The answer is yes, it is possible. It’s not necessarily easy though. Earlier working wives were not entitled to maintenance however, with passage of time and subsequent amendments in law, the right to maintenance has finally been provided to wives. The concept behind such recognition is that a wife is deprived of many comforts after she leaves the matrimonial home. Sometimes, she loses interest in life. The monetary comfort from her husband gives her some solace. She might be living in her parental house but even then she has to incur some expenses. She has to constantly look after the child by performing her duties day and night. She does not get that support which she would have got in case she had been residing in the matrimonial home. It is the duty of the husband to maintain his wife and it has to be put on a higher pedestal. Even if the wife is employed, she is entitled for the status and standard of living which she used to enjoy at her matrimonial home. Reasons for Filing Divorce• Marriage Quality: Women were said to be more sensitive about the relationship compared to men. During the span of the divorced couples’ years together, the quality of their marriages reportedly deteriorated. Most of the women became unsatisfied and unhappy with their lives, which made them file for divorce. Over the years, couples who were married for at least a decade often lose their connection with one another. Lack of communication, lack of intimacy and lack of equality fall into this category. • Unreasonable Behavior: Surprisingly, unreasonable behavior is one of the most common reasons why married couples choose to divorce. • Adultery: Adultery is engaging in sexual activities or relationship with another person other than your spouse. According to statistics, during the fifth to seventh year of marriage, there is a high chance of husbands as well as wives to have an affair. Husbands’ reason is primarily for the sex; however, emotional connection was cited to be the main reason why wives cheat. • Physical or Mental Abuse: When someone in the marriage suffers abuse, it is a red flag and should be grounds for filing divorce. Physical as well as emotional abuse is present in a marriage. It is a devastating reality for those who suffer some kind of abuse in the marriage, as their relationship should be built in trust, love and equality. Parties who have been victims of abuse file for divorce because they could not take it anymore. Alimony and DivorceThere are also other grounds for divorce. These include: • One-year separation: A voluntary one-year separation is a ground for divorce. The courts can allow it if the married couple has been living apart from each other in a span of a year. However, if the couple lived back together, even for a short period within that year, this ground will not work. In addition, a witness must attest to the one-year separation. • Conviction of a crime: The crime committed must be a felony. The crime committed can be in any place or state. The conviction must be final. • Irreconcilable differences: Irreconcilable differences mean that the married couple cannot see any chance of working out whatever problem they have. This may also mean that the breakdown of the marriage is irretrievable. • Permanent or incurable insanity: In order to be granted a divorce, the parties should prove three things to the court: I. The spouse was confined in a mental health hospital or the same kind of facility, II. The spouse has been confined in the facility for three years straight, and III. A medical professional or expert can testify that the spouse’s mental health or insanity is incurable. • Desertion: Desertion or abandonment must last at least six months before the filing of the divorce. A witness should also testify to this. • Habitual drinking or drug abuse: In order for you to get a divorce using this ground, you have to prove to the court that your spouse is addicted to narcotics or other dangerous drugs. The addiction should happen within the marriage. • Neglect or abuse of a child: The abuse done to the child may be emotional, physical or sexual done by the husband or the wife. The abuse can be in the form of neglect, failure to give the child his or her necessities, physical injuries, emotional harassment and the like. Getting AlimonyAlimony is the legal obligation of a person to pay financial support to his/her spouse after the divorce. It is a form of spousal support, which aims to correct the unfair economic or financial effects of the divorce. Getting alimony may be difficult, especially when the divorce has been generated by anger or betrayal. Many factors help determine how much alimony a spouse can get. There is no definite formula to help compute the total amount of spousal support. However, it is computed based on circumstances such as: • Property and income of the husband and wife, • Impairments in the capacity to earn, • Standard of living, • Length of marriage, • The number of children to be raised, • Each spouse’s capacity to earn, and • Contributions and sacrifices of one spouse for the other spouse’s education or career. If you are earning more than your spouse, you have a chance of receiving less alimony. If there are children involved and other factors that can help you with your situation, you should be able to get a reasonable amount of alimony. Getting alimony is done through the agreement of both parties. They will discuss how much will be paid on a monthly basis. In case of differences or non-agreement, attorney assistance is needed. If there is still no agreement despite the help of the lawyers, the court will decide on how much money a spouse should get. The Legal Alimony ProcessFiguring out how much you as a divorcing woman can get for alimony may require help from an attorney. You and your spouse, together with your lawyers will sit down and discuss details such as your ability to earn, your children, standard of living and more. Once the amount is determined, you will then compute if you will receive your alimony on a monthly basis or as a lump sum. It is also advisable to consult with a tax professional about the implications of taxes when receiving alimony, as it is counted as an income on the part of the receiver. Negotiations take place after all the details are discussed. Both spouses, together with their lawyers, will meet with each other. Negotiation is faster compared to a court order, which is why both parties should agree during this period as much as possible. If the terms are agreed upon, both parties should sign the agreement. Otherwise, it will be discussed in court. To file for alimony in court, as a divorcing woman, you should do the following steps: • Separate from the spouse: The spouses must first be separated in order to receive alimony. A temporary alimony is received during the beginning of the separation. • Gather financial information: The courts will require you to present any form of financial information to prove your financial capabilities. Documents such as bank statements, pay slips, proof of rent or mortgage payments and the like are supporting documents to show your financial situation. • Take it to court: You must file the alimony to the proper courts. You should file it to the court where you and your spouse are currently living. • Fill out the forms: To properly file for alimony, you must find the forms that are applicable to your case. Once you are done with the forms, you can file them and pay the corresponding fees. • Inform your spouse: A notice of the alimony petition as well as the divorce is needed in order to inform your spouse. However, if the both of you already signed a joint divorce petition, wait for your spouse’s reply. This will take 21 up to 30 days. Once you get a reply, wait for your court hearing date. You and your spouse will then meet in court and await a decision. Divorce is generally difficult for everyone involved; if you’re a woman currently going through this situation, it can be helpful to not only have adequate legal support but also have a general background as to where you stand legally. Hopefully the aforementioned information will help you gauge the legal aspect of the alimony process. It still may be tough, but at least you’ll have an idea as to what to expect.Alimony and Child SupportIn most cases, the wife gets 20-35 per cent of a husband’s net taxable income as alimony. If the woman is working, she can still get maintenance if the court feels her demands are reasonable, if she has dependants or if her income is not sufficient to support the lifestyle she enjoyed while married. If a person is seeking separation on the basis of adultery, he or she should have the proof of a spouse engaging in it. Child support is usually the responsibility of the husband. However, if the wife is also working, the court can ask both to contribute towards child support, in proportion to their income. Alimony can cause you serious financial strain. Being newly single and having only one income means you’ve already had to make big changes to your monthly budget and lifestyle. Some individuals may do something sneaky, like devise clever plans to get around the strain that alimony causes on their finances. However, tempting as this may be, it is important you approach the matter with care, concern, and ethics. This way, you can avoid any legal ramifications that may result from attempting to avoid your soon-to-be ex-spouse. Here are some tactics You Can Use To Keep More Of The Money You Earn And Avoid Paying Alimony. Strategy 1: Avoid Paying It In the First PlaceThe best way to get out of making alimony payments is to avoid the need to make them in the first place. Many couples that seek to marry opt to protect themselves by drafting up a prenuptial agreement before the marriage is made legal. This document includes full disclosure of each individual’s income. It includes the assets that each spouse will bring to the union. In this manner, the document lays out exactly which marital property belongs to whom. This special document should be prepared by your attorney then approved by a judge before your marriage. Strategy 2: Prove Your Spouse Was AdulterousLaws about paying alimony vary from state to state. Even with these variants, many do not allow unfaithful spouses to vie for alimony payments. This is going to require more than your word indicating that your spouse was unfaithful during your marriage. You must bear the burden of proof. This may come in the form of showing photographs and video to the judge of your spouse.Strategy 3: Change Up Your LifestyleYou’ve likely already made some major changes in light of your divorce. It is rare that the higher earning spouse will be given alimony payments, so it is a good time for you to consider just how much money you truly need to cover your expenses each month. If you earn more than your spouse, it is likely you will be responsible for making alimony payments. To avoid this financial conundrum, consider downgrading a lower paying job. Strategy 4: End the MarriageYour state is going to determine the amount of alimony that a spouse pays. However, one factor that states often consider is the overall length of the marriage. Typically, the longer a person is in a marriage, the more likely it is that you will be faced with higher alimony payments. If you know your marriage is not going to last, consider ending it as quickly as you can. Stretching it out longer and longer just means more emotional pain and longer lasting alimony payments. Strategy 5: Keep Tabs on Your Spouse’s RelationshipSome states will stop making alimony payments mandatory when the spouse who is getting them begins living with a new partner or significant other. This info may be written in the fine print on your divorce decree; ask your attorney to go over the section about alimony payments with you for the best information. A new marriage will usually allow the payments to come to an end, so keep track of what your ex-spouse is up to when it comes to their relationships. Strategy 6: Have A Judge Evaluate Your Spouse’s Fitness to WorkAfter a divorce, a spouse may prefer to remain as a homemaker, even though this causes financial hardship or is not 100% necessary. If your spouse is educated and has the skills to obtain a job that pays well, you can ask a judge to perform a vocational evaluation. It is an objective assessment that provides you with insight into what your spouse can potentially earn by taking a job in their area of knowledge and skills. Strategy 7: Prove They Don’t Need ItSome spouses who are simply being vindictive seek to gain alimony payments, even if they do not need the money to maintain their standard of living. Be sure to investigate whether or not your spouse has any assets in their name that would keep you from having to make alimony payments. To do this, you may wish to hire a professional forensic accountant to help you track down this asset or assets. While accountants definitely charge a premium for their services, your avoidance of lengthy and costly alimony fees will be well worth the price. Strategy 8: Your Spouse May Not Get Alimony If They Don’t Have CustodyIf your spouse is not awarded sole custody of the kids, they may not need money from alimony payments. Caring for children means that you have a significantly higher cost of living. Taking away the financial responsibility of providing care for your children may just lower the amount of money that is needed for your spouse to maintain their living standard. It may just give your spouse the chance to find their footing on their own in terms of their finances without the help of alimony payments. Strategy 9: Put an End Date on Alimony PaymentsAlimony payments do not have to be a lifelong affair. You should strongly consider including a termination date in your divorce decree or agreement. This will remove the need to return to court at a later date, saving you from financial burden. The payments will simply terminate. There are a few good ways to avoid paying alimony. They are all legal and ethical, which is the best approach to take in this situation. Not only is it easier on your conscience, but you will be doing right by the courts, too. In order to get around making these payments, you may wish to use one of the expert strategies discussed here instead of using a risky method, like spontaneously quitting your job or, worse, filing for bankruptcy. The important thing is to be smart and think everything through carefully. You must be willing to sacrifice some things in your life to keep your money closer to you and away from your ex-spouse. Alimony Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with divorce in Utah, call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your free consultation. We can help you with child support, child custody, divorce, alimony, spouse support or spousal maintenance, divorce decree modification and more. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
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How To Avoid An Income Tax Audit? via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/can-a-working-wife-get-alimony/
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In Utah, guardianships can be seen as a distinctive way of helping people with diminished capacity who cannot care for themselves or their real property and liquid assets. Unlike other care-giving arrangements, the authority of the court is involved. Courts delegate their powers and authority to guardians, which means that guardians are legally answerable to the court. The delegated powers a guardian receives from the court are accepted and honored by banks, physicians, and even the police. In Utah, only the court can appoint a guardian, supervise the guardian, or remove the guardian. If you are seeking to be appointed as a guardian of your close relative, consult with an experienced Lehi Utah family lawyer. The subject of guardianship has long been a source of confusion and even conflict among attorneys, health and social services practitioners, judges, families, and the adults with diminished capacities and physical and/or mental impairments who find themselves the subjects of guardianships in the United States. Judges try to make cogent and measured decisions about the need for guardianship or possible alternatives to guardianship in the absence of sound and measured information from petitioners. Judges must also deal with laws that are generalized as well as the lack of adequate court staff to implement judicial safeguards both before and after a guardianship is established. The person who is the focus of all this attention may be aware that her personal and financial affairs are slipping out of her control and she may be bewildered, distressed, and frightened. On the other hand, many adults with diminished capacity who are coming into guardianship are not aware that it is happening because their disabilities are so severe. Others are grateful that at last, someone is taking charge and will help them. Some fight it with all their financial resources despite clear and convincing evidence that they desperately need the protection that only a guardianship can provide. An experienced Lehi Utah family lawyer can assist you with the guardianship process. In order to establish a guardianship, information must be formally filed with the court in a document stating that an individual lacks the ability to handle her personal and/or financial affairs and explaining why. This document is called a petition. The petition should include examples of dysfunctional or self-endangering behavior. There may be allegations of physical abuse, financial exploitation, or neglect by others. Usually a report by a physician is filed with the court that provides the person’s medical diagnoses. This report may be called a declaration in some states. The petition also names the person or agency that is requesting appointment as guardian. The attorney who files the petition must, by law, formally notify close blood relatives of the filing of the petition and provide copies of the petition. After all the required documents and reports are filed, the judge has the opportunity to review them. If the judge decides that the adult is sufficiently impaired and unable to take care of herself, a guardian is appointed. This appointment usually takes place at a scheduled time in a courtroom and is called a hearing. Most judges make every effort to keep sensitive information out of the public arena. However, a court hearing is a public matter and anyone can appear and state their opinions or objections. If a guardian is appointed, he must periodically file certain required documents with the court, such as a general plan, accountings of financial dealings, and reports of the status of the person with disabilities. Court personnel and the judge review these documents for proper format and content. Although guardianships can be terminated for a number of reasons, typically a guardianship continues as long as the adult with disabilities is alive. Supporting Documents In Family LawIn a perfect world, all petitions for guardianship would contain information related to all the criteria that have been proposed, with the exception of the global standard, of course. Legal criteria and Utah laws are imperative to the establishment of a guardianship. Seek the assistance of an experienced Lehi Utah family lawyer. They provide the bedrock baseline and the threshold for a petition for guardianship. They are, however, only one part of the complex picture of guardianship matters. Commonly accepted and standardized functional and decisional assessment tools would be part of every petition for guardianship. In addition, the petitioner would explain why a less restrictive legal alternative would not be appropriate in the situation. If