In early February 2023, the Virginia Senate approved Senate Bill 1096, a resolution proposed by Senator Adam Ebbin that intended to repeal Virginia’s Marshall-Newman Amendment. The Marshall-Newman Amendment, which was approved by Virginia voters in 2006, outlaws same-sex marriage, explicitly defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Though both Senate democrats and republicans…READ MORE
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Did you begin the new year with the goal of starting a new business in Virginia? If so, you’ll want to take all the necessary steps to get your business set up correctly. From deciding on the business structure to obtaining licenses and permits, there is some legwork involved. We’ll cover what you need to…READ MORE
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Over the last 20 years, limited liability companies have become the preferred way of doing business for many small and medium-size enterprises. That is primarily due to the fact that LLCs are easier to form than corporations. Unfortunately, that simplicity lulls many people into trying to do it themselves or working with forms provided online….READ MORE
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I was reading an article in The Atlantic the other day, and it got me thinking about estate planning and why it’s so important – especially for non-traditional families. It’s no secret that the traditional family dynamic has changed drastically over the past few decades. We’re now seeing more and more nontraditional families – single…READ MORE
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“Larry, my Mom had a stroke a few days ago. She’s in a care facility now and isn’t able to make decisions. The doctors and administrators are asking me to sign papers and make decisions for her. What do I do?” I receive calls like that frequently, and my immediate response is always: “Let’s look…READ MORE
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Choosing the people to whom you want to assign responsibility in case the worst happens is a stumbling block that keeps many of us from creating estate planning documents, such as wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. Who should my executor be? Who could manage money for kids who will be my heirs? Who would…READ MORE
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Far too often, couples who live in homes together—married or unmarried—don’t understand how the ownership of their homes is actually structured. In the hundreds of times that I’ve sat down with couples to review their estates, we’ve uncovered ownership issues as often as not. Many of those less than ideal situations can be updated or…READ MORE
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I’ve been a lawyer for 42 years now and I have represented thousands of individuals and businesses. But among the people who know me well, the real milestone is the fact that I have bought and renovated eight houses during that same time. During just the past 17 years, my husband and I have owned…READ MORE
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The myth that marriage eliminates the need for wills and powers of attorney is one that I hear frequently. And I cringe every time because it is so patently false. My standard retort is, “So you think that millions of married couples have been signing wills for centuries and powers of attorney for decades just…READ MORE
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I’ve represented hundreds of same-sex couples and single LGBT people, and I’ve learned that many of them have mistaken ideas about just what estate planning is and how it works—especially now that marriage is an option. Sometimes those notions keep them from taking rational and not-so-difficult steps to protect their families and assets. In a…READ MORE
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Watch out. Some of our business clients are receiving official-looking documents that cite state laws about holding and documenting annual meetings. The pitch is for a service that will manufacture meeting minutes for $125, an unnecessary fee for a product of questionable value. Ignore this misleading mailing, but take it as a timely reminder. Like…READ MORE
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A nationwide scam is now hitting our area. The scammers are accessing publicly-available records to generate fraudulent mailings to businesses and property owners, suggesting that you need to pay fees and submit extra documents in order to complete your transaction. To confuse you, the mailings often use misleading company names, designed to sound like official…READ MORE
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Without looking, can you name the five most important online financial accounts in your life – and the passwords that go with them? I suppose you might be able to do that, especially if you ignore everybody’s advice and use the same password over and over. But now take that test to the next level….READ MORE
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If you or anyone in your household is a Federal employee, you know that TSP is shorthand for your Thrift Savings Plan – a retirement savings plan that many people outside the government truly envy. As I help clients with their estate plans, a TSP is often one of their biggest assets. Among other things,…READ MORE
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In the eight months since the fall of the Defense of Marriage Act, I have witnessed a huge rush to marriage among friends, clients and our community at large. Many of those people dramatically underestimate the changes that marriage might bring to their lives, while at the same time being lulled into a false sense…READ MORE
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Those were the words used by Justice Kennedy to describe our country’s evolving understanding of same-sex marriage. In his opinion finding the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional, he declared that “same-sex couples should have the right to marry and so live with pride in themselves and their union in status of equality with…READ MORE
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The vote is in: 2013 will bring same-sex marriage to Maryland. This is a time for celebration, and we look forward to sharing your joy. We know that many of our clients have been waiting to get married until they could do it legally in Maryland. The new law will have many positive implications, especially…READ MORE
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