Filing bankruptcy is a scary prospect, even if you do it voluntarily. There are several different chapters, each with different rules. Hiring qualified bankruptcy attorneys can make the process easier and protect you from your creditors. However, it can be difficult to choose the best attorney for your case. Ask yourself these four questions for answers that can help you decide.

Do you charge a flat fee to represent me?

Hiring any lawyer costs money. This is particularly concerning when you are considering bankruptcy, since money is the cause of the problem in the first place. Some legal professionals charge by the hour. The good news is that most bankruptcy attorneys charge a flat fee for the entire course of representation. Typically, this fee will include consulting with you and discussing your circumstances, preparing and filing the necessary documents, and representing you during the insolvency proceeding. Sometimes creditors challenge the bankruptcy. Other times, creditors can still come in and foreclose on a home. Often the flat rate does not cover these additional situations. Before choosing among various bankruptcy attorneys, make sure you understand each attorney’s fee arrangement.

Is bankruptcy your main line of work?

Any licensed attorney can help you submit the required documentation. However, insolvency proceedings involve complex legal areas that do not apply anywhere else. Also, deciding which chapter to file involves a detailed analysis of your financial situation and individual expectations. Even an experienced attorney whose primary job is filing tort claims or structuring business transactions will generally not have the knowledge and skills necessary to adequately protect you from your creditors. You need a lawyer who is dedicated to handling bankruptcy cases.

What can I expect from you regarding communication?

It is important to find a lawyer whose practice is primarily dedicated to handling bankruptcy cases, but it is equally important to find a lawyer who devotes individual attention to your case, because determining the best course of action requires a detailed analysis of your financial situation. You should know how much time the legal professional will spend reviewing your situation, how quickly your phone calls will be returned, how often the lawyer will update you on the progress of the case, when you can expect the relevant documents to be drafted, and what efforts your advocate will make. . he will do to cease collection efforts from creditors.

Will you have staff to assist you in my case?

Bankruptcy attorneys have a considerable number of clients and will not always be directly available to work on your case. There will be routine matters that will need attention, but do not necessarily require the attorney’s personal attention. It is important that the attorney have staff or junior attorneys available to work on the case when the lead attorney is not directly available. However, you should also ensure that the attorney handling the case personally reviews the work of junior attorneys and non-attorney staff members.

Asking these important questions will help you choose among the many bankruptcy attorneys in your area.

The subject of feral children has fascinated me for several years. Now to learn that two children were found in the Ukraine, living among wild dogs; In addition, it has provided researchers with questions about language development and human psychology.

Victor: The First Documented Wild Child

Victor was an 11-year-old boy found in January 1800 near Saint Sernin sur Rance, in the south of France. Victor survived 11 years living in the forest; he crawled around on all fours and stole food from people’s gardens.

It is believed that since he had no human contact for the first 11 years of his life, he probably acquired the social skills he had from animals. He wore no clothes and his body bore various old and new scars from living in the wild.

When they found him, Victor couldn’t speak human language. The researchers at that time tried to resocialize Victor to the most appropriate social norms of the time and tried to teach him language. They made only minimal progress.

Victor lived to be 40 years old, which was probably the average lifespan at that time. He could never be socialized to live the kind of life that most of us would consider normal and healthy. Since Víctor’s case, psychologists and sociologists have been very interested in the development of language in cases of social abandonment.

Wild children in modern society

In 1991, an 8-year-old girl was found in Novaya Blagoveschenka, Ukraine. Her name was Oxanna Malaya. At that time, she was discovered living in the backyard of her family’s home in a kennel.

She had made friends with the dogs in the yard and basically took over their behaviors and actions. She walked on all fours, growled and barked. She would defend the territory in an aggressive display similar to that of an angry dog. She had minimal human language skills, but she communicated like her canine companions through animal-like actions.

Also, in Mirny, Ukraine, in 1999, a boy named Edik was discovered. Edik was 4 years old when he was discovered. Edik lived alone in a dilapidated apartment in a very poor part of Ukraine.

He had wild dogs that lived in the apartment with him, some say he had at least three dogs with him at one point.

The researchers believe it was the symbiotic relationship between humans and animals that strengthened the bond and created the “pack” mentality between the boy and the dogs. The dogs found that the boy would provide some food source, regardless of how infrequent; which meant that the dogs did not have to hunt. In return, the dogs provided the boy with affection and companionship.