a power of attorney or a trust already existed, the petitioner would explain why that legal option was no longer sufficient to protect the person with diminished capacity. The petition would contain information about the specific powers that are needed by the guardian and why. The petition would spell out the risks to the person with diminished capacity if the court denied the guardianship petition. This information would enable judges to craft specific orders that more closely match the needs of the person with diminished capacity. There would be information about the person’s living circumstances, his support network, and his ability to cope. Physician Statements and Medical DiagnosesPhysician statements and medical diagnoses must continue to be a part of the information provided to the court for many reasons. Some observers have noted, however, that due to societal bias towards people with diminished capacity and the elderly there is always the possibility that their abilities and actual functioning will not be realistically assessed. Even without much detail, physician statements filed with the court are still neutral assessments and as such provide objective data for the court. Medical diagnoses can be helpful in determining the types of powers a guardian should be given initially and in forecasting how long a guardianship may be needed. A careful, considered diagnosis provides a baseline at the start of the guardianship and makes the course of the person’s medical condition more clear. As the person’s condition changes (or doesn’t change) over time, it can be measured against the physician’s initial statements and diagnoses. For instance, a diagnosis of delirium or severe depression means that the condition is most likely temporary and will respond to treatment, indicating that it might be possible to terminate the guardianship at some point when the person recovers. People do recover from the most unlikely conditions. Some people with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder finally realize that they must take medication for the rest of their lives, and they do it. Those with substance-abuse problems find the support they need to recover from their addiction. Some people with developmental disabilities bloom under special newly created programs and learn how to handle their own money and take public transportation. Some adults with head injuries stabilize and learn to function in ways that permit a guardianship to be terminated. Assessments and evaluations for guardianship petitions can be viewed as a “snapshot in time” of a particular person and that person’s circumstances. A careful, thorough medical assessment is, in fact, a thoughtful investigation with several parts. First, the physician obtains a history of the person’s health status through an oral interview with the patient and possibly members of the family. Each of the body’s systems is reviewed for current and past symptoms. The systems include: bones and joints, heart and blood vessels, brain and nerves, digestive system, eyes, ears, nose and mouth, lungs, genital and urinary, and endocrine system. Chronic pain is also evaluated. The physician then reviews current medications, including any over-the-counter (OTCs) drugs. The savvy physician will inquire if the patient is skipping medications or borrowing someone else’s medications because of expense. After the verbal history has been taken, the physician does a physical examination and orders further studies, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, or a neuropsychological examination. A brain scan may be ordered to see if there has been a stroke or other disease activity, such as brain tumors. Brain scans can also detect untreated depression. Once all the laboratory studies are completed, a diagnosis can be made. Typically, a physician statement filed in a guardianship will contain several diagnoses, especially if the person is an elder. Guardians must make decisions for people who can no longer make decisions for themselves. Some of the most difficult decisions include deciding where the person with diminished capacity will live and whether her home should be sold or her apartment closed. Just as difficult are healthcare decisions such as amputations, end-of-life care and life support, do not-resuscitate orders, and tube feeding. Still other decisions might involve whether to file a lawsuit when there has been egregious abuse by someone prior to the guardianship, or perhaps even working with police and prosecutors when criminal charges are pending against the alleged abuser. Handling real property and assets can be very troublesome if the situation is complex. For instance, a guardian may be involved in managing rental property with the headaches of maintaining the property and evicting a difficult tenant. It can be frustrating to deal with stock portfolios, marshal public benefits and pensions, sort through piles of mail, and locate “stale” income checks. Some elderly people coming into guardianship have not paid their federal and state income taxes for a number of years. This means that the guardian must reconstruct those past years and file the returns for the years that were ignored. When there are contentious family relationships or even mild conflicts, the guardian must deal with the issues and personalities in the way that is in the best interest of the adult with diminished capacity. Typically, elders in guardianship will want to be in contact with all members of the family regardless of conflicts. In carrying out their duties, all guardians must consult the person in guardianship when decisions are to be made. If the person’s cognitive impairments do not permit her to participate, then the guardian must act in concert with the values of the person if those values are known. If the values are not known, then the guardian acts in the best interests of the person. People and organizations serving as guardians include family, friends, lawyers, and other professionals who are familiar with the person who may need a guardianship. People and organizations who do not know the person with diminished capacity also may serve as guardians—including private professional guardians, profit and non-profit organizations, and Public Guardians who are governmental agencies. Family members who are guardians of an elder struggle with the same challenges as any family caregiver. For those who are guardians of a spouse with increasing health problems and inability to perform selfcare, it means the loss of a helpmate and companion in addition to the physical work required in care giving. For adult children who serve as guardians, it means making decisions for a parent who formerly made decisions for them, as well as sorrow over the parent’s increasing impairments. For family members who are guardians for younger adults who are developmentally disabled or who have suffered a catastrophic accident or illness, it means also struggling with changes in their own life patterns, especially as they care for the impaired person over the years. And for those guardians who have family members with mental illness or substance abuse it means suffering their own sorrows even if they are not in close contact with the family member who is ill or addicted. In addition to their own personal challenges and the concern about the person with diminished capacity and his finances, the relative who is guardian must deal with the pressure of fulfilling the legal mandate as a surrogate decision-maker. Usually the person has never served as a guardian before. He or she has little or no preparation for this very unfamiliar role. Family members will not be accustomed to the “culture of guardianship,” including its language, procedures, process, and the players. For all those reasons, family members should Seek the assistance of an experienced Lehi Utah family lawyer. Lehi Utah Family Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with divorce in Lehi Utah, or any type of family law, including real estate disputes, or elder law, guardianships, child custody, child support, estate planning and more, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
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Should A Single Person Have A Will? via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/family-lawyer-lehi-utah/ When you are charged with a DUI or DWI for the first time, it can be a scary time for you. You don’t know what to expect and aren’t sure what will happen to you. While the consequences of any drunken driving offense are serious, it doesn’t have to mean jail time or the end of your driving career. This is especially true for first-timers. If this is your first DUI or DWI charge, here’s what you can expect, to answer the question, “What happens when you get a DUI or DWI for the first time?” The exact penalties you will face will depend largely on the circumstances of the offense. It will also depend on the laws of your state. Some states treat first-time offenses more harshly than others. For example, in Alabama, a first offense can get you a fine of up to $1,200 and a driver’s license suspension of 90 days. That’s just for the first time! In other states, you may only be charged a small fine and put on probation for a year. Of course, if you injured someone in the incident, or if a property was damaged, you might actually face jail time, even if it WAS your first offense. Rarely will a state impose jail time on a first time offender if no damage was involved? Again, however, the exact penalty depends on the state. In California, even first-time offenders are required to serve 96 hours in jail if convicted. Of course, with overcrowding, sometimes just showing up to jail will be sufficient to get you released for good behavior almost upon your arrival. It’s certainly happened to some high profile celebrities recently. The best thing you can do for yourself if you’re wondering what happens when you get a DUI or DWI for the first time is to contact a lawyer who specializes in these types of cases. That lawyer will be able to advise you of your state’s laws and tell you what you can expect if you’re convicted. This will help you prepare for any possibility that may come up in court. If you’re very lucky, a good lawyer may even be able to get the charges against you reduced, which will result in much more lenient sentencing. The legal drinking age in every state is now 21 years of age. Two-thirds of all states now have an Administrative License Revocation law. This basically allows the arresting officer to take your license if you refuse to take a breathalyzer test or if you fail the test. All states have now passed Zero Tolerance laws. These laws say that no driver under 21 can have a measurable amount of blood alcohol. This will mean the revocation of a license. A lost license can be temporary or permanent, depending upon whether the violator is a repeat offender or not. The hopes that an attorney will get you out of the jail time, license suspension or a fine for drunk driving are very slim. Most of the fines, suspension times and jail time are mandatory, though they may differ from state to state. First-time offenders can be hit hard with fines, license suspensions and weekend jail time. For those that are repeat offenders or habitual violators, there are felony penalties for three DUI convictions. A felony conviction can cost you many of your civil rights. The ability to own a weapon or vote, along with permanent loss of license may occur. DUI school can be a part of a lengthy process of getting a license back for a person that has had more than one DUI. You may be required to have an assessment interview where your drinking habits are looked at. It may be determined that you must attend some form of rehabilitation before you can get your license back. It may also be determined that you must maintain extra insurance. This can be expensive, especially if you have had an accident while drinking. Society is attempting to demonstrate that drinking and driving are unacceptable. DUI offenders are facing changes that can impact their lives forever. Top five questions asked by those arrested for the first time DUI1. Will I go to jail? A first time DUI carries a maximum sentence of up to 6 months of jail, however, this is seldom if ever imposed. Typically on a first time DUI, as long as there are no aggravating factors, you will not serve any additional jail time to what you have already served. Aggravating factors can be having children under 14 in the car during the offense, excessive speed enhancement, refusing chemical tests, injuring someone in an accident, etc. If your case is a typical, standard first time DUI, then you can probably expect no additional jail time with exceptions. 2. Will I lose my license? A first time DUI does carry a mandatory license suspension. There are two possible ways to this process. Your license can be suspended either after a DMV Hearing loss or a conviction of a DUI in court. This can range from a 30-day suspension, followed by 5 months restricted license following a DMV Hearing loss to a 6 months restricted driver license following a DUI court conviction. The restricted license is only to, from and during the scope of your employment and to and from your mandatory alcohol classes. 3. How much are the fines? Typically, the total fines and fees that a person will pay on the first time DUI is $2,064.00. These fines may be paid in full or paid off through a payment plan at the court collections office. 5. How long will this stay on my record? A DUI conviction will stay on your record for prosecution purposes for ten years from the date of offense. If you are convicted of one or more DUI’s within the next 10 years, then you will count as a multiple offenders and will be subject to higher fines, more jail, longer license suspension, etc. and if it is a fourth offense or more, will most likely be charged as a felony offense, which could land you in state prison. Remember that all of the above answers are based upon what happens to the majority of an average first time DUI cases, however, each case is looked at differently and the outcomes could be greater than what is listed based upon circumstances of the individual cases. You should never hesitate to call a DUI lawyer. Sometimes people assume that because this is the first time they have been caught, there is no need to get legal representation. First-time offenders don’t usually suffer steep consequences, right? Unfortunately, you cannot be sure that you will make it through the situation unscathed. DUI QuestionsIt is confusing to go through the system alone. You may not have any idea what is happening or what you should do to protect your reputation and your license. Instead of trying to figure it out on the go, contact a DUI lawyer as soon as possible. You need someone that can help you navigate the legal system and help you make decisions important to your case. There are plenty of mistakes to be made by a person without sound legal counsel. Unfortunately, when these mistakes are made, there is no way to go back and remedy this situation. Once you provide information or refuse representation, you put yourself in a bad situation that is not easy to fix. It could cost you your freedom, your finances, and even your reputation. DUI Anxiety and FearIt can be scary to go through something and have no idea what to expect. You have no idea if charges are going to be filed, if you are going to spend the night in jail or if your friends and family are going to find out. You have a lot on the line in this type of situation. Because of this, you need a DUI lawyer to help. Your first time going through this can be frightening as there are so many things that you don’t know. From the very beginning, your DUI lawyer will talk to you about what is going to happen. He or she will get your side of the story and then begin to formulate a plan. He may want to have the charges dismissed or try to settle the situation. No matter what, when you have a professional on your side, you can rest assured that he is going to have your best interests in mind and try to get you a favorable outcome to the situation. Every year people believe that they can handle things like this on their own. They assume that because they are first time offenders, they are not going to feel the full extent of the law. Unfortunately, they go into the situation with a false sense of confidence only to find that they are facing severe consequences. If you find yourself in this situation, make a phone call right away and talk to a DUI lawyer to represent your case. In Utah, considering that there were well over 15,000 DUI arrests last year (with 44% coming from Salt Lake County alone), driving under the influence offense is strictly enforced and comes with many penalties and consequences. According to Utah Code 41-6a-502, a person may not operate or be in physical control of a vehicle if: •The person has a blood or breath alcohol concentration of.08 grams or greater at the time of the test; or •The person is under the influence of alcohol, any drug, or the combined influence of both that renders the person incapable of safely driving a vehicle. As for penalties, there is extensive and strict sentencing with regard to DUI convictions in Utah. Utah statute 41-6a-503 defines a first time DUI offense as a class B misdemeanor, which comes with a presumptive sentence of: •up to six months in jail and/or up-to $1000 in fines. There are circumstances which may allow for the penalties to increase, which include: •If the person also caused bodily injury to another person. •If the person had a passenger under 16 years old in the vehicle. Under Utah Code 41-6a-505, the court may order one or more of the following for a first time DUI conviction: •A jail sentence of 48 consecutive hours or more; •48 hours or more of community service; •Home confinement with electronic monitoring; •Participation in alcohol or drug courses; •A fine of $700 or more; •Probation (if there is evidence that the person had a BAC or.16 or higher); •Ignition Interlock Device; or •Possible license suspension of up to 120 days. With these consequences, it is of vital importance to understand your rights while retaining a qualified criminal defense lawyer. To start, you do not have to perform a field sobriety test. A sobriety test is difficult under normal circumstances, so refusing this aspect of the process may keep you from incriminating yourself. Although you can refuse a field sobriety test, refusing to submit to a chemical test (blood, breath, urine) in Utah will come with extreme penalties. The courts in Utah allow evidence of a DUI suspect refusing a chemical test to be admitted at trial. This evidence is likely to do major damage to you as a defendant, considering law enforcement has the right to apply for a warrant in order to force a blood test anyway. Furthermore, even for a first time DUI offender, simply being charged may lead to a license suspension. This action can be taken before conviction, under a procedure called administrative license suspension. A first offense tends to come with a 90-day suspension, with up to 18 months if a chemical test is refused. Considering these potential issues, staying up-to-date and informed on your rights, along with the consequences of your actions, will give you a better chance at successfully fighting your DUI charge. Make sure to discuss your situation with a capable criminal defense attorney who understands the laws that you allegedly broke. DUI Lawyer Free ConsultationWhen you need help with a DUI charge in Utah, whether it is your first, 2nd DUI, 3rd DUI or other type of crime, we want to help you. Call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. We help people with DUI charges against them.
