DOL Announces That Fiduciary Rule Goes Into Effect June 9
After initially delaying a rule intended to prevent financial advisers from steering their clients to bad retirement investments, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the rule goes into effect on June 9, 2017, but its future is still unclear. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order delaying the so-called fiduciary rule, the first part of which was scheduled to go...
Read MoreProtecting Against Infringement
The best protection against copyright infringement is constant vigilance. Whether you have a publisher or are self-published, you should perform an Internet search for your name and your book titles at regular intervals. You also should set up Google Alerts with the same information (www.google.com/alerts). What action can you take when you find some or all of your novel published on a...
Read MoreIs It Better to Use Joint Ownership or a Trust to Pass Down a Home?
When leaving a home to your children, you can avoid probate by using either joint ownership or a revocable trust, but which is the better method? If you add your child as a joint tenant on your house, you will each have an equal ownership interest in the property. If one joint tenant dies, his or her interest immediately ceases to exist and the other joint tenant owns the entire property. This...
Read MoreArbitration Clauses in Publishing Agreements
Arbitration (not to be confused with mediation) is an alternative method of dispute resolution. In general, two disputing parties present their individual sides of an argument or complaint to a supposedly neutral arbitrator or panel of arbitrators, who weigh the facts and arguments of both parties and decide the dispute. The parties give up their right to have a court decide the dispute....
Read MorePreventing a Will Contest
Emotions can run high at the death of a family member. If a family member is unhappy with the amount they received (or didn’t receive) under a will, he or she may contest the will. Will contests can drag out for years, keeping all the heirs from getting what they are entitled to. It may be impossible to prevent relatives from fighting over your will entirely, but there are steps you can...
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