What have Oxanna and Edik accomplished today?

Today, Oxanna and Edik are not classified as true feral children due to their earlier human socialization and the fact that they had some basic language skills early on.

But to this day, his language skills still lag behind his chronological development to this day. Researchers believe that Oxanna’s language skills will always lag behind other people her age because the age at which the brain can return those skills to full functional capacity was found to be past.

Edik, on the other hand, has made good progress. His language skills are still below those of other children his age. But research suggests that he will be able to recover enough language to function well in society. They believe it is based solely on the fact that he was discovered young enough that the brain can still learn the basic foundation necessary for language development.

Today, Oxanna and Edik live in residences where they interact with other people and staff. Both Oxanna and Edik have dogs in the homes where they live, so they can still enjoy them as pets. They no longer depend on these animals for survival, so their relationship with animals has changed a lot.

Both Oxanna and Edik now walk on two legs, like the rest of us, and dress in socially appropriate ways. It took both months and years to learn these basic social norms. A 2010 update indicates that Oxana is now trying to locate her biological mother and father in order to learn more about herself.

“Hello, my name is James…James Bond and I am…well…a real estate agent.” In the greater Vancouver area there have been a large number of famous real estate agents at any given time, at least famous by name.. In addition to James Bond and, of course, my own last name (‘Frascati’ is one of Italy’s famous wines, as well as Rome’s seventh hill), we’ve had Agents of the caliber of Omar Sharif, Vera Cruz, Charlie F. Brown and a certain Giuseppe Mussolini (you could see him on the street because he invariably wore a black shirt and had that certain martial… how to say it… goose gait…). Not to mention Yuri Gagarin (no relation to the astronaut), Carl Marx, Richard (Dick) Nixon and, yes, Douglas MacArthur (a tough guy to get along with…) with his new friend John Yamamoto to name a few more. . . And, faithful to the oriental tradition that characterizes this wooden neck, we have been wearing on various occasions a Ding Dong, a King Woo Kong as well as a Sing T. Sing, a Wu Win-chi Wu (who used the initials WWW) and two from Ho Chi Minh. The longest name I’ve come across is Guillermo Oreporemotichovea (but his friends called him ‘Cy’…no wonder) and the most memorable catchphrase ever adopted, to my knowledge, by a real estate agent belongs to an agent named Bob. Bye (now missing, possibly due to starvation…) who used to run newspaper ads like “List with Bob Bye – The Guy with the Tie”. However, despite the variety of names and lifestyles, all Agents, especially in real estate, must abide by the axioms of the Agency Law when it comes to fulfilling their professional mandates.

An Agent is a person who is authorized to act on behalf of another person. The person you act for is called your Principal. Because the Agent has the authority given to him by the Principal, he can create a legal relationship between the Principal and a third party. For example, a purchasing agent may order goods from a third party on behalf of the principal, provided the purchase is made within the scope of the agent’s authority. In such a case, the principal must pay for the goods because he is effectively bound by the agent in a contract with the third party. The agent, on the other hand, is not a party to the contract.

The relationship between an agent and its principal is created by contract. Under the Agency Agreement, the agent has the authority to do certain things in place of her principal. In exchange for the service rendered by the agent in acting on behalf of the principal of the principal, the principal pays the agent a fee or commission. Agents are not employees. The distinction between an agent and an employee is the degree of control and the method of remuneration. A principal tells the agent what he wants and leaves it up to the agent how to achieve the result. An employer, on the other hand, tells the employee what to do and how to do it. In addition, the agent is usually paid through a commission that becomes payable only when he provides the result. An employee, on the other hand, expects to be paid for the number of hours he works, regardless of whether the result is achieved or not. Real estate agents are a particular type of agent. A real estate agent acts on behalf of his or her principal, most often the Seller, but may also act on behalf of a Buyer and, in fact, may act on behalf of both Seller and Buyer at the same time subject to certain restrictions. The contract detailing the terms and conditions of the authority vested by a Seller in the real estate agent is called a Listing Agreement. With Buyer, the name changes to Buyer Agency Agreement.