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When Do Most Car Accidents Happen? via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/do-first-time-dui-offenders-go-to-jail/ The law governing lawyers, shores up the primary duty of loyalty though secondary rules that guard against certain particularly worrisome or prominent forms of disloyalty. The most important of these are the conflict of interest rules, which regulate, or even forbid, a wide range of activities through which lawyers might be tempted to betray their clients. Most generally, these rules impose restrictions— including procedural restrictions requiring written informed consent and substantive restrictions against waivers of the duty to be competent and diligent—on lawyers’ freedom to represent clients when “the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client” or, more broadly still, when “there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be materially limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client, a former client or a third person or by a personal interest of the lawyer.” More narrowly, the rules take aim at certain especially troublesome behaviors. For example, they forbid lawyers from “using information relating to representation of a client to the disadvantage of the client unless the client gives informed consent.” They impose an outright ban on representations that “involve the assertion of a claim by one client against another client represented by the lawyer in the same litigation or other proceeding before a tribunal.” They forbid lawyers from writing themselves into their clients’ wills or appropriating literary or media rights in their clients’ stories, and they quite generally insist on substantive fairness in business transactions between lawyers and their clients. And they forbid lawyers from being paid to represent clients by third parties who interfere with the lawyer client relationship. In these and other ways, the law emphasize and enforce the lawyer’s duty of loyalty. An experienced Midvale Utah divorce lawyer will be loyal to you and will not indulge in any forbidden activities. In spite of its central importance to legal ethics, lawyer loyalty cannot stand alone. Loyalty carries no content apart from the end to which it refers—loyalty, even zealous loyalty, requires an object. And the loyalty and zeal provisions in the ethics codes, even when supplemented by the conflicts rules, do not adequately fix their own objects, because identifying “the client” as the object of the lawyer’s loyalty and the end of her zeal is not enough to fix the lawyer’s professional duties in a meaningful way. Saying simply that the lawyer should be loyal to the client does not determine to what about the client the lawyer’s loyalty should attach, and this choice will dramatically affect the nature of the lawyer’s ethical life. Indeed, in the extreme case, if the lawyer’s loyalty were tied to the client’s interest in moral or legal rectitude—to the client’s justice, as one might say—then the lawyer would cease to be meaningfully an adversary advocate at all. In order to represent her client loyally, she would be required first to judge her client’s cause to determine what protecting his rectitude required. Most importantly, the ethics codes protect client control over ends from encroachment by the lawyer’s superior knowledge and technical expertise, which often pose the gravest threats to client autonomy. Thus, although the ethics codes recognize lawyers’ technical expertise by giving them limited control over the means through which to pursue the ends that clients set,29 the line between “means” and “ends” is given a flexible rather than rigid interpretation—one that emphasizes client control. In particular, choices that would ordinarily be classed as involving mere means and therefore allocated to the lawyer—for example, respecting the aggressiveness of a cross-examination—are treated as involving ends and allocated to the client as soon as they impinge on the client’s broader values. Lawyers are, to be sure, permitted, and perhaps even encouraged, to offer clients independent counsel even within the sphere of client authority—that is, not just in matters of technical law but also, as the Model Rules say, concerning “other considerations such as moral, economic, social and political factors, that may be relevant to the client’s situation.” But even the practice of counseling clients concerning the ends of a representation serves, finally, to reemphasize the clients’ ultimate authority over these ends. An experienced Midvale Utah experienced divorce lawyer may advise but must never command, and will take care, in offering advice, to avoid unduly influencing the clients.Even though lawyers should advise their clients broadly, they may not use their positions as advisers to subvert clients’ autonomy. The strong principle of lawyer loyalty is supplemented, in the ethics codes, by an equally strong principle of client control. Legal AssertivenessEven taken together, lawyer loyalty and client control do not fix the nature of lawyers’ professional obligations. The duties that lawyer loyalty and client control actually impose on lawyers depend on the range of objectives that clients and their lawyers may jointly pursue and the range of means that clients and their lawyers may use to pursue these objectives. And the questions therefore remain just what clients may command their lawyers to do and just what client commands lawyers may follow. The creation of an agency relation binds the agent to her principal but does not generally alter the scheme of duties that the principal and the agent (as his stand-in) owe third parties: a principal generally may not pursue ends through an agent that he may not pursue directly himself; and, an agent generally cannot avoid obligations to others by hiding behind the agency relation. Thus the law makes both principals and agents liable when agents take actions on behalf of their principals that tortiously harm third parties. Accordingly, if the assertion of legal claims were governed by a standard of strict liability or even negligence, so that clients who asserted and lawyers who promoted losing or unreasonable claims were liable for the harms that they caused, then this liability would impose external constraints on the loyalty that clients might demand and that lawyers might display. The foundational principles of adversary advocacy require lawyers to promote the causes and assert the claims that their clients choose, even when they doubt (or indeed reject) the claims’ merits. Lawyers must assert their clients’ factual and legal positions even when they privately find the opposing positions more compelling; and lawyers must promote their clients’ causes even when they privately conclude that their clients do not fairly deserve to have these causes succeed. Moreover, lawyers must act in these ways even when their private doubts about their clients’ positions are correct and even when their clients’ positions are (within limits) unreasonable. Lawyers owe duties of candor to the courts before which they appear. These are strongest concerning direct communications with courts and with respect to facts. Thus the Model Rules, for example, forbid lawyers from knowingly making false statements of material fact to tribunals or offering evidence that they know to be false, and, moreover, require lawyers to correct false statements of material fact that they have previously made and to take reasonable remedial measures if they come to learn that evidence that they offered in good faith is false. Similarly, the Model Rules require lawyers who represent a client before a tribunal to take reasonable remedial measures, including disclosure to the tribunal, when they know of criminal or fraudulent acts related to the adjudicative proceedings at issue. Indeed, these basic principles apply, although perhaps in an attenuated form, even to criminal defense lawyers: the Supreme Court has held, in Nix v. Whiteside, that it is not unconstitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel for a defense lawyer to refuse to assist her client in committing perjury and indeed to force her client to testify honestly (or not at all) by threatening to reveal his perjury. These duties of candor expressly trump the duty of confidentiality that ordinarily governs lawyer-client relations. Finally, lawyers, at least in civil proceedings, may generally refuse to offer evidence to a tribunal when they reasonably believe (even if they do not know) that the evidence is false. Lawyers’ duties of factual candor toward tribunals also extend, although less rigorously, to circumstances in which tribunals are only indirectly involved and to actions that are only indirectly communications. Even when not immediately before a tribunal, lawyers must preserve, and in some instances hand over, evidence. They may not falsify evidence or counsel or assist witnesses to testify falsely, or (more broadly) counsel or assist clients to commit fraud on tribunals. And even when factual statements are not directly involved, lawyers may not assert claims or defenses that are factually frivolous or that neither have nor are expected to develop a reasonable basis in fact. Lawyers also owe tribunals duties of candor with respect to law, although these duties are perhaps weaker than their duties with respect to facts. Thus the Model Rules, following a long line of authority, forbid lawyers from knowingly making false statements of law to tribunals and, moreover, require lawyers to disclose controlling legal authorities that they know are directly adverse to their clients’ causes. And the Model Rules, in conjunction with the law of procedure, forbid lawyers from asserting arguments whose legal basis is frivolous. Finally, the Model Rules probably allow lawyers to refuse to argue against their most fundamental legal and moral beliefs, in particular by withdrawing from representations, or declining court appointments, that would require them to do so. Second, lawyers owe duties of candor even to third parties, although these are in important ways weaker and narrower still. Most straightforwardly, the Models Rules forbid lawyers from affirmatively assisting clients in conduct that the lawyers know is criminal or fraudulent, and they also more broadly prohibit lawyers from knowingly making false statements of material fact or law to third persons. Moreover, although more controversially, the Model Rules require lawyers to take corrective action when they discover certain frauds against third parties by disclosing material facts when this is necessary to avoid assisting their clients in criminal or fraudulent acts, but only insofar as they can do so without breaching the professional duty of confidentiality. Under the current version of the Model Rules, this regime requires lawyers to make disclosures necessary to avoid assisting clients in frauds that threaten reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm or that use the lawyers’ services and are likely to result in substantial harm to the property of third parties. In addition, lawyers may (but need not) make disclosures necessary to prevent reasonably certain risks of death or substantial bodily injury even apart from any crime or fraud and even when the lawyers’ services have not been involved in creating the risks. Finally, lawyers sometimes have duties under generally applicable law to disclose certain facts to third parties. Most prominently, the rules of procedure require lawyers to cooperate with discovery, sometimes including by identifying, even without a discovery request, persons and documents that they will use to assert their claims or defenses. The law of fraud, insofar as it treats nondisclosure as participation in a fraud, also requires lawyers to make certain disclosures. And other, narrower and more idiosyncratic legal regimes, for example, concerning threats to children, require disclosure as well. The Model Rules support these externally created duties to disclose: they specifically forbid lawyers from refusing reasonable discovery requests; and, more broadly, they now permit lawyers to break client confidences in order to comply with the law. Taken together, the provisions of the law governing lawyers place significant limits on lawyers’ professional duty (and indeed license) to lie for their clients. The law governing lawyers thus counterbalances the organic pressures to lie established by lawyer loyalty and client control with a series of restrictions that, although surely important, remain self-consciously and insistently technical. Lawyers may not subvert the adversary process entirely. Thus, a lawyer may not seek illegally to influence a judge or juror or intentionally to disrupt a tribunal. Moreover, lawyers are forbidden certain less direct means that undermine the legal process, so that, for example, a lawyer who participates in litigating a matter may not seek through publicity to prejudice the adjudication of the matter. Finally, a lawyer may not knowingly disobey the rules of a tribunal. Similarly, lawyers may not transgress the boundaries of the adversary process by extending their adversary practices to circumstances outside the adversary system’s structural frame. Thus, a lawyer may not exploit circumstances in which her opponents are absent. She may not communicate ex parte with judges or jurors save where she is authorized to do so by law or court order; and even when ex parte communications are permitted, she must dampen her adversariness and may not exploit an opponent’s absence to present a one-sided view of a dispute. In addition, a lawyer may not misuse persons who do not understand her adversary role. Thus, a lawyer who communicates, on behalf of a client, with unrepresented third persons may not deceive them into thinking she is disinterested and must, moreover, make reasonable efforts to correct even misunderstandings of her role that she did not cause. These restrictions are not surprising. Without the restrictions against subverting the adversary process, or their functional equivalents, adversary adjudication would become simply impossible, because the adversary frame in which it occurs would collapse. Without the restrictions against transgressing the adversary process, or their functional equivalents, adversary lawyering would become unbalanced, because it would be disconnected from the process that underwrites its justification. Lawyers do enjoy a broad right to withdraw from a representation for more or less any reason, including on moral grounds, when withdrawing has no materially adverse effects on their clients’ interests. This is unsurprising, because a harmless withdrawal does not offend the principles of lawyer loyalty and client control that generate lawyers’ professional morality. The difficult cases—the cases that establish the effects of the possibility of withdrawal on lawyers’ professional obligations—arise when a lawyer’s withdrawal will harm her client. When a lawyer whose client pursues unjustified claims cannot withdraw without prejudicing the client, she becomes caught between ordinary morality on the one hand and the professional ideology of adversary advocacy on the other: continuing in the representation requires her to lie and to cheat, but withdrawing violates the principles of lawyer loyalty and client control. An experienced Midvale Utah divorce lawyer will withdraw, including when withdrawing prejudices her client, if continuing in a representation “will result in violation of the rules of professional conduct or other law.” For example, a lawyer must withdraw, including prejudicially, if her client insists on committing what the lawyer knows to be perjury, because continuing in the representation would violate Model Rule 3.3(a)(3), which forbids lawyers from offering evidence that they know to be false. Similarly, a lawyer must also withdraw, again even prejudicially, if her client insists on filing frivolous claims or making frivolous arguments. Additionally, a lawyer may withdraw (although she is not generally required to) when a client “persists in a course of action involving the lawyer’s services that the lawyer reasonably believes is criminal or fraudulent,” or when a client “has used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime or fraud,” even though continuing in the representation would not violate any ethics rule or other law. Provisions import principles that require candor and respect toward tribunals during ongoing representations into the law of withdrawal, so these provisions import some of the principles that promote respect for third parties during ongoing representations into the law of withdrawal. Divorce MediationSince 2005, Utah has required all contested issues to be referred to mediation once a Respondent answers the divorce petition. At a minimum, both parties must participate in one mediation session. These mediations are generally client-centered mediations. In client-centered mediation, a professional mediator works with both parties in the same room to help them find their own solutions to the issues raised by divorce or other conflicts. Instead of asserting personal biases or opinions about what a necessary or fair solution is, the client-centered mediator creates a structured environment for the parties so that, once they have agreed to the rules of mediation, it is likely they will achieve resolution. This process is based upon the client’s sense of what is right, what is fair, and what will work for them. In client-centered mediation, the negotiations follow a path based upon cooperative principles, rather than competitive principles. Client-centered mediation is based on the belief that clients know best and that Utah divorce laws, used as principles of fairness, provide only minimal guidelines and are not always the best way to create mutual, fair settlements. Clients tend to become reasonable and fair when they are given a safe environment in which to communicate and are encouraged to recognize and meet the needs of the other spouse as well as their own. They may start out having very different ideas about fairness, but the process of client-centered mediation motivates them to be more fair with each other than if they were in an adversarial environment. Client-centered mediation also encourages parties to realize that they can only obtain good results for themselves when they also assist the other to reach fair, just results. This principle of mutual connectedness is at the core of client-centered mediation. It is explained by the mediator in such a way that clients come to understand it is to their advantage to figure out ways to meet the needs of the person with whom they are negotiating. Meeting the needs of the other and achieving fairness is far easier when it is not necessary to spend many thousands of dollars on the transaction cost of adversarial conflict resolution procedures. The mediator takes a very active role in helping the couple determine future separate financial needs, future separate parenting plans, and future use of property, based on how they intend to divide that property. Client-centered mediation does not use the mediator as a substitute therapist or attorney. The couple will be asked to obtain legal representation and encouraged, if they are financially able, to engage in marriage closure therapy. Client-centered divorce mediation is respectful of each client and seeks to empower clients to reach agreements that transform their relationship, preserve their integrity, and focus on their best interests. Divorcing parents are empowered to make agreements that take into consideration that they will be parents forever, that preserve the assets of the marriage, and that it is in their best interests to find solutions, rather than fighting continuously about what is right or wrong. In fact, contrary to the vagaries of an adversarial process, in client-centered mediation, couples more easily see that good solutions are those that allow both of them to carry the burdens of divorce somewhat equivalently. Clients may seek to impress the mediator with their ability to be fair, which creates a desire in the other partner to give this impression as well. This dynamic may begin as face-saving measures by both partners, but can be used by a skilled mediator to create a positive energy or environment for agreement in the mediation room. Client-centered mediation uses an innovative approach to resolving problems that is healthier, easier for clients to use, and results in lower financial and emotional costs. One of the core principals of client-centered mediation is its future-oriented approach—it asks future-oriented questions that require a mutual effort to answer. For example, when a divorce involves a custody dispute, a standard legal question is, “Who is the better parent based upon their past behavior with the children?” The parent who is found to be better is awarded physical custody (based upon applying a series of best-interest tests—such as which parent was more nurturing in the past, who changed more diapers, or who had more contact in recent months—whereas the less fit parent is labeled a noncustodial visiting parent). This whole process is demeaning to parents and creates more conflict while generating large fees for divorce attorneys who litigate custody disputes In a client-centered mediation process, the mediator asks the question, “What future parenting plan can both of you agree to so you can have a constructive parenting relationship that best meets your children’s needs, even though you will be living separately?” This question focuses on the future and does not require parents to debate about past behavior or compete for custody. It offers the opportunity for mutual and cooperative discussion and the possibility of achieving their shared goal of joint parenting. Client-centered mediation uses as a tool innovative questions to make it easier for conflicted parties to collaborate and agree to a fair resolution of the conflict. A client-centered mediator asks mutual, future-focused questions to help people in conflict begin to realize they have shared goals. This tends to change the situation from a contest, in which one person wins and the other loses, to a shared journey of looking for joint answers to shared issues. The questions are designed to encourage a mutual response. The questions asked by an attorney or judge in the