have maritime laws and they are responsible for their vessels regardless of which ocean they are sailing in. Admiralty Law Attorneys represent cases of all matters concerning cargo disputes, oil pollution, fishing regulations, international trade, cargo and injury that takes place on docks and vessels. Admiralty Law Attorneys also offer advice on trade laws, legal matters concerning environmental groups and the protection of endangered species. Admiralty Law also covers freight and passenger liabilities.

Aviation Law
Laws have been instituted by state and federal governments to enhance safety in air traffic. Aviation Laws in the United States govern aircraft operations and the maintenance of aircraft facilities.

Bankruptcy Law
When an individual or a company files for relief of debt, it is termed as Bankruptcy. In the United States, there are specific courts that handle bankruptcy rulings and specialty attorneys who handle these cases. A fundamental goal of the federal bankruptcy laws enacted by Congress is to give debtors a financial "fresh start" from burdensome debts.

Civil Rights
A Civil Rights Attorney has the responsibility of defending the rights and privileges granted to all United States citizens. These include freedom from slavery, freedom to vote, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the right to be treated fairly in public places.

Consumer Rights
The Attorney General of a particular state houses the division of Consumer protection and its team of consumer fraud attorneys. Complaints about misleading advertising or business practices that are unlawful can be filed and that division investigates and mediates on behalf of the consumer.

Corporate Law
A corporation is a legal entity created through the laws of its state of incorporation. Individual states have the power to disseminate laws relating to the creation, organization and dissolution of corporations. Many states follow the Model Business Corporation Act.

Criminal Law
A "crime" is any act or omission (of an act) in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it. Though there are some common law crimes, most crimes in the United States are established by local, state, and federal governments. Criminal laws vary significantly from state to state. There is, however, a Model Penal Code which serves as a good starting place to gain an understanding of the basic structure of criminal liability.

Education
Each state is required by its state constitution to provide a school system whereby children may receive an education. State legislatures exercise power over schools in any manner consistent with the state's constitution. Many state legislatures delegate power over the school system to a state board of education.

Elder Law
The three major categories that make up elder law are Estate planning and administration, including tax questions; Medicaid, disability and other long-term care issues; and Guardianship, conservatorship and commitment matters, including fiduciary administration.

Employment Law
Employment law is a broad area encompassing all areas of the employer/employee relationship except the negotiation process covered by labor law and collective bargaining. Employment law consists of thousands of Federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, and judicial decisions.

Entertainment Law
Entertainment attorneys use multiple areas of legal practice to advise and represent their clients. The different types of employment make knowledge of diverse legal practices necessary for the good entertainment lawyer.

Family Law
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction; the termination of the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders.

Immigration Law
Federal immigration law determines whether a person is an alien, and associated legal rights, duties, and obligations of aliens in the United States. It also provides means by which certain aliens can become naturalized citizens with full rights of citizenship.

Intellectual Property
Patents, copyrights, trademarks and related interests are known as intellectual property (IP). It has not been long since patents especially were regarded in U.S. courts, and the Supreme Court in particular, as tools of monopolists, and their owners often fared poorly.

Labor Law
The goal of labor laws is to equalize the bargaining power between employers and employees. The laws primarily deal with the relationship between employers and unions.

Military Law
The Constitution grants to Congress the power to raise and support armies and a navy, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasion among other military-related governmental roles.

Personal Injury Law
Torts are civil wrongs recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. These wrongs result in an injury or harm constituting the basis for a claim by the injured party. While some torts are also crimes punishable with imprisonment, the primary aim of tort law is to provide relief for the damages incurred and deter others from committing the same harms. The injured person may sue for an injunction to prevent the continuation of the tortious conduct or for monetary damages.

Product Liability
Products liability refers to the liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any product for damage caused by that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts (at the top of the chain), an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retail store owner (at the bottom of the chain).

Real Estate
Real estate transactions are governed by a wide body of federal statutes and state statutory and common law. The requirements established by state law often differ significantly from one state to the next.