Based on the wording of the contractual agreement between the principal and the agent, the authority to act vested in the agent falls into one or more than one of the following categories. The agent’s authority to act may be express, implicit, by ratification, usualand apparent.

express authority

Express authority is the power granted by the agent by the contract. The contract can be written or verbal. Real estate agents are generally expressly authorized under a Listing Agreement and, here in British Columbia, all listing agreements involving land or an interest in land (such as a lease) must be in writing to be enforceable, in accordance with the Real Estate Services Law. . It should be understood that a listing agreement is not a contract to sell or otherwise transfer an interest in land, but rather an agreement whereby one party (the Agent) agrees to market an interest in land and the other party (the The Director) agrees to pay a commission upon completion.

implied authority

Even when precise words are used in express authority, an agent may find himself in circumstances where the acts he wishes to perform are not covered by those words. Sometimes it is possible to imply authority from the precise words. More specifically, an agent would have implied authority to perform an act if the agent has no choice but to do so in order to carry out her express authority. For example, the authority of a real estate agent may only be to sell a certain parcel of land or a certain house for the principal of it. The agent may wish to show the property to prospective buyers during the owner’s absence. If the agent did not have the authority to do so, both he and prospective buyers would be trespassers and therefore liable to the owner for damages. Because the display of a property is necessary and incidental to effecting a sale, the agent may imply authority next to his express authority, provided nothing in the contract provides otherwise.

Authority by ratification

Sometimes an authority can be created retroactively. For example, where an agent enters into a contract on behalf of his principal but the contract is beyond the express authority of the agent, authority may be granted in the past. This is done by ratification. If the principal agrees after the fact to be bound by the unauthorized acts of his agent, he has ratified the contract. The end result is therefore that the principal is bound by the contract as if the agent had been authorized in the first place.

usual authority

The usual authority arises when the principal engages an agent to act in a particular transaction and that transaction is governed by the ‘customs of the trade’. In this case, it is considered that the principal has consented to the agent acting in accordance with such customs, provided they are lawful and reasonable and the principal has not indicated otherwise.

apparent authority

In addition, in certain circumstances, an agent can bind his principal to a third party even if the agent is not authorized to do so. This arises when a principal has acted in such a way as to lead others to believe that his agent has the authority to perform certain acts on his behalf. If the third party deals with the agent in the good faith belief that the agent has represented authority, it is called apparent authority.

In general, any sane person can act as an agent, as the agent does not need to have the capacity to contract that the principal must (see my article titled ‘Fundamentals of Contract Law’ for more information). As a result, a child agent (ie, a minor agent) can negotiate a binding contract between the principal and a third party. The child agent is, however, a party to the agency contract and could therefore use her own incapacity to contract to repudiate the agency contract with his own principal.

louis frascati

With all the challenges many people face when trying to apply for and get approved for certain rights, you cannot afford to lose your right to compensation for your workplace injury. Even though the accident really may have been something out of your control, you should hire a workers’ compensation attorney to fight for your rights. No matter how nice your employer has been to you, the moment you file a claim, they will do everything in their power to avoid having to pay you a dime. It is not your fault that you were hurt, nor is it fair that you are trying to figure out how your bills are going to be paid. You won and paid for the right to have your claim approved.

It really doesn’t matter what step you’re at, all that matters is that you take the time to find a good workers’ compensation attorney. You cannot afford to take chances and let a corporation take away what you are entitled to. With so many companies and employers reducing the amount of benefits and coverage they offer their employees, you shouldn’t be so naive as to assume that they are genuinely interested in your welfare or livelihood; any penny they have to pay you comes from the insurance they already have. It doesn’t really come out of pocket at all. But your injury as a result of a workplace injury affects your finances if you are unable to work as a result.

The sooner in your situation you hire a good workers’ compensation lawyer, the sooner you can get what you are entitled to. You could end up having the amount you’re entitled to reduced or end up being denied if you don’t. Why put yourself through all the stress and hassle if you don’t have to? Believe it or not, just because there is proof that you were injured on the job does not mean that you will automatically be approved for benefits. There are other criteria that must be met and if your employer decides to dispute something, you could be facing a long uphill battle.