legal system are more often related to the contest, rather than future planning. The questions asked by the mediators are just as different from the legal system’s questions as night is from day. A client-centered mediator does not think about different sides; instead the mediator thinks in terms of shared goals. For example, in the typical custody battle, instead of asking for help from psychologists to evaluate and determine who is more fit to have custody of the minor children, the parents in a mediation process can ask a therapist to help them jointly resolve their complaints about the other’s parenting behaviors. In a fence-line dispute between two neighbors that ended in a fight, instead of seeking who is at fault, the client-centered mediator asks, Would you each talk about your perspective of what happened? In client-centered mediation, participants are encouraged to see that they have conflict, not a contest. Contests require winners and losers; conflicts require constructive communication and decision making. Mediators can turn contests into mutually resolved outcomes by offering an environment that encourages cooperation. By influencing the communication patterns, the attitudes, and the bargaining process, the mediator can change the battle from a contest into a journey that helps participants achieve their shared goals. As any contest is a tug of war between two or more sides, mediation is a conversation that results in changed people. This is another small positive building block because Bob acknowledges the importance of the goal of shared parenting. Similarly, a couple might be locked in battle over the issue of spousal support. Instead of blaming one spouse for this problem, the client-centered mediator helps them identify shared goals by asking if they both agree that one of them is partially or completely dependent upon the marriage relationship for their support. If they agree to this, the mediator then asks them if they are interested in building a plan that allows the more dependent spouse to gain an increased measure of financial self-sufficiency. Some couples wish to unhook completely. If this is the case, the mediator will help them look at options such as lump-sum buyouts of the spousal support obligation. Once they realize they have the shared goals of each helping to solve the problems of less money and more expenses after a divorce, most adopt a standard of fairness calling for each of them to share some of the burdens of the divorce. This peaceful resolution by the parties is in sharp contrast to what happens if the case goes to court. There, attorneys may argue that one caused the problem by asking the other to stay home and not work, or the attorney may charge that one spouse is lazy and unwilling to work or that the higher-income spouse is lying about income, or if the spouse was telling the truth, accuses the spouse of not wishing to be fair about support. New-thinking processes ask questions in a very different fashion. As pointed out earlier in custody mediation, for example, the new question is, “What are the future parenting arrangements the two of you can agree to that allow each of you to build a parenting plan that will work best for you and the children in the future?” This question does not encourage participants to engage in a battle over who is the better or worse parent. The client-centered question moves the parents into a new way of thinking about their future relationship with the children and with each other. Unfortunately, this is not the type of question asked by the family courts in most states. Old-thinking law-focused approaches use the same old adversarial questions and try to find a settlement in the context of a battle. New thinking changes the entire game that is being played so that participants in conflict can create their own solutions. There are many other strategies that client-centered mediators use to help people in conflict. Open and Honest CommunicationIn client-centered mediation, there is no need to engage in the type of deceptive and dishonest communication that so often occurs in the adversarial game of trying to catch the opponent in a misstatement or admission. Open and honest communication is more likely when the mediator changes the game being played, thereby eliminating the chance that participants’ words and statements could be used against them if the conflict later ends up in court. By establishing strict confidentiality of the discussions, the mediator can assure participants that their words and statements will not be used against them if mediation reaches impasse. When a person does not have to worry about their words being taken out of context or used against them later in a competitive battle, they are more likely to speak freely, openly, and honestly. Persuasive versus Threatening CommunicationAnyone who has ever been the subject of a threat knows how upsetting it can be. Most recipients of threats dig their heels in and fight back. A threat is a type of communication pattern that often contains an if-then sequence resulting in a negative consequence for the recipient if they don’t act or refrain from some act. Such coercive patterns tend to shut communication down and make it difficult to proceed with the mediation. A client-centered mediator will actively manage the sessions in such a way that coercive and threatening communication seldom occurs. The mediator accomplishes this goal by using one or several of the following three techniques: • If a threat is made, the mediator intervenes and asks the recipient of the threat to describe whether or not the statement feels threatening. If the recipient says yes, the mediator asks the originator of the threat to speak persuasively rather than coercively. The mediator could begin a discussion of how threats are really assertions that something bad will happen, and that it is possible to be persuasive by making an assertion that something good will happen as a result of requested behaviors or actions taking place. For example, a parent might say, “If you allow me to have more time with the children, I will be more willing to pay for extra child expenses.” The mediator has given the originator of the threat an opportunity to restate the threat as a need or concern. • The mediator also tries to eliminate the need for people to make threats by assuring participants that their worst fears will not come true. People who use threatening communication generally feel as though they are up against the wall without any power or options. By assuring people that bad things will not happen to them, the mediator can reduce their need to make threats against each other. For example, client-centered divorce mediators might say, “Bill, are you able to say to Susan that you will not try to harm her relationship with the children and will not try to take the children away from her?” or “Susan, are you able to assure Bill that you will not try to do anything to interfere with his relationship with the children and will not try to take the children from him?” • The mediator also tries to probe underneath the threatening statement to see whether it is possible to resolve the underlying need that motivated the threat. Suppose a person in the room says, “If you don’t back off from your outrageous demands for support, then maybe it would be better if I had the kids and you paid me to take care of them.” This usually indicates that the person making the threat is uncomfortable with the discussion about how the responsibility for sharing the costs of raising the children will be decided. By returning to a discussion about the child support, the mediator can usually help the person eliminate the need to make this threat. The mediator might respond with, “Bob, it sounds like you believe the child support amounts discussed so far are unfair.” Discouraging Blame and Fault FindingPerhaps the most destructive aspect of the adversarial system is its constant focus on blame and fault. Blaming and fault-finding statements are critical to the success of an adversarial process where the goal is to show that the other party is at fault, unfit, or not entitled to something they want. When a mediator is attempting to create a cooperative environment, it is essential that the mediator assist people to communicate without the contaminating impact of blame and fault. In most cases, such blaming and fault finding only serve to create a toxic environment in which little can be accomplished. Indeed, if the mediator is not able to move the discussions from blame and fault, clients will usually not return to mediation. A focus on the future more easily moves people away from blame and fault. All blame and fault finding focus on some event that happened in the past. Such statements declare that something bad happened in the past and it was the other person’s fault. Blame and fault-finding statements are essentially of no use to a cooperative process, unless they are acknowledged by participants and they choose to move beyond them. Instead of asking participants to deny history, a mediator offers a future focus so they can make decisions that will keep the past mistakes from reoccurring. Asking the participants if they will agree to a communication ground rule – This ground rule suggests that whenever either party makes a blaming or fault-finding statement, they agree to follow such complaints with a positive, constructive statement about what must be done differently in the future to prevent their complaint from occurring again. Frequently, a mediator will say to a participant, “I understand you are concerned about what happened in the past, what do you want to be done differently in the future so the complaint goes away?” Discouraging participants from shifting responsibility for some problem – Blame and fault statements say, “I am not responsible for the mess we are in, you are!” Instead, the mediator seizes the blame or fault statement as an opportunity for the participants to discuss future responsibilities to resolve what underlies the blaming statement. Skilled client-centered mediators help participants change their attitudes, thereby making it more likely that they will achieve a cooperative outcome. Client-centered mediators intervene to influence people’s thinking so that new thinking will occur. These interventions on the part of the mediator are not meant to be directive or controlling; they are meant to help generate the creative thinking process. Rebuilding some trust through making and following small agreements requires a great deal of attention because of issues of power and control between the two parties. For example, mediation assists participants who have experienced nonreciprocal abuse in their marriages by encouraging each party to become more assertive, not aggressive, in the controlled environment of the mediation room. The client-centered mediator is trained to screen for and recognize abuse signals when working with divorcing clients. By being nonjudgmental yet serious about abuse, the mediator will offer special protocols for participants to follow in order to keep the mediation room a safe environment. When they follow through on these protocols, they begin to rebuild the trust that will be necessary for them to operate as parents after the divorce. Creating Mutual AttitudesFor parties who have children, helping them to see that they are connected as parents is very important in creating a mutual attitude. However, even participants in mediation who do not have children or those who will not be exchanging spousal support find that they are connected to each other and that it is necessary for them to cooperate in order to get through the unsettling process of divorce. A mutual attitude means that both parties can better achieve their goals of being treated fairly if each treats the other fairly. A mutual attitude does not encourage one or the other to try to win or lose. Most importantly, a mutual attitude links people in such a way that they either sink together or they swim together. This mutual attitude is achieved in the following three ways: • At an initial mediation consultation, clients will be encouraged to negotiate in very different ways than they would in the adversarial court system. The mediator suggests that they not turn each issue into a contest, but, instead, look at each issue as requiring joint decision making. • Mediators point out how people are connected. There are many opportunities within a mediation session to point out instances in which each may get what he or she needs only when they also help the other obtain their needs. For example, one parent will have difficulty being a parent if the other constantly attempts to turn the children against them by making negative remarks about that parent. The divorce mediator may suggest that negative comments about the other parent may come back to haunt the parent making such statements. • As pointed out earlier, different questions are also useful in the task of creating a mutual attitude. Being Future FocusedWhen conflict is managed competitively, the parties look to past events for answers based on who was right and who was wrong. The goal is often to determine who is entitled to some benefit or who is at fault. This wastes an enormous amount of time and is one of the greatest drawbacks of an adversarial system of conflict resolution. Client-centered mediators create a future focus when establishing a cooperative setting. This is accomplished in the following two ways: • Unlike the traditional labor-mediation process, the client-centered mediator does not ask for an opening statement. Formal opening statements tend to exaggerate the pain of the past or are used to stake out extreme positional demands. In a client-centered process, the past is not rehashed in order to determine who caused the problems, it is only mentioned as much as is necessary to allow people to let go of the past or to help them determine what must be done differently to make the future more acceptable. People focus on the past when they are asked to make opening statements. If they are, instead, asked to tell their story, without making positional demands, their view of the past can be acknowledged by the mediator and they become more hopeful that things can be better in the future. • Questions about future goals offer clients an opportunity to talk about those goals. Questions about the past focus people on the past. More often than not, it is the past wrongs and past harm that people want to focus on. However, when the mediator asks people to build new agreements about their relationship in the future, it becomes easier to continue talking about the future. Client-centered mediators ask questions in such a way that the future goals can become linked. This future focus has positive results for the mediator offering a cooperative environment for participants. A past focus tends to create disputes about whose version of the past is correct, whereas centering the discussion around the future will help people let go of the past as they concentrate on building a new future. Mediators do not balance power, but they help clients create a better use for their power. Unlike a competitive system of conflict resolution based on score keeping, evaluating, and winning, a client-centered mediation process uses new thinking that says keeping score is not at all necessary. Although it is not necessary to determine who has more power, it is necessary to help both of them tap into the innate power they already possess. When participants are able to do this, they become more confident when addressing and planning for the future. This is what is meant by writers who emphasize empowerment or who define mediation as a self-empowering process. Client-centered mediators do not assess who has more power; instead, they are sensitive to the common misuses of power. They are intent on providing both people with new understandings by helping them become empowered. Thinking PositivelyMost people get divorced to make things better, not worse. However, when they employ a mediator, they are at an impasse because they are unable to make agreements by themselves. They are hopeful that the mediator will help them build a settlement agreement, but they also have doubts. Learning to think positively helps them overcome these doubts. In any serious conflict, people who consider mediation are frustrated and most likely at the end of their tolerance level. Their negative attitudes become magnified by their constant fixation on the harm they perceive that has occurred to them and to their dreams. They are usually skeptical of any process that tells them they will have to solve it themselves. In order to create the environment for even choosing mediation, most mediators will conduct a brief initial consultation about the process. Bargaining from InterestsClient-centered mediators influence the way clients bargain and negotiate with each other. A father sits in the mediation room pounding the table and demanding that the mediator acknowledge his legal right to have custody of the minor children. He wants physical custody because his lawyer has told him this is the highest level of parenthood he can achieve without being declared a saint. He wants to be the best parent he can be and fears losing the children. He is now bargaining about his position that he should have custody. Positional bargaining is based on the concept of winning and losing. Father wants to win custody and it means the mother of his children will lose custody. On the other hand, if the mother wins this battle, he will lose custody. This is the classic contest played out in divorces with minor children. The mediator can point out that it is possible to view custody from a different perspective. Underlying his position is an interest that he be allowed to continue to be significantly involved in his children’s lives. It is assumed that the mother also has this same interest. Interests can be met in hundreds of different ways. Positions can only be met in one way, that is, either you win custody or you lose custody. If his interest in remaining a significantly involved parent is raised, that is what the mediator will focus on. This is what is meant by interest-based bargaining. Mediators believe that if mutually shared interests can be found, every conflict can be resolved fairly for both sides. Most divorcing couples exposed to the concept of building parenting plans choose not to engage in a contest over which parent is most unfit. They opt to build parenting plans because common sense tells them it is better to cooperate about parenting their children than to fight about who should be awarded custody. Those who say participants should not work from their standards of fairness frequently are those who are skeptical of any possibility of cooperation or are still interested in keeping score. They might say, “Well, how are you going to judge which parenting plan is better if they have a fight over it?” Or, they will say, “It won’t work because people cannot be taught to cooperate.” Resistance to new thinking most often comes from those who have great difficulty accepting any other concept of fairness other than that which is designed by the legislature and ordained by the courts. Participants find that in mediation they design fairness standards that serve them better than those dictated by state law. Divorce mediation begins with an initial informational meeting held with clients to discuss mediation and how it works. If the couple chooses to proceed with mediation, they receive information necessary to begin mediation and are given financial forms to complete along with other information on how to be best prepared for the first working session. Although different mediation settlements require more time than others to achieve, 3 to 12 two-hour sessions is the average range of time needed to mediate most divorces. At the end of the mediation process, the couple receives a memorandum of their decisions and other documents necessary for the legal divorce to be concluded. They take the memorandum to their attorneys to have it converted into the settlement document for their signatures.The initial consultation is a face-to-face meeting between the couple and the mediator that usually lasts about an hour. Prior to beginning the consultation, the husband and wife each completes an intake questionnaire. The questionnaire contains some background questions about them, their addresses, phone numbers, work status and position, marriage date, separation date, names and ages of children, whether or not they have been in counseling, names of attorneys, and each person’s area of greatest concern about the divorce. The intake questionnaire includes a self-report, about the level of domestic abuse present in the marriage relationship, which is completed separately by each spouse to be shown only to the mediator and never shared with the other spouse. This information is reviewed by the mediator before seeing the clients. If the information raises questions for the mediator about violence or abusive dynamics in their relationship, the mediator may choose to meet with them separately to discuss past abuse and safety issues. If the information does not indicate a history of physical or verbal abuse, the mediator will begin by seeing them together after reading their intake forms. It is standard practice for mediators to talk about their credentials, experience, and personal approach to divorce mediation at this first meeting and to invite any questions about the mediator’s background, competence, or potential conflicts of interest. The mediator will provide a general explanation of mediation and describe how it works in divorce. The mediator also explains the difference between mediation and the adversarial process as applied to the three major areas of decision making in the divorce: parenting children, financial support, and division of marital assets and liabilities. By emphasizing the clients’ connectedness and mutual needs, the mediator demonstrates that the couple is not limited to the adversarial approach. Because mediation is conducted in private between the mediator and the couple, it is governed by a contract between the three of them. The mediator is in charge of managing the sessions in accordance with the clients’ needs and goals. Together with the clients, the mediator discusses which issues to begin with and how to proceed. The mediator often asks