Taxation
Taxation in the United States is a complex system which may involve payment to at least four different levels of government and many methods of taxation. United States taxation includes local government, possibly including one or more of municipal, township, district and county governments. It also includes regional entities such as school and utility, and transit districts as well as including state and federal government.

For a detailed overview on each type of law and to download Free EBook on Law, please visit the Law website



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Sudhakar

Orange County Defense Attorney Firm

Orange county criminal defense lawyers play the dominant role in the market. Criminal lawyers play the essential role in the market and huge number of clients who are involved in the activity of criminal. The responsibility of criminal defense lawyers pertains to be higher. Orange county criminal defense attorney provides excellent services to the client for reasonable prices. Criminal defense lawyers are available in more numbers and they provide service with regards to proper guidance and profession. Orange county criminal attorney will handle all kinds of criminal cases of the state clients.

Criminal defense lawyers comes under different categories and they are categorized as Orange county DUI attorney, Orange county defense attorney, Orange county Burglary Attorney, Orange county DMV lawyer, Orange county Abuse attorney, Orange county dui attorney, Orange county Felony attorney, Orange county Drug lawyer and many other kinds of criminal lawyers are available in the market. Orange county criminal defense lawyers are licensed lawyers and they provide lawyer service. Each defense lawyers follows some of their procedures and finally makes the people to be relived of the crime. Criminal lawyers defend the criminals for reasonable and affordable price consideration.

Orange county criminal lawyer are available in all over the states and they all provide the excellent services either individually or group. Criminal defense lawyers team helps to defend the clients who are arrested has criminal under court of law. The arguments and proceedings of the criminal defense lawyer will be different from individual to another. With regards to various statute and laws of the state and federal government, criminal defense lawyer will handle the case differently. Generally, orange county defense lawyer should have obtained license in the state to perform the function of defense lawyer.

As per the responsibility, the orange county defense attorney will perform the service as per arrestment of the client for the criminal activity. When the client has been arrested for any accuse, then the client will be defined under category wise. In Orange County there are huge number of defense lawyers available and each attorney compete with each other. Defense lawyers are the person who represents themselves for the criminals or accuse and they works legally and lawfully for the clients of different states. Generally, defense lawyer satisfies the requirement of the client and enables the client to come out from the site.

Ronvictor is a Copywriter of Orange county criminal lawyer. He written many articles in various topics such as Los Angeles County criminal law attorney, robbery attorney. For more information visit: http://www.criminaldefenseteamusa.com Contact him at ron.seocopywriter@gmail.com


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_Victor

My Lawyer Is Bad - Can I Sue Him

Bad lawyers can get on your nerves. If you are the victim of a bad lawyer lately, we have some tips to offer. Prevention is always better than cure. It is always recommended that you should know the close details of your lawyer.

Today, this world is full of unethical lawyers. The most difficult part of the story is, that you may feel helpless or clueless if you should sue your lawyer or not.

Can you actually sue him? Will it be really easy? The answer for all these questions is ‘yes’. You can actually sue a lawyer for being unethical or in case he does not give you the desired service.

The dark side about suing your lawyer is that you may need to spend a lot of money for this and the result may not look satisfactory. The suing process involves working on two cases, original case along with the new case.

Going to court and fighting the cases is the job of a lawyer but not yours. You may feel pissed off of doing so many works for suing him and the bad lawyer may laugh at you as it is not a big deal for him.

So always think twice before you are going to sue your lawyer. It can be an expensive process and result might not come satisfactory.

When you finally decide to sue your bad lawyer and go to find a new good one, the new lawyer will be curious about a few issues.

Tell him if the bad lawyer was having malpractice insurance or if the statute of limitations expired.

Exposing Bad lawyers & Lawsuit Abuse Statistics - More About Bad Lawyers



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sebanti_Ghosh

Louisiana Bankruptcy Lawyers

Although the laws of the state of Louisiana are different from the laws of the other states, bankruptcy is one area where there are more similarities than differences. This is because bankruptcy relief is under federal law, so the information in this context is pretty much the same in all the states.