Regardless of your situation and how you feel, do yourself a favor and hire a workers’ compensation lawyer who has a lot of experience winning for his clients. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that people who hire the right type of legal representation for their claims have a much higher percentage of getting their claims approved and getting their benefits paid. You can’t keep wasting time thinking that things will work out. Hire an attorney and rest assured that they will take care of everything.

Credit Enhancement Using UCC Filings:

Any document filed with your state is considered a public filing. That document is now public knowledge. Anyone can search these public records and find these documents/information.

The credit bureaus are connected to a public filing database that is updated regularly (varies by state). They automatically receive all liens and bankruptcy information after it is filed at the state or federal county level. Ever wonder how certain car dealers or certain property managers get things to show up on your credit report?

UCC stands for Uniform Commercial Code. UCC filings are a VERY powerful tool for improving business and personal credit. The amazing thing is that most people don’t know about this technique. Good. most people don’t even know that you do NOT need a lawyer to incorporate a business. Lawyers can charge you up to 4 times more than if you join. There are many such examples, lawyers getting paid for something you can easily do yourself. You will be surprised how easy some of these things are. Also, the purpose of UCC presentations is NOT to build credit – the credit building part is a by-product. If you really think about it, most credit building methods are just that.

The thing to understand about UCC submissions is that they are not new. Public performances, in one shape or form, have always been around. The UCC filing basically shows the public that a guarantee is being maintained between the parties for an agreement between the parties. So if I reach a monetary settlement with you, I can file a UCC to give details of the collateral that will secure that settlement. Of course, when the UCC is filed, it will be public knowledge and any good data collection agency or credit bureau will do it. pick up that. That’s when the “fun” begins.

For now, long story short, UCC is a form of public filing that will help you build both your business and personal credit. As the collateral is released and the UCC eventually ends, your credit will improve. This is true for both personal and business credit. The effect is similar to taking out a bank loan and paying it off.

I personally think this method will work for another 1-2 years tops. I believe this “loop hole” (for lack of a better word) will eventually close. Remember that currently anyone can file a UCC and the requirements are not that difficult to meet. This is very similar to when people can improve their credit by becoming an authorized user of someone else’s credit card. Even if they had bad credit, a simple phone call would get them to authorize users. I remember seeing a person build a 5 year credit history by having his friend make him an authorized user on one of his cards. Of course, the “trick” became common practice and now that method is almost obsolete. You can still become an authorized user BUT it doesn’t affect your credit like it used to. There’s a good chance that UCC filings will follow the same pattern (for credit repair), but for now I think any smart person should make full use of this method. Knowing the law and then using the law is the “way” of the corporation. Both personal and business credit can be improved through UCC filings.

What is included?

Make sure you know what type of direct marketing list you are purchasing. Does the list include names and addresses? Are the phones included? What about emails? Don’t assume that because you’ve requested a mailing list, phone numbers or emails will be included. Some mailing lists will include telephone numbers, but many will not. Mailing lists generally do not come with email addresses, but many email lists will have email addresses. It is very, very important that you and your list broker are clear about what type of direct marketing list you want to use.

You also need to know what ‘selections’ are offered. A selection is an element that can be used to further target a direct marketing list, such as geographic areas, job titles, industries, age, marital status, etc. Depending on how the data is collected in the lists will determine which selections will be available. Some lists will have countless selections that you can apply to the list to narrow down the target, while other lists won’t be able to offer any.

How are they obtained?

It’s important to know where the information for your marketing lists comes from. Obviously, you want to know that the information is legitimate and compliant, but did you know that your response rate can vary depending on the source of the listing? There’s a big difference between direct marketing lists based on actual buying behavior and lists compiled from public records.

The source can be classified as responsive or compiled. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages.

• Answer – These are natural persons who have freely provided their contact details. They are typically collected through sources such as magazine subscriptions, catalogs, and past direct marketing responses. These lists are often more expensive than compiled lists, as the information is self-reported and often highly specific. These lists can be sorted by interest, household income, marital status, and other factors.

• compiled – are made up of people with similar interests, such as real estate agents or dog breeders. These lists are compiled using a variety of public sources, including government databases, vehicle registrations, credit card lists, and telephone records. These lists tend to be less expensive than responsive lists, since they are easier to keep up to date and the selections available are not as refined. Household or business contacts in these lists can be sorted by geographic location, gender, ethnicity, income, and age.