clients to establish some agreements about their communication in the mediation room, such as not allowing name calling, speaking one at a time without interrupting the other, keeping voices calm, and listening respectfully to each other. These informal rules are offered as they are needed during the process rather than laid out by the mediator in advance. When clients make an agreement about a rule, they will then be more likely to comply with it. In addition, the mediator models cooperative behaviors, such as speaking with a soft voice, giving each equivalent eye contact and attention, apologizing for making a mistake, not holding one’s shortcomings against them, and respectfully addressing each of them. These are all ways that the mediator keeps order and emotional safety in the mediation room. The mediator is aware that the clients may have had trouble communicating recently and is always prepared to address these problems openly, honestly, and with positive regard for each client. At the end of each session, the mediator summarizes what has been accomplished, what needs to be accomplished next, and what each needs to do to be prepared for the next session. The mediator also sends each client a memo of these items to help them prepare for the next session. This provides continuity for the mediation process. Think of a mediator as someone who is invited into the intense conflict of couples during one of the most difficult times of their lives— their divorce. Couples choosing mediation are seeking the assistance of a neutral person to help them make sense out of the chaos of the marriage breakdown. They are distraught, fearful, angry, and hopeful, all at the same time. The countless coping books about divorce describe the normal dysfunction that divorce brings to each person. Deep hurt, pain, and fear accompany the feelings of loss. Husbands and wives experience a tearing of their core being and have only the other to fault for the misery they are experiencing. The mediator, aware of the depth of the conflict and pain of divorce, never takes sides, but strives to help them arrive at a place where they can begin to build new lives without erasing the past. Is the mediator a miracle worker? Not really. The mediator’s task is to transport them from their chaos to a higher level of functioning where they can begin to work together to create the best outcome possible to close their marriage with dignity and care. Often, it begins with small manageable agreements that have a high likelihood of success. With some couples, it may only be possible to point out the fact that for the very first time in a long time, they have been able to agree upon something, even if that something is as small as agreeing to begin mediation. Connecting Emotionally With ClientsRapport building or connecting with the soul of each client sets the stage for mediation to occur. Mediators may have difficulty connecting with a client who is very guarded and refuses to trust anyone, much less a mediator. When this person presents himself in mediation, the challenge is to find a way into the heart of this hurting person. Sometimes, the way to do this seems too obvious. Asking the person to talk about what has happened is a way to learn what has gotten them to a place where there is only anger and no communication or other constructive interaction. In therapeutic terms this is called meeting the person where they are. When that is done, the person usually begins slowly and guardedly to pour out their feelings. Sometimes there will be angry feelings, and a mediator must learn not to shrink from a client’s anger but to view it as an opportunity to connect with the soul. When a mediator achieves and maintains this connection, the husband and wife are more likely to be able to express themselves constructively. Once there is rapport between the mediator and each client, the clients begin to see each other differently because they have chosen to function at a higher level than the angry conflict of the marriage breakdown. Managing The Mediation ProcessA mediator operates on several levels simultaneously. The mediator needs to connect with each person, while at the same time accomplishing the practical task of identifying the issues that need to be addressed in order for the divorce to occur. Once a couple and the mediator have attained a comfort with each other and have a good working relationship, they begin to work together on the issues of the divorce. Couples will share the goal of reaching a fair settlement, assisted by the mediator in achieving that goal. Addressing Divorce IssuesThe mediator next helps them explore the broad topics, breaks them down into manageable components, and then assists them in gathering the information necessary to build options. The mediator also provides order to the discussion of each issue that is referred to as the decision-making process, which we suggest is only one aspect of the role of the mediator. The order of the decision-making process of each issue is as follows: • Identify the issue. • Create an understanding of the issue. (This is accomplished through education and information provided by both the mediator, the clients, and sometimes by neutral experts.) • For each property issue, place an actual value on the item, and discuss the value of each item. • Consider options for decision making about each issue. • Analyze the consequences of the options for each spouse and for their children. • Discuss their standard of fairness about each issue. • Make a decision based on their standard of fairness. • Draft and review each agreement. • Submit their agreements for review, drafting, and implementation by their attorneys. This is the skeleton outline of the decision-making process for the couple. The mediator assists the couple in building the content of each step by discussing the issues in the context of their history, conflict, children, and all that they have built together to this point. The task here is to put meaning on all the issues needed for each of them to build separate futures. Asking appropriate questions is paramount to competent mediation. Although the mediator works with a couple through each issue in a divorce, the mediator is also modeling basic communication skills of listening, clarifying, questioning, reframing, and empathizing. The most important skills center on asking questions. This technique opens conversation, creates possibilities, and offers opportunities. Asking questions correctly opens the discussion and provides couples the opportunity to go beyond their old ways of thinking about a particular topic. Unexpected comments made by the mediator are not for the purpose of surprise, but to uncover the underlying conflicts that drive destructive behavior. When this happens, the mediator may offer several ideas about how the clients can begin to resolve these underlying conflicts. In divorce a frequent suggestion is for them to consider how they might begin letting go of what they hold against each other. Usually the conflict is associated with some unresolved hurt and pain related to the marriage breakdown and decision to divorce. When this is the case, the mediator may suggest that they enter marriage-closure therapy together, so they have the opportunity to analyze how their marriage relationship ended in divorce. This is not a process for them to re-evaluate the divorce decision or to consider reconciliation. It is meant to help them understand what happened, to recall and appreciate the positives of their marriage relationship, and to begin to let go and forgive each other for what they hold against the other. As we all know, forgiveness frees the forgiver and changes how the forgiver perceives the other. If forgiveness is mutual, both will be rewarded by a significant improvement in their relationship as parents. Divorce mediators need to be clear with themselves and with their clients that they are comfortable mediating divorces. Mediators need to demonstrate respect for the decision to divorce, no matter what they believe about the propriety of divorce. It is normal for people considering divorce to experience a period of deep ambivalence about whether to end the marriage. The decision to divorce or not belongs to the clients. It is inappropriate for a mediator to persuade people to stay married or to pursue a divorce. Because all nofault jurisdictions allow a spouse to divorce over the objection of the other, the mediator may appear to favor the spouse wanting the divorce when the mediator explains the choices available to the person opposed to the divorce. Even though Sonja did not want the divorce, it is important for her to become fully informed about the choices she has, because the divorce may proceed against her wishes. If you struggle with your own dislike of divorce, it may be helpful to view mediation as a service that assists divorcing couples to make things better for themselves and their children.Because most couples who begin a divorce process do eventually divorce, concentrating on what mediation can offer them is a better way to proceed with their divorce and their decision making. One great value of divorce mediation is its acceptance of a couple’s choices. It helps them create their own best outcomes. The mediator who is able to set aside personal biases benefits the clients by assisting them to make things better, not worse. A mediator actively engages in the discussions, building rapport, listening carefully, asking questions, clarifying statements, and creating understanding between a husband and wife who may have had little success understanding each other at least in the recent past, if not for quite some time. The mediator listens and watches for opportunities for one to understand the other better or to acknowledge the other’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings. All disputes present some level of power imbalance between the people in conflict. In mediation, that power imbalance is defined by the parties and their perceptions. A divorcing mother often sees the father as powerful because he controls the income. The father, on the other hand, sees the mother as powerful because she has cared for the children and knows how to meet their needs. Each perceives the other as having had more power in certain aspects of their married lives. This scenario is very common in divorces. The mediator’s role is to help people use their power for mutual enhancement rather than trying to balance power or determine who has more power. Power arises out of relationship. Power may be one person acting in such a way as to gain unfair advantage over the other. Power is frequently played out verbally in discussion, psychologically in attitude, or actively in behavior. Sometimes it is very apparent. At other times, it is subtle. Sometimes it is intentional, sometimes people do not realize their own power. Silence, for example, may be experienced as a use of power that just frustrates the other, though it may not be intentional. A verbal request voiced with great emotion may be perceived as a use of power to either emphasize a point or to intimidate. The problem with power balancing is that it assumes the mediator can accurately evaluate who has how much power when, in fact, power is often defined by perception. When one speaks with a loud voice, for example, the other may feel intimidated, but the speaker may simply be hard of hearing and speaks loudly to be sure the other person hears what is said. When one speaks intensely and with deep conviction, the other may perceive it as a powerful demand. Dealing with power is especially difficult when parties have had a long relationship and know each other intimately. In these cases, the clients carry into mediation the power strategies that made each other feel uncomfortable in the relationship. One’s facial expression may devastate the other, and the mediator might be oblivious to what happened that made that person so upset. Each person has subtle ways of pushing the other’s buttons that are not readily apparent to the mediator. At any given point in a mediation, one spouse may have more power than the other. Each person demonstrates power at different times and in different ways. The question is how each person uses that power. It is the mediator’s responsibility to learn how to recognize and deal with expressions of power. Power carries no threat, even when one has always controlled all financial resources, because in mediation there is an agreement to share the resources and provide documents to verify them. However, if one person misuses power, it may be an indication of reluctance to share information and income, thereby halting the mediation process. Misuse of power is often based on a need or a fear. When one person misuses power and threatens the other, the mediator first needs to attend to each person’s emotional safety. The role of the mediator is to facilitate conversation, discussion, and communication. Although the role may sound simple, it is in fact very complex. A mediator is called upon to facilitate an outcome agreeable to all involved. You Need A Divorce Lawyer in UtahAn experienced Midvale Utah divorce lawyer can assist you with your divorce mediation. If your divorce mediation results in a settlement, don’t sign the settlement agreement without having an experienced Midvale Utah divorce lawyer review the same for you. Not all divorce mediations end in a settlement. Often the couples are unable to agree on the different issues. In case your divorce mediation does not result in a settlement, you will have to fight it out in the court. Midvale Utah Divorce Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need to file for divorce in Utah, file for paternity, child support, child custody, adoption, guardianship or need some help with family law, please call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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Can The Chapter 7 Trustee Sell My House? via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/divorce-lawyer-midvale-utah/ Getting married and starting a family can change your financial picture in substantial ways. One of the most essential tools you may need to protect your loved ones in that scenario is a last will and testament. Last Will and TestamentThe primary function of a will is to outline your wishes with regard to who will inherit your assets when you pass away. That can include things like a home you own, investment and bank accounts or your car. You can also use a will to pass on any assets that have more sentimental than financial value, such as collectibles, clothing or other personal effects. You wouldn’t, however, include any financial assets that already have a designated beneficiary in your will, such as: • Life insurance policies • Individual retirement accounts • Employer-sponsored retirement plans • Other investment accounts Having a will ensures that your wishes are honored with regard to how you want your assets divided. If you die without a will, you’re deemed intestate. When that happens, all of your assets are divided up according to the inheritance laws outlined in your state. If you’re married, your spouse and children would typically get first rights to your estate but when you’re single, your primary heirs would normally include your parents, siblings and other family members. If you’re young and healthy, the thought of something happening to you may have never crossed your mind. And if you’re older and still single, you may not feel the need to get a will until you’re married or have kids in the picture. So, who is a will right for? You may need a will when you’re single if: • You own a home or have other assets that would need to be distributed if you die • You’re worried about who would end up with your assets once you pass away • You want to use your will to make financial gifts to individuals or charitable donations • You want to leave specific instructions about how your pets should be cared for There are two ways to make a will when you’re single: you can either do it yourself online or ask an estate planning attorney for help. The DIY route may be more appealing if you have a relatively simple estate and you want to avoid high legal fees. On the other hand, if you’ve accumulated a decent amount of assets because you own several rental properties or the markets been good to your portfolio, then it may be better to have an experienced professional on-board. You could hand-write your will but those aren’t recognized as legal in every state. The better, and safer, the option is to have a computer-generated document outlining your wishes that you can have notarized and filed with the probate court in your state if that’s required to make it official. As you write your will, remember: • You’ll need to name an executor. After your death, this person is responsible for inventorying your assets, notifying your creditors and paying any outstanding debts and distributing your assets to your heirs. • You may need witnesses. Probate law varies from state to state and many states require your will to be witnessed by at least two people. Generally, your witnesses must be legal adults and of sound mind. Some states prohibit anyone who has a financial interest in the will from being a witness. The same goes for your executor. • You’ll need a plan for how you want your assets to be distributed. This part of the will-writing process is what requires the most thought. While you can change a will after it’s finalized, that can be problematic if one of your heirs contests the original will after you’ve passed away. Before you commit your wishes to paper, take time to think carefully about what assets you want to include and who you want them to go to. • Your should change as your life situation changes. If your single status changes because you’ve gotten married, you become a parent or you acquire new assets, remember that your will should reflect those changes. It’s a good idea to review your will at least once per year to ensure that it still’s a good fit for your financial situation. Most single people should have a will. A will can help you determine who will get your property (including your home, business, pets, and digital assets), name guardians for your children, and name an executor. A will also puts your wishes in writing so there’s no confusion about your intentions. If you don’t have a will, your state’s intestate succession laws will determine who gets your property. In most states, this means that if you don’t have a will, your property will go to your closest relatives. For single people, recipients are usually parents, children, or siblings. If none of those people are alive to take your property, it will go to more distant relatives, like cousins, aunts, and uncles. Under these rules, your friends, significant others, and other relatives (like step-siblings) will get nothing. To avoid the default rules of intestate succession, make a will. Under a will, you decide who gets what and the default rules do not apply. In your will, you name the people you want to receive your property and what specific property you want them to receive. For many people who own a home, it is the most valuable thing they have. If you’re single, you certainly want to decide for yourself who should get it if you die. This may be especially true if you co-own your home with a partner and want your partner to own the entire home after you die. Things could get messy if intestate succession makes your parents or children half-owners of the house instead. You can use a will to make it clear who should get your portion. However, depending on how you and the co-owner hold the property, a will may not change who gets the property when you die. If you hold the property in joint tenancy, the co-owner will automatically become the full owner after you die, and you cannot use your will to give your portion to anyone else. If you have a business, a will can transfer your interest in it if you don’t have an agreement with other owners of the business. Work with an attorney if you want to make an exit strategy for your business, have multiple partners, or want to transfer the business to your child at your death. An estate planning lawyer will be familiar with your state laws on transferring business interests and can help minimize estate and income tax consequences. If you own digital assets, you may be able to pass some of these assets through your will. Examples of digital assets that may pass through your will include: • libraries of digital music, video, or photos • crypto-currency • digital content (like the content of your blog , but probably not the blog itself) • the content of files on your phone or computer • self-published books • loyalty points and airline miles, and • your seller’s assets in an online store. It’s very important that you leave your executor instructions about how to access these assets. This is usually best done in a separate letter to your executor. You might also use that letter to leave instructions for digital assets that you cannot leave through your will (because you do not own them)—for example, email accounts, social media accounts, online memberships, subscription accounts, and apps on your phone or tablet. Separate from determining who gets your property, you can use your will to nominate a guardian for your children. A guardian is a person who will raise your children and manage their property if you die while they’re still minors. You can make the same person responsible for the custody side and the financial side, or you can name a separate guardian to manage the finances. In your will, you can let the court know your wishes. The guardian you name won’t automatically take custody; the court will schedule a hearing and determine who should be the guardian. (And if your child has another legal parent, that person will almost always be named as the custodial parent.) But, the court will take your stated preferences seriously. Get help from an attorney if you are concerned about this. Having a will can help avoid confusion because your wishes are in black and white. If your loved ones don’t get along and you don’t have a will, they might fight over what they think you would have wanted. If you have a will, your wishes are in writing for your loved ones to see. If you’re concerned about your loved ones still fighting even if you have a will, learn about how you can avoid a challenge to your will and