But there is one glaring exception. It is about exemptions, the items that you do not lose by declaring yourself bankrupt. Under Louisiana Bankruptcy Law, the exempted items include IRA savings, which is a great exemption indeed. So for a bankruptcy case pertaining to Louisiana, a better course would be to hire a lawyer who knows this aspect of the state law. Another aspect to be considered is that of time limitations. Although Louisiana Bankruptcy Laws conform to the federal laws, the time limitations may require the engagement of a lawyer.

If you look keenly into the Louisiana Bankruptcy Law, you will find that the legal terminology used in the courts of the state of Louisiana is often confusing legal jargon, which needs to be understood and explained into understandable language. A lawyer who has worked in the state can do this more easily.

With these basic peculiarities of the Louisiana state laws in view, the first step in searching for a suitable prospective lawyer is to contact the Lawyer Referral Service. These companies are like middlemen, and charge fees from lawyers for registering them, along with their specialties. But the snag here is that reputable lawyers refrain from registering with them, as they are already booked by upscale clients who generally do not require referral services.

The Internet and Yellow Pages are very rich and convenient sources for finding lawyers of all specialties, but the problem here is that there are so many lawyers listed that finding the best one is difficult. It is at best a random method.

Your family members and friends may be able to recommend a lawyer. It is still better to contact those friends who studied from some law school. These people are usually well informed about the right lawyer for your needs. Employers and co-workers are another source of information. Your boss especially can be of great help here, as he may have to deal with lawyers as a part of his vocation. Having decided which lawyer to hire, you should contact the law firm for an appointment, and here too you need to check if you will be charged for making enquiries.

Once you’ve decided, you should ask your prospective lawyer about his legal qualifications and fees, his telephone charges and whether he answers questions on the telephone, and finally, ask him about his track record.

Louisiana Lawyers provides detailed information about Louisiana lawyers, Louisiana probate lawyers, Louisiana real estate lawyers, Louisiana divorce lawyers and more. Louisiana Lawyers is the sister site of New Jersey Business Lawyers.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Morris

Michigan Truck Accident Lawyers

A lawyer is a person who is licensed by the relevant statutory authorities to impart legal advice to clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law. Most countries today require professional law advisors in their judicial systems.

The practicing lawyers in Michigan are usually members of the state bar of Michigan, and are licensed by the State of Michigan to practice law. Even though all the lawyers possess a law degree, they specialize in different fields of law and tend to deal with specific grievances, such as accidents, and divorce. Michigan personal injury lawyers usually handle lawsuits involving personal injury, insurance claims, class actions and other injuries such as those resulting from a truck accident.

A typical Michigan truck accident falls under the same type of litigation as any other vehicle accidents. A Michigan truck accident may be the result of manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, or retailers negligent acts. It is necessary to first identify the type of case. The Michigan truck accident lawyer can inform the person regarding the various types and set them on the right track.

With the increase in the number of trucks on Michigan highways, there is a corresponding increase in accidents that occur. A person who drives a vehicle negligently and causes a truck accident, may be liable for any damages to the property and/or injuries to the persons involved.

Depending on the parties involved, the extent and seriousness of the injuries, the lawyer will file a lawsuit in the court of Law, seeking damages for the injuries sustained by the person involved in the accident.

It is important to seek the help of a competent specialized lawyer as soon as possible after the accident. This is because the lawyer can guide the injured person to immediately take the necessary steps to record the evidence, file the suit in a court and conduct the legal proceedings as per the provisions and requirements of the law.

Michigan Lawyers provides detailed information on Michigan Auto Accident Lawyers, Michigan Divorce Lawyers, Michigan Lawyers, Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers and more. Michigan Lawyers is affiliated with Michigan Personal Injury Lawyers Info.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Sturo