get help from an attorney. Many people wonder if they really need a will. They may think that they don’t have enough assets to bother with a will. Some people erroneously believe that a will causes your heirs to have to go through probate, leading to unnecessary expenses. However, a will is a good idea for just about everyone. Another misconception about having a will is the idea that having a will causes your heirs to have to go through probate, and that it will be difficult and expensive. If you die without a will, the probate court is still going to oversee the distribution of your assets to your heirs. There is absolutely no reason to think that this process is made easier or less expensive by your not having a will. In fact, it will probably be more expensive. For one thing, whoever administers your estate will probably have to post a surety bond if you don’t have a will. If you do have a will, not only can you choose the person who will administer your estate, you can provide that he or she will not have to post a surety bond. Your will tells everyone what should happen to your money, possessions and property after you die (all these things together are called your ‘estate’). If you don’t leave a will, the law decides how your estate is passed on – and this might not be in line with your wishes. Reasons why you need a will• A will makes it much easier for your family or friends to sort everything out when you die, without a will the process can be more time consuming and stressful. • If you don’t write a will, everything you own will be shared out in a standard way defined by the law – which isn’t always the way you might want. • A will can help reduce the amount of Inheritance Tax that might be payable on the value of the property and money you leave behind. • Writing a will is especially important if you have children or other family who depend on you financially, or if you want to leave something to people outside your immediate family. Your will doesn’t have to be on special paper or use a lot of legal language. A document is a valid will as long as it: • Says how your estate should be shared out when you die. • Was made when you were able to make your own decisions and you weren’t put under pressure about who to leave things to. • Is signed and dated by you in the presence of two adult, independent witnesses, and then signed by the two witnesses in your presence – the witnesses can’t be people who are going to inherit anything from you (or their husband/wife or civil partner. How to start making a willMake a plan: Start by thinking about what you want to leave to whom and then talk to your family – they might have some suggestions you haven’t thought of. Once you have a plan look at the different options for making a will. • Talking to your family about your will • Planning what to leave in your will Get your will written: There are a number of ways you can get a will written. The best option for you depends on how complicated your wishes are: • a simple will • a complex will. It may be more complex as you have been divorced and have children • a specialist will – that involves trusts or oversea properties, • you can buy a template document in stationery shops If you are married, then you need a will because your spouse is someone who is so closely tied to you that it’s important for you to put in writing whether she or he gets your assets upon your death. Traditionally, your spouse would likely inherit your things even if you die without a will, but you shouldn’t leave that up to chance. Additionally, if you want anyone other than your spouse to receive any of your assets, you would need to include that in your will because that isn’t the default. If you have kids, you need a will because your kids are likely to inherit your things if you die intestate, after your spouse, but not necessarily. This means that if you want your kids to inherit after your spouse, then you need to put that in writing so there is no room for error or interpretation by the courts. Additionally, if you don’t want one of (or all of) your kids to inherit, then that needs to be in writing. Whether you want your kids to inherit your assets or not, it is likely that you have feelings about it one way or another. For this reason, it’s very important that you have a will in place so that the decision is being made by you, not the state. • A will is a legal document that dictates the distribution of assets when you die. If you die without a will, state law governs. • You definitely need a will if you are married, have kids, or have a lot of assets. • You may not need a will if you are young, single, childless, and broke. • When it is time for you to get a will in place, make sure you hire an estate attorney to draft it for you. A will can help your family avoid conflict when you die, and it is not something you should draft yourself. Estate Planning Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with your last will and testament, your revocable living trust, a probate case because a loved one passed away, or if you need to do a special needs trust or durable power of attorney, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
Criminal Defense Lawyer Bluffdale Utah Length Of Copyright Protection Commercial Space For Businesses via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/should-a-single-person-have-a-will/ Speak to an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer to know how you can use estate planning methods to reduce estate taxes. The United States is famous for its tax laws. We even tax the dead. Yes, this is done through estate taxes. The main goals of estate planning are to ensure that the individual’s wishes are carried out, to minimize problems for the survivors, and to reduce estate taxes. The legal documents used to accomplish these goals include a durable power of attorney, a will, and, for some patients, a trust. Estate planning usually requires the services of an expert – an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer. A durable power of attorney is a financial document that allows a named person, the attorney-in-fact, to handle the patient’s assets in certain specified ways. This document is called durable because it remains in effect even in the event that the patient becomes incapacitated. A will is a legal document that specifies how a person’s property is to be passed to survivors at the time of his or her death. A will stipulates one or more beneficiaries who will benefit from the estate. It also names an executor whose duties include paying residual bills and guaranteeing that the intentions of the deceased are carried out. Never attempt to make a will on your own. Under Utah law there are certain requirements for a valid will. Speak to an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer before making a will. Inform the lawyer about your assets and how you want your assets to be distributed after your death. Remember, Utah law gives you the right to determine how your assets will be distributed after your death. However, this right must be exercised before death. If you die without a will, Utah law will determine who gets a share in your estate and how much. Probate refers to the legal process whereby the property is inventoried, expenses are paid, and remaining assets are passed on to the appropriate beneficiaries. The local probate court oversees this process, the administration of which commonly requires a year to complete. Probate is a complex process. Seek the assistance of an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer if you want to probate a will. It should be noted that the probate process is sometimes unnecessary in the settlement of an estate. Some types of property, referred to as nonprobate property, may legally pass to the designated persons without the authorization of probate court. Such nonprobate properties include annuities, proceeds from life insurance, pensions, and jointly owned assets like bank accounts or houses. Because joint ownership yields the double benefit of avoiding probate and enabling property to pass quickly to the survivors, this strategy is widely relied on in estate planning. The remainder is distributed to the individuals named in the will. The intestate pattern is frequently unsatisfactory to a married person who primarily wants to make sure that his or her spouse will be adequately taken care of and wishes to provide for children or others only out of funds not likely to be needed for the spouse. Intestate laws may also fail to take care of the special cases of adopted children or stepchildren and, of course, make no provision for non-relatives or favored charities. If minors are among the next of kin of someone who dies without leaving a will, it will usually be necessary, unless the amount involved is small, to have a guardian appointed by the court to receive their shares of the estate. In many states, the court will not appoint a surviving parent or other close relative who might be the very person the deceased would have chosen. The expense of settling an intestate estate usually is higher than for an estate administered under a will. The extra costs can arise in various ways. An administrator must often incur filing fees, legal costs, etc., by going to court to obtain authority to perform the same duties that the executor performs under the terms of the will. The point is not that the interstate laws are bad or poorly drafted, but that they necessarily provide only an “average” solution to a problem that the owner of property failed to prepare for. The homemade will has done almost as much as the automobile accident to foster litigation and enrich lawyers at the expense of bereaved families. Nonetheless, the idea persists that a will is a simple document anyone can write or, if extra care is necessary, create by filling in blanks on a printed form. Part of the problem may be that, like a graceful sculpture or a Picasso line drawing, a well-drawn will can have an economy of style that makes it deceptively simple so that the casual reader does not appreciate the skill and professional knowledge required to discriminate between what can be and what must not be omitted. The purpose of technical provisions may also not be readily apparent. Too many people still write their own wills, probably expecting to save time or expense. Don’t. You will not be there when your will becomes operative. It’s your near and dear ones who will then have to suffer. Let an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer prepare your last will and testament. For a simple will that gives everything outright to a surviving spouse or children, it may make sense to name the person or persons who will receive the estate as executors. They will be looking after their own money and as long as they are reasonably capable of attending to business and are generally available, they can obtain all the technical advice they need from the attorney for the estate. Do, however, give some thought to geographical availability. Also, it is usually better to avoid appointing so many people as executors (for example, all the children), that there is no pinpointing of responsibility. For larger estates, particularly when property is passing in trust, it may be advisable to appoint an executor with experience in the administration of estates. Often, there will be some person such as a son or daughter, family accountant, or family attorney who is a logical choice. In metropolitan areas, there are trust companies which are highly experienced in this field and can provide excellent guidance. Frequently, a good combination is a trust company plus an individual such as the surviving spouse, child, attorney, or other family advisor who is appointed to serve with the bank and who maintains contact between the beneficiaries and the bank. Of all the choices you must take when choosing a mutual fund, the last place you would expect to make an error is in the way you put your name on the paperwork. Yet this simple step–one that transforms you from potential buyer to owner–could leave you open to future problems based on how you register your investment. Probate is the state judicial process that determines the value of a deceased’s estate. Registering your account is an estate-planning issue. The idea is to maximize what goes to your heirs and avoid the headaches of probate. Mutual-fund holdings typically are subject to probate. If the couple had created “bypass trusts,” the asset could have been split, each partner having a trust for their half. When the husband dies, the trust holds the money, with income given to the wife. When she dies, the principal is distributed–without estate taxes–according to instructions laid out when the trust was created. Her assets, also below the taxable limit, get passed on without estate taxes, too, thereby writing Uncle Sam out of the will. Consult an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer to know about the right type of registration for your situation. The bottom line is that you should not register assets emotionally but instead should get help to determine the best course of action for your heirs. In addition, you need to realize that many funds don’t list all registration options on their paperwork, meaning you must find out whether you need additional forms or whether you can submit a letter to get the account registered the way you want. To get you started, here are the registration options you are likely to find on most fund account applications: Sole ownership – This is a self-explanatory term. All responsibilities rest with the individual. When the owner dies, assets are distributed in accordance with his or her will (or divided according to state succession laws if the owner dies without a will). Joint tenants with rights of survivorship – This is how most couples register shares. This lets one or more people–related or not–share ownership; when one dies, the shares avoid probate and pass directly to the survivor (although the amount still counts toward the value of the estate). If you change registration from sole to joint with anyone other than your spouse, you have made a gift. Tenants in common – These partners share ownership, but by a specified amount (not necessarily a 50-50 split). When one partner dies, the money goes to the estate, not the survivor, and is passed along according to instructions in the will. An experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer is your best source of information when it comes to wills and inheritance. Speak to an experienced Riverton Utah probate lawyer before you make a will or if you want to probate a will. Riverton Utah Probate Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with a probate case in Riverton Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. We can help you with a contested probate case, an uncontested probate matter, a last will and testament dispute, a probate litigation case, a trust or will matter, a probate mediation or a probate arbitration. We can also help you with estate planning, including drafting a will, trust, power of attorney and health care directive. Call us because we want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
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Can Divorce Cause Mental Illness via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/probate-lawyer-riverton-utah/ Chapter 7 of Title 11 in the U.S. bankruptcy code controls the procedure of benefit liquidation. A trustee is named to exchange nonexempt advantages for pay creditors; after the returns are depleted, the rest of the obligation is released. There are qualification prerequisites to document Chapter 7, for example, the account holder probably had no Chapter 7 bankruptcy released in the former eight years and the candidate must breeze through a methods test. This procedure is otherwise called a straight or liquidation bankruptcy. In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the outright need standard stipulates the request where obligations are to be paid. Under this standard, debt without collateral is isolated into classes or classifications with each class getting need for installment. Verified obligation is obligation sponsored or verified by guarantee to lessen the hazard related with loaning, for example, a home loan. Unsecured debts are the obligations that are paid first. Instances of unsecured loans and individual damage claims against the borrower. Next, verified obligations are paid. Last is the installment of nonpriority, debt without collateral with assets staying from the liquidation of benefits. In the event that there are not adequate assets to pay the nonpriority uncollateralized debt, at that point the obligations are paid on an ace rata premise. A filer should initially experience credit guiding inside a half year of recording before they start the Chapter 7 bankruptcy procedure. On the off chance that there isn’t an affirmed advising office in the locale, they may do without this progression. Different special cases may apply contingent upon the indebted person’s conditions. The candidate must finish a few structures, including a request to the court, to start the official Chapter 7 procedures. The arrangement of structures detail individual data, for example, the account holder’s funds, lenders, resources, salary, and costs. Subsequent to recording the appeal, a programmed stay is in actuality keeping creditors from gathering on their obligation. The stay likewise ends and avoids salary garnishments. The bankruptcy court will delegate a fair trustee to supervise the whole bankruptcy process. The trustee will audit resources and figure out which resources can be exchanged to pay banks. The trustee plans gatherings with the creditors, where they affirm the legitimacy of the request and funds. As the name recommends, the gathering of the leasers enables lenders to meet with the trustee and the account holder to pose inquiries. The bankruptcy trustee audits the individual resources and funds of the indebted person. Excluded property, or property important to keep up essential ways of life, are held by the account holder. Non-absolved property is seized and exchanged to pay banks. Property exceptions change in each state. In any case, much of the time, account holders are permitted to keep their essential home, their vehicle, and individual belongings. The trustee at that point administers the liquidation of all other property. Most obligations are released under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The release of obligation will discharge the borrower from any close to home risk for installment. When a deficiency is released under Chapter 7, the creditor may never again look for future compensation from the lender. Commitments identifying with divorce settlement, kid support, some administration obligations, annual charges, and government understudy credits are not passable for discharge during bankruptcy. The law is extremely prohibitive on releasing cash owed for personal charges and understudy advances. The United States Bankruptcy Court records 21 classes of non-dischargeable obligations. In many cases, filers get a release roughly two months after the gathering of the lenders. The indebted person ought to hold bankruptcy records, as copies can be exorbitant, and creditors may endeavor to recuperate obligation after release. The example of bankruptcy will show up using a credit card reports for a long time from the recording date. An individual can’t document and get a resulting Chapter 7 release inside eight years of a past Chapter 7 release. With regards to individual property, states fluctuate broadly about what is absolved, and in what sum. Sorts of individual property that are excluded in numerous states include: a vehicle (up to a specific worth), family unit merchandise, attire, gems, wedding bands, books, sustenance, apparatuses, instruments of your exchange, and assessment absolved retirement accounts. A few states absolved guns, arrangements to last a specific timeframe, animals, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Worth each bit of individual property. You should esteem each bit of individual property (except if the property is excluded to a boundless sum). For the most part, esteem family things at bothered deal costs – at the end of the day think about a circumstance where you would take whatever you can get for you property paying little mind to what you may have paid for it. Another approach to consider it is this: utilization yard deal esteems. Make sure to twofold, in the event that you can. In the event that you are documenting a joint request with your mate, numerous states enable you to twofold the exception sum (basically enabling every one of you to guarantee the exclusion sum independently). Classify cautiously. Cause your definite you to sort your property effectively. For example in the event that you work from your home, you might probably excluded individual property identified with your business under instruments of the exchange exception as opposed to the family unit products exclusion. This can assist you with maximizing your exceptions. Utilize the special case, if there is one. The government bankruptcy exclusions and many state exception frameworks have a trump card exclusion. This implies it enables you to absolved up to a specific dollar measure of any property. Regardless of whether your own property isn’t excluded, or the exception doesn’t cover the full estimation of your property, despite everything you might most likely keep it. Trustee surrenders property. In numerous cases the Chapter 7 trustee will surrender individual property (which means the trustee won’t take and sell it). This occurs if the trustee does not accept that clearance of the property will earn anything for leasers – that is, pretty much nothing or nothing will be left after the exception, deals expenses, and trustee’s bonus are subtracted from the business cost. For instance, say your vehicle is worth $4,000. In the event that your state engine vehicle exclusion is $3,500, it will cost $500 to sell the vehicle, and the trustee will take a $350 commission, the trustee won’t try to sell the vehicle. Different approaches to keep nonexempt individual property. There are different approaches to keep nonexempt individual property. For instance, some of the time you can pay the trustee a sum equivalent to the estimation of the property so as to keep it. Or then again here and there you can trade another bit of excluded property so as to keep the nonexempt property. You can keep your home in Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the state of Utah in the event that you don’t have any home value or you’re ready to absolved (secure) your value utilizing the estate exclusion (talked about beneath). The bankruptcy trustee selected to direct your issue won’t sell it in light of the fact that, without accessible value, there wouldn’t be any cash to convey to your unsecured lenders. Yet, that doesn’t mean you’ll have the option to keep the home. You should be present on your regularly scheduled installments when you declare financial insolvency (or not long after that) and must almost certainly remain current going ahead. Else, you’ll hazard losing your home through dispossession (more underneath). Additionally, it’s critical to understand that as the land market recuperates, home estimations can go up rapidly. So despite the fact that it was uncommon after the 2008 retreat for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy account holder to have enough nonexempt value in a home to trigger a deal, it’s not really the situation in a sound market. Truth be told, numerous account holders may find that in a hot land showcase, home value rises so rapidly that it could surpass permitted exception sums in merely months. Here’s a framework that will enable you to decide if the bankruptcy trustee is probably going to sell your home. When you petition for financial protection, you’re permitted to keep (excluded) the value in particular sorts of property. The property exclusion secures a predetermined measure of value in your home or perpetual spot of home. You can guarantee the estate exception on one bit of private property as it were. Much of the time, the property must be your main living place. Be that as it may, under some state’s exclusion plans, you can utilize the residence exception to secure a private trailer or entombment plot. Each state has an arrangement of bankruptcy exceptions that a bankruptcy filer can use to ensure property. Most states have a property exception sum dependent on dollar esteem, however a few states limit the quantity of sections of land you can shield from creditors. The measure of your residence exception will rely upon a few components, including where and when you purchased the home, regardless of whether the state wherein you’re recording enables you to utilize the government exclusions, and whether you’ve moved inside the most recent couple of years. State residence exception. Each state makes its very own arrangement of exclusions occupants can use to shield property from banks—and the residence exception differs broadly among the states. Some enable you to secure as meager as a couple of thousand dollars in value. In another, you can absolved up to $500,000, or even the whole estimation of the genuine property. In any case, most states fall between these limits. You can get familiar with exclusions in each of the 50 states in Bankruptcy Exemptions by State. Government estate exclusion. The government law likewise has a rundown of exclusions. You’ll utilize this rundown on the off chance that you can’t guarantee state residency (it’s uncommon, however it occurs). Likewise, a few states enable you to pick between the state and the government exception framework—however you should choose one rundown solely (no blending exclusions from each rundown). Exclusion top. The bankruptcy code puts a farthest point on the measure of value you can excluded in the event that you move to another state. This standard keeps individuals from moving from a state with a little property exception to a state with a boundless estate exclusion trying to secure a greater amount of their advantages. In any case, If you’ve possessed a home consistently in the state for in any event 40 months, you can excluded the aggregate sum of value in the property that is permitted under the exclusion. In the event that you sold a home in the state and utilized the returns to buy another, the time you possessed your old property tallies toward the 40 months. On the off chance that you’ve claimed your property for less than 40 months, you can just excluded a particular dollar sum. (You’ll locate the present exception top in The Homestead Exemption in Bankruptcy.) State residency necessities. Another government bankruptcy code arrangement that can influence your residence exception is the 730-day rule. To utilize the state or government exclusions (if the state permits it) you should live in the state for in any event 730 days. Else, you apply the exceptions of the state where you lived for most of the 180 days preceding the 730-day time frame. At the end of the day, you should return 910 days, at that point look forward 180 days. You’ll apply the exceptions of the state you predominately lived in during that 180-day time span. • The property exclusion sum you’re qualified for case (generally somewhere in the range of $10,000 and $100,000) • the trustee’s bonus on the distinction (25% of the first $5,000, 10% of the following $50,000, and 5% of the rest, up to one million) • the expenses of offer (as a rule around 8% of the equitable worth) • the sum owed on all home loans, and • the measure of all nonmortgage liens verified by the home, (for example, an assessment lien). In the event that you end up with a negative number, you don’t have adequate value to trigger a deal, which basically implies that the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee won’t have a motivation to sell your home. Since there won’t be anything remaining to be utilized to pay the unsecured creditors, the trustee will desert the property. On the off chance that you end up with a positive number, this is the measure of value that the bankruptcy trustee could use to pay your unsecured creditors. For this situation, the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee may sell your home, give you the measure of the residence exception, pay off home loan and lien holders, and utilize the rest to satisfy unsecured creditors. Usually you can keep your home in Chapter 7 bankruptcy on the off chance that you don’t have any home value or you’re ready to absolved (ensure) your value utilizing the property exclusion (talked about underneath). The bankruptcy trustee delegated to oversee your issue won’t sell it on the grounds that, without accessible value, there wouldn’t be any cash to disseminate to your unsecured leasers. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is normally alluded to as a liquidation bankruptcy on the grounds that the trustee designated to direct your case has the ability to offer your nonexempt property to pay your leasers. When you record for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your advantages become property of the bankruptcy domain (implying that the court can oversee them to assist your leasers). The trustee’s main responsibility is to decide if any of your property ought to be offered to pay back your obligations. Exclusions ensure your property in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The trustee isn’t permitted to sell the majority of your property in the state of the Utah. Bankruptcy Lawyer Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with a bankruptcy in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your free consultation. We can help you with a chapter 7 bankruptcy, a chapter 11 bankruptcy, a chapter 13 bankruptcy (which includes a reorganization), a chapter 12 or a chapter 9 bankruptcy case. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
Can You Get Your Lawyers Fees In Divorce? via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/can-the-chapter-7-trustee-sell-my-house/ American criminal law recognizes three general inchoate offenses: attempt, conspiracy, and solicitation. Where a person attempts, conspires with another, or solicits another to commit an offense, but the offense is never committed, the person nonetheless may be liable for one of these inchoate offenses. If you have been charged with an inchoate offense, contact an experienced Bluffdale Utah criminal defense lawyer. The Crime of AttemptAt some point in the chain of events from thinking about committing an offense to completing it, a person’s conduct becomes criminal. This point typically is described as the moment at which mere preparation becomes a criminal attempt. Defining this point is an important part of attempt liability because it demarcates both when a person becomes criminally liable and when authorities lawfully may intervene. Attempt is significantly different from other offenses under American law because even after this point is reached and all the elements of attempt (or other inchoate offense) are satisfied, a person typically may escape liability if he or she voluntarily and completely renounces the attempt. Absent such renunciation, the failure to complete an offense only prevents liability for the full offense; it does not relieve the person from liability for the attempt. The most common American objective requirement for attempt is that the person take a “substantial step” toward commission of the offense. The Crime of ConspiracyConspiracy typically requires an agreement between two or more conspirators that at least one of them will commit a substantive offense. The agreement need not be an act in a strict sense. Speaking, writing, or nodding can signal agreement, but one also can agree through silence where, under the circumstances or custom, silence is meant and understood to mean positive agreement. Thus, for the person to be liable for conspiracy, the other conspirator must actually be agreeing, not just pretending to agree (as an undercover police officer would, for example). Modern American codes have adopted a unilateral agreement requirement, which permits conspiracy liability as long as the person agrees with another person, without regard for whether the other person is returning the agreement. Perhaps because conspiracy’s agreement requirement is so slim a conduct requirement, an overt act is typically also required of one of the conspirators in furtherance of the agreement in order to sustain a conviction. The Crime of SolicitationSolicitation is essentially an attempt to commit conspiracy by encouraging or requesting another person to do what would constitute an offense or an attempt. As with conspiracy, the offense focuses on the person’s subjective view of the world. The solicitation need not be successfully communicated; it is sufficient that the solicitor’s “conduct was designed to effect such communication.” Unlike attempt, where the person’s conduct may be ambiguous with respect to its criminal purpose, the solicitation offense includes no special requirement that the person’s conduct strongly corroborate his or her criminal purpose. Defenses To CrimesIn casual language anything that prevents conviction of a person is called a defense, but this term includes doctrines that are very different from one another. The legal doctrines that we refer to as defenses typically are of five sorts: absent-element defenses, offense modifications, justifications, excuses, or nonexculpatory defenses. Absent-Element DefensesSome doctrines that are called defenses are nothing more than the absence of a required offense element. If a person takes an umbrella, believing it to be his or her own, he or she may claim a mistake defense, but this defense derives not from a special defense doctrine about mistake as to ownership, but rather from the elements of the theft offense itself. The definition of theft includes a requirement that the person know that the property taken is owned by another. If a person mistakenly believes that the umbrella taken is his or her own, he or she does not satisfy the required culpability element of knowledge that it belongs to another. Such a mistake defense is called an absent-element defense (or a failure of proof defense) because it derives from the inability of the state to prove a required element. The person is claiming that the prosecution cannot prove all the elements of the offense. It is within accepted casual usage to call such claims defenses, but they are simply another way of talking about the requirements of an offense definition. Offense-Modification DefensesSome defenses are indeed independent of the offense elements but in fact concern criminalization issues closely related to the definition of the offense. They typically refine or qualify the definition of a particular offense or group of offenses. Voluntary renunciation, for example, can provide a defense to inchoate offenses like attempt or conspiracy. Consent is recognized as a defense to some kinds of assault. Such a consent defense helps define what we mean by the offense of assault, just as renunciation helps refine the definitions of inchoate offenses (as including only unrenounced criminal plans). Indeed, assault frequently is defined as an unconsented-to touching. That is, the absence of consent sometimes is included as an element of the offense. The difference between absent-element defenses and offense-modification defenses is one more of form than of substance. An offense-modification defense can as easily be drafted as a negative element of the offense, for each defines in part what the offense is not. Criminalization Defenses versus General DefensesBecause both absent-element and offense-modification defenses serve to refine the offense definition, they tend to apply to a single offense or group of offenses. Justifications, excuses, and nonexculpatory defenses, in contrast, are unrelated to a particular offense; they theoretically apply to all offenses and therefore are called general defenses. The recognition of each general defense rests on reasons extraneous to the criminalization goals and policies of the offense. A general defense is provided not because there is no criminal wrong, but rather despite the occurrence of a legally recognized harm or evil. The offense’s harm or evil may have occurred, but the special conditions establishing the defense suggest that the violator ought not to be punished. JustificationsJustification defenses such as lesser evils, self-defense, and law-enforcement authority exculpate on the theory that the person’s otherwise criminal conduct avoided a greater harm or evil. That is, although a person satisfies the elements of an offense, his or her offense is tolerated or even encouraged because it does not cause a net societal harm. A person who burns a firebreak on another’s land may thereby commit arson but also may have a justification defense (of lesser evils) because, by the burning, the person saves innocent lives threatened by the fire. The commonly available doctrines of justification are the lesser-evils defense, the defensive-force defenses of self-defense, defense of others, defense of property, and defense of habitation, and the public authority defenses of law enforcement authority, authority to maintain order and safety, parental authority, benevolent custodial authority, medical authority, authority to prevent a suicide, judicial authority, military authority, and general public authority. The Defense of ExcusesExcuse defenses such as insanity and duress exculpate under a different theory. The defendant has admittedly acted improperly— has caused a net societal harm or evil— but the defendant is excused because he or she cannot properly be held responsible for his or her offense conduct. Note the difference in focus between justifications and excuses: a defendant’s conduct is justified, a defendant is excused. Excuses are of two sorts: disability excuses, which include insanity, involuntary intoxication, duress, and immaturity (the defense for involuntary conduct also serves this purpose), and mistake excuses, which include mistake about a justification, reliance on an official misstatement of law, and unreliable law. Insanity defense is not available in Utah. Nonexculpatory DefensesA final group of general defenses does not exculpate a person but does provide an exemption from liability. Even if the person’s conduct is criminal and unjustified and the person is fully responsible for it, such nonexculpatory defenses are made available because each furthers important societal interests. Thus diplomatic immunity may provide a defense, without regard to the guilt or innocence of the person, because by doing so a country’s diplomats are protected from interference when abroad, and diplomatic communications among nations can be established and maintained. Other common nonexculpatory defenses in American codes include statutes of time limitation; judicial, legislative, and executive immunities; and immunity after compelled testimony or pursuant to a plea agreement.37 Further, many constitutional principles function as nonexculpatory defenses, such as the double-jeopardy clause and the exclusionary rule,38 as well as the legality principle doctrines discussed earlier. Lesser-Evils DefenseThe lesser-evils defense— sometimes called choice of evils or necessity, or simply the general justification defense. It illustrates the structure and operation of justification defenses generally by relying explicitly on the rationale inherent in all justifications: although the person may have caused the harm or evil of an offense, the justifying circumstances suggest that his or her conduct avoided a greater harm or evil than it caused. His or her response must be both necessary and proportionate. The necessity requirement has two components: the conduct must be necessary in time and in the amount of harm caused. The lesser-evils defense, like all other justifications, requires proportionality between the harm or evil caused by the person’s conduct and the harm or evil avoided. Indeed, the defense contains a more explicit statement than does any other justification. While most other justifications require proportionality through a general requirement that the person’s conduct be “reasonable,” the lesser-evils requirement might be seen as being more demanding. It is not enough for the defense that the harmfulness of the person’s conduct is generally proportionate to the harm threatened. The person’s conduct must be shown to have been less harmful than the harm threatened. Defensive-Force JustificationDefensive-force justifications are triggered when an aggressor unjustifiably threatens harm. The triggering conditions for defensive force are considerably more specific than those of the lesser-evils defense; defensive force requires an unlawful, aggressive use or threat of force. That the person against whom the defendant uses force is acting unlawfully is not sufficient to trigger a defensive-force justification. Smoking on a bus or refusing to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle may be unlawful conduct that justifies the use of force against the violator, but a justification defense other than defensive force must be relied on. For defensive force, active physical aggression is required. In order to trigger a defensive-force justification, the aggressor must unjustifiably threaten harm to the defendant. Thus, when a police officer uses justified force to effect an arrest, the arrestee has no right of self-defense, and others may not lawfully use defensive force on his or her behalf. Similarly, where a person unjustifiably attacks another and his or her victim then uses justified defensive force to repel the attacker, the initial aggressor has no right of self defense against the justified defensive response. On the other hand, where the intended victim uses unnecessary or disproportionate force in response, the initial aggressor gains a right to use defensive force. Public Authority JustificationsPublic authority justifications are available when a person has been specifically authorized to engage in conduct otherwise constituting an offense that is necessary to protect or further a societal interest. Unlike defensive-force justifications, the person’s authority is not limited to defensive action. He or she may act affirmatively to further a public interest, even one that is entirely intangible. These justification defenses most commonly are distinguished from one another according to the specific interests they foster: different defenses authorize the use of force for law-enforcement purposes, medical purposes, military purposes, judicial purposes, to maintain order and safety on public carriers or in other public places of assembly, or for use by parents or guardians. A catchall public authority justification commonly provides a defense for performing public duties other than those for which a special defense is provided. The common structure of public authority justifications is thus that special authorization and evoking conditions trigger a person’s right to use necessary and proportional force. The authorization and evocation elements as triggering conditions act together to describe the factors and circumstances that will give rise to an authority to act. For example, a police officer and a bus driver are both given authorizations to act, but in different situations and with different limitations on their use of force. The necessity and proportionality requirements— the response elements— describe the nature of the conduct that is justified once the authority to act is triggered. Hire Ascent Law LLCIf you have been charged with a crime, hire the services of an experienced Bluffdale Utah criminal defense lawyer. Based on the facts of your case, the lawyer can develop a successful defense strategy. Bluffdale Utah Criminal Defense Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need to defend against a crime in Bluffdale Utah, whether it is a DUI charge, a theft crime, sex crime, misdemeanor crime or a felony charge, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
How To Stop Or Postpone A Foreclosure Sale Date via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/criminal-defense-lawyer-bluffdale-utah/ This is a great question asked every day. Well, in cases of a divorce there is a lot of stress as people wonder whether things are gonna be okay after the divorce. This can cause mental health disorders to the parties involved. It might be difficult for these people to make any decision soberly and may end up indulging themselves in unruly behavior they never had before. The more ignorant we are the more dangerous it can be on our state of mind. What is a mental illness?Mental health refers to a range of health conditions which affects how a person feels, behaves, thinks and his or her interaction with other people. ● Anxiety disorders This disorder is illnesses that cause people to feel frightened, distressed and uneasy for no apparent reason. Normally when people are going through a divorce there is a lot of fear for the future and life. ● Mood disorders Divorce comes as a full package especially when you are not expecting it to happen. You will find yourself developing a lot of anger with just simple things including your kids. Sometime you are sad, other times you feel lonely and irritated for no reason. Remember in as much as you are sad that your marriage is breaking up, there are people who care about you. Make sure you don’t hurt those who care in the name of a divorce. In fact, this is the time you should be very cautious. If you notice that you are developing mood swings, seek help swiftly before it erupts into something big. ● Eating disorders Abnormal eating habits are serious, chronic conditions that can be life-threatening, if left untreated. In most cases after divorce, there are variations in the expression, symptoms, and course of eating disorders. Some people after divorce will eat a lot more than they used to and at times others eat less or don’t eat at all. This is expected but if ignored it can develop to something big. ● Dementia This is a condition which is distinguished by consciousness disruption. After divorce, it’s likely you’ll start forgetting things because of overworking your mind. Losing your memory could lead to a bigger problem so is better to seek help from a psychiatrist ● Personality disorders People with personality disorders have extreme and inflexible personality traits that are distressing to the person’s social relationship. In addition, the person’s patterns of thinking and behavior significantly differ from the expectations of society and are so rigid that they interfere with the person’s normal functioning. ● Pre and post-traumatic stress disorders It is a condition that develops after going through or before going through a terrifying event for instance, an exam, a divorce, loss of a loved one among other things. In cases of a divorce process and after divorce your social life may be affected greatly. You might find you want to be alone and mingling with others becomes difficult. In as much as you have pain in your heart, try to make new friends and if possible be able to maintain your social status. ● Impulse control and addiction disorders People with impulse control disorders are unable to resist urges, or impulse falls, to perform acts that could be harmful to themselves or others. Alcohol and drug are very common when it comes to substance and drugs abuse as well as objects addictions. Many people go to abuse in the divorce process and after the divorce since they believe it could release them off the pressure. Others become sexually addicted and cannot help themselves out so its better to seek help as early as possible before things falls apart. For you to evade stress that comes with the divorces am going to take you through to a number of tips how you can manage mental illness. Tips to manage mental illnessAll breakups are difficult, but ending a marriage with someone who has a personality disorder or mental illness can put your divorce at the extreme end of the spectrum. You don’t think right and you may find yourself going crazy. The best thing for you is to understand the following: ● Feelings will flood your journey but what matters is how you will respond to them Recognize that you will at times feel exhausted, sad, angry, pain and confused. Again you will feel like your world is coming to an end and the future becomes a nightmare. At this juncture, the way you will respond to this reaction is what matters most. Make sure most of your time you are engaged with something to keep yourself busy. ● Take time to heal and re-energize Giving yourself a break could be good for you. Understanding that for some time you will not be as productive as you were before the divorce could save you a lot of trouble. Nobody’s perfect and nobody’s a superman or a superwoman. Understand its very normal to feel that way and move on to regroup yourself back on the track. ● Find someone accountable you can talk to, don’t go through it alone. Sharing your feelings and problems during this time with family and friends can help you carry on this period. As you share you will realize you are not alone. Many could be going through the same and it could help you to overcome also. Join support groups and seek a lot of advice from maybe a counselor to help you go through. Isolating yourself can raise your stress levels, reduce your concentration, and get in the way of your work, relationships and overall health. Don’t be afraid to get outside help if you need it. ● Reconnect with the things you enjoy most apart from your spouse What I want to communicate is make sure you exhaust your potential to the maximum of your abilities. ● Take care of yourself emotionally and physically Be good to yourself and to your body. Take time out to exercise, eat well and relax. Keep to your normal routines as much as possible. Try to avoid making major decisions or changes in life plans. Don’t use alcohol, drugs or cigarettes as a way to cope; they only lead to more problems. Let your life be your motivation factor. Know your ex partner is watching and everyone around so please don’t give them a chance to prove you wrong. ● Do not involve your kids in your conflict with your ex-partner Talking ill of the other spouse could lead them to develop a bad attitude toward their daddy or mommy. It is better as you fight you keep your children off the game. ● Think positively. This may not come automatically but try as much as you can to always think possibilities. Things could be a bit rough for you but there is always a way in a highway. Navigate the world. Make and meet new friends, move forward to with reasonable expectation and understand there is no time for self-pity it will make your transition easier. Treatment for mental illnessMental illness just like any other disease needs to be treated for the person to be fit. There are various ways in which mental health can be treated you can have psychological therapy, medication, and various supports in the community quickly let’s dig deeper into them. ● Psychological therapy Visiting a doctor, a psychologist or any other professional and talks about symptoms and concerns you have been developing. Discuss new ways of thinking about and managing them. will help you recover. Mostly divorce requires you to take a lot of talking to relationship experts for you be able to carry it through. ● Medication It reaches a point in life where you cannot bear the pain and so end up being sick mentally and so some people start taking medication for a while. Others may need it on a daily basis depending on the level of the condition they might be in. Medical research shows that many mental illnesses are associated with an event that happens in life divorce being one of them. If at all you cannot bear it up, it’s better to use medication before things go to the extreme. ● Join a community support program Be dynamic. Utilize your free time and if you don’t have time create to serve your community. It’s a great way of healing, the more you get involved the more healing becomes easier for you. I know you are asking what you could do for your community but there is a lot especially when you want to overcome waves of divorce. Get to know people in your community who need help and channel your efforts there. Starts off charity and other support programs as the day go by you will find yourself healing. ● Dual Diagnosis Treatment Dual diagnosis treatment offers comprehensive mental health services for those struggling with both a mental health condition and an addiction or substance use disorder. Dual diagnosis treatment addresses and treats both conditions simultaneously thereby helps to maximize chances of recovery. ● Peer support As the saying goes, no man is an island. You need help from friend and relative, share out with them and healing becomes easy for you. Talking to them will help you understand you are not alone and shockingly you will find others with scars worse than yours and were able to overcome. ● Hospitalization In a minority of cases, hospitalization may be necessary so that an individual can be closely monitored, accurately diagnosed or have medications adjusted when his or her mental illness temporarily worsens. ● Self Help Plan A self-help plan is a unique health plan where an individual addresses his or her condition by implementing strategies that promote wellness. Self-help plans may involve addressing wellness, recovery, triggers or warning signs. It all starts with you. Understand you are different and accept your current condition. Your marriage breaking up does not mean that the end of your happiness. Remember when one door closes another one opens up for you. Re-plan your life you were born to win and work towards achieving. Believe in yourself and try as much as you can to think positively about life will help you recover within a short period. You can start doing something different like a business, enroll in a class to further your course or start something different from your area of study. This will help to boost your strength and abilities and eventually unlock a potential you would not have imagined. Divorce Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need legal help with a divorce in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
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via Michael Anderson https://www.ascentlawfirm.com/can-divorce-cause-mental-illness/ When you are buying land for development, you should seek the assistance of an experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer. Finding a suitable site involves establishing a set of criteria by which alternative locations can be identified and assessed. These would broadly relate to market, physical, legal and administrative conditions and constraints. Once a shortlist of say three or four options has been drawn up, a preliminary appraisal will be conducted in order to determine the most suitable choice. This is the proverbial “back of the envelope” analysis, which combines an objective assessment of likely cost against value with a more subjective judgement based upon experience and feel for the market. Ideally, of course, the right site looking for the right use meets the right use looking for the right site. But there is no magic formula. Undertake a more refined appraisal of the viability of the proposed project, taking into account market trends and physical constraints Consult with the planning authority and other statutory agencies with regard to the proposed development. Apart from making sure that all the usual inquiries are made in respect of preparing and submitting applications for planning approval and building regulation consent, it is also essential for the developer to create a positive climate within which the development can progress. This means that the right people in all the various authorities and agencies concerned with accrediting the proposal must be carefully identified, and approaches to them properly planned and presented. First impressions are always important, and simple precautions can be taken, such as consulting with all the contributors to the project to compile all the preliminary inquiries together, to avoid duplication and dispatching them to the authorities and agencies in sufficient time to allow proper consideration and formulation of response. Among the principal factors the developer will seek to establish are the prospects of being expected to provide elements of planning gain by way of legal agreements and the likelihood of obtaining a consent, the possibility of having to go to appeal, the chances of success, and the consequent probable timescales and costs resulting. An experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer can assist you deal with the planning authority and other statutory agencies. Identify the likely response from other interested parties to the proposed development The developer needs to have heightened understanding of how a particular scheme of development will be received by those likely to be affected by it, or have a voice in how, and if, it proceeds. This implies a knowledge of the distribution consequences of development and a comprehension of, say, urban renewal policy. They must, therefore, be able to predict who will oppose, why, how they might organize their opposition, what influence they exert, and how best to negotiate with them and reduce potential conflict. Establish the availability of finance and the terms on which it might be provided. Because the parameters set by a fund can influence and even determine the design and construction of a building, great care must be taken in selecting a suitable source of finance and in tailoring the terms to meet the aims of both parties to the agreement. This will involve an evaluation of alternative arrangements for financing the project in question, including an assessment of the financial, legal and managerial consequences of different ways of structuring the deal. In doing so, it will be necessary to determine very closely the absolute limits of financial maneuverability within the framework of the development plan and program, for, during the heat of negotiation, points may be conceded or matters overlooked, which could ultimately prejudice the success of the scheme. Different sources of finance will dictate different forms of control by the fund. The major financial institutions, for example, increasingly insist that some kind of development monitoring be undertaken by project management professionals on their behalf, whereas a construction firm might provide finance for development but demand more influence in the management of the building operation. The developer must be wary. Presentation of a case for funding is also a task deserving special attention, and any message should be designed to provoke a positive response. Subsequent to a loan being agreed in principle, it will be necessary for the developer, in conjunction with their experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer and other relevant members of the professional team, to agree the various drawings and specification documents to be included in the finance agreement. These will normally comprise drawings showing floor layouts and cross sections of the entire project, together with drainage, site and floor-related levels, and outline heating and air conditioning proposals, as well as a performance specification clearly setting out the design, constructional and services standards to be met. The financial dimension to project management is critical, for a comparatively small change in the agreed take-out yield can completely outweigh a relatively large change in the building cost. Decide the appointment of the professional team and determine the basis of appointment. It is essential that the developer, or an appointed overall project manager, has a good grasp of building technology and construction methods, together with an appreciation of their effect upon the development process. To this must be added a perception of the decisions that have to be taken and an ability to devise appropriate management structures necessary to carry them out. In deciding such questions as whether to appoint a small or large firm, appoint on the basis of an individual or a firm, select professionals for the various disciplines from the same or from different firms, choose professionals who have worked together previously or who are new to each other, or opt for existing project teams or assemble one especially for the job in hand—the respective advantages and disadvantages must be explored and weighed most carefully. The chemistry is all important, but the opportunity to take such a deliberate approach towards the assembly and integration of the professional team is one of the great advantages of property project management. In this context, however, it is essential that the contractor is seen to be a central member of the team, playing a full part in the design process and not somehow placed in a competitive position. Increasingly, moreover, a choice has to be made between different methods of producing building services, such as package deal, design and build, selective competitive tender, two-stage tender, serial tender, negotiated tender, management fee contract or separate trades contract. However, a true project management approach might be said to be superior to all other methods. The members of the team, once appointed, will usually be required to enter into collateral warranties as to their professional obligations and be prepared to produce reasonable evidence of the adequacy of their professional indemnity insurance. It may also be that the fund as well as the developer will expect similar undertakings and will insist that the conditions of engagement reflect this part of the financial agreement. Prepare a brief that outlines the basic proposals for design, budgeting, taxation, planning, marketing and disposal and sets out all the management and technical functions, together with the various boundaries of responsibility. There are many issues involved in buying a piece of land and developing it into a residential or commercial real estate project. This involves dealing with various authorities and also entering into contracts with professionals. An experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer can assist you with the entire process. Construction StageConstruction loans for real estate projects are secured by the future value of the completed property. Before a bank will make a loan, the developer must demonstrate this value by obtaining a specified number of purchase agreements or leases at or above projected prices to give the bank confidence that the project will sell out or lease up. The developer may turn to a bank with which she has a good relationship or she may shop around for the best loan terms. Before signing any construction loan document, consult an experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer. As soon as the developer has settled on terms with a bank and closed on the loan, she will acquire or “take down” the land and break ground, with the goal of completing construction as quickly as possible. Throughout the construction stage, the developer will be involved in a million little decisions from materials selections to construction details to the review of monthly construction payment applications. Until the building is finished she will be constantly re-balancing the project’s design, materials, systems, and costs. Closing dates with tenants or buyers will drive the schedule. For large projects the developer may complete and sell or lease up a part of the project while the rest of the building is still under construction. High-rise residential and office towers are often completed and occupied from the top down, while horizontal developments like town homes and office parks lend themselves more easily to phasing that matches market demand and absorption. Whether the first condo unit or an entire building, the completion of construction signals the beginning of sales. Sales StageOnce construction is complete and the building is ready for occupancy, the developer’s objective is to sell or lease it up for the highest prices possible as quickly as possible. The developer must repay the construction loan with proceeds from sales. The longer it takes to sell out or lease up, the higher the interest costs on that borrowed money—the carrying costs—and the lower the developer’s profit. During this stage the developer’s attention will be focused on ensuring that buyers or tenants who have signed purchase agreements or leases remain satisfied and show up to close on those contracts. The developer’s involvement will not end until the building is completely sold out or, in the case of a rental property, leased up and then refinanced or sold. Some developers build to “hold” over a longer time frame and they will have ongoing responsibility for property ownership from maintenance to periodic capital improvements. When the developer does finally sell or “dispose of the asset,” whether it is as soon as it has been leased up to a “stabilized” level of occupancy (for example 90 percent) or decades later, she will return all funds to lenders and make distributions of equity and profits to investors. It sometimes helps to view development this way—as a series of stages and as a list of tasks—but it can also be viewed as a process that is punctuated by a small number of important milestones. These include property acquisition, preliminary approvals, final approvals, achieving a predetermined percentage of presales or signing a lease with an anchor tenant, closing on financing, completion of construction, stabilized occupancy, and sale. Each of these is a required step on the way to a completed project and each requires the careful management of myriad tasks through multiple stages. While these lists of stages and tasks are easy enough to comprehend in the abstract, they are more fluid and messier in practice. Because no two development projects unfold in the same way, managing uncertainty and the “unknown unknowns” is just one more part of the business. Real estate development is a complex type of product development with high stakes. Minor mistakes or omissions in any of the stages, tasks, or milestones can derail or stop a project and cost the developer most if not all of his or her financial resources. And just one bad project can wipe a developer out. An experienced Provo Utah real estate lawyer can assist you prepare the sale and lease agreements once the construction is complete. Provo Utah Real Estate Attorney Free ConsultationWhen you need a quiet title case to fix the title to real estate, or you need to do an eviction, or you need a partition action or some other type of real property help in Provo Utah, please call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.
Ascent Law LLC
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506
Ascent Law LLC
4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews
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