Your list broker should be able to guide you as to which list source would work best for your direct marketing campaign.

What is the actual cost?

Understanding the cost of your list is crucial. You don’t want to be in a position where you think you know what the cost of the list is going to be, only to find out that it’s not what you expected and is now over budget. Your ROI Depends on Your listing broker should provide you with a fact card or full proposal that explains the total cost of your listing. If you don’t understand what your list broker is providing, or if you have any questions, ask! You can’t afford not to know what you’re buying.

Direct marketing lists will generally have a base price, with additional picking and delivery costs.

The base cost of a list is cost per thousand, which means that you are charged a certain amount for every 1,000 contacts you would like to use. The cost per thousand is expressed as “/M”.

Depending on the listing, there may be additional charges for adding phones or emails. It is very important that you make sure you are aware of these charges.

The selected cost is also displayed as a cost per thousand. The more selections you apply to your list, the more specific your list will be and the better the results will be. However, it will also add to the total cost of your listing.

Processing and delivery charges are a flat fee charged by the list owner to format and deliver the data. Costs vary from owner to owner and can range from $25 to $100.

So if the base cost of a listing is $95/M and you are looking for 5000 records, your base cost would be $475. If you want to target homeowners within a certain area and want to include phones, there will be additional costs. Selecting only homeowners will cost you $10/M, geographic information will be included, and phones will cost an additional $30/M. This makes it $525. Add $50 for processing and delivery and your cost is $575. Your listing broker should be able to explain all the costs involved.

Please note that many lists have minimum volume requirements. If the number of records you need is below the list owner’s minimum, you may be charged an additional fee. Conversely, many list owners will offer volume discounts if the number of contacts on their list is large.

Lastly, make sure you know what currency the listing is quoted in. There are listing owners all over the world who work in different currencies, don’t assume you are trading in your country’s currency.

How current are they?

How old is the list and when was it last updated? Direct marketing lists break down over time. People or companies move, contacts leave or change departments, people pass away, etc. There is no shortage of circumstances that will affect the contact information on a listing. Most list owners will run a standard update every 30 days removing bad entries. This ensures that the data you are using is accurate and deliverable. There is no point in using a list if the information it contains is not accurate, so make sure your list is up to date.

They are compatible?

Email and telemarketing lists must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and the National Do Not Call registry, respectively. If you are planning a direct marketing campaign outside of the United States, you must ensure that the list complies with the rules and regulations of that country. You, the end user, have the responsibility to ensure that you comply with the regulations. Being sold a bad listing is not a defense and the fines for violating the regulations can be severe. Ask your list broker to confirm that your list is complaining.

There are many list brokers who are only interested in getting your money. They have cheap direct marketing lists that are non-compliant and out of date. Protect yourself from these shady list brokers by asking the right questions. If they can’t or won’t answer your questions, walk away from them. A legitimate list broker will have no problem answering any questions he may have.

At what point is a “sale” consumed, particularly when a sales commission is due at the end of the sale?

This question can be answered by carefully drafting a Sales Representative Agreement and tailoring it to the needs and realities of the business.

In many situations, a commissioned seller will present the company with a signed purchase order or other similar document showing that a sale has been made, and the company will accept the sale. Payment terms usually allow the buyer at least 30 days to pay, sometimes longer. In some cases, a seller will not ship products until full payment is made. Also, in some cases, a buyer may be late in paying. Therefore, there is an interim period between which the signed purchase order is sent and the buyer actually pays. Let’s call this the “Interim Period.”

Now, in many cases, the vendor or sales group responsible for this sale will terminate their relationship with the company during the Interim Period. In addition, let’s also say that perhaps the buyer has had financial difficulties and the delivery of the goods has been delayed. And, in the interim period, the company may hire another salesperson to take over the territory of the departed salesperson (or sales group), and the new salesperson basically inherits the pending sale and has work to do to make sure payment is received and delivered. It’s done.

If payment is made during the Interim Period and delivery is made, is the departing salesperson/sales group entitled to the commission, even though the departing salesperson was not with the company during the Interim Period?

Now, there are a few ways to deal with this, in practical terms. Some readers will say, split the commission between the departing seller who originally took the purchase order, and the new seller, who has to take time to handle the delivery and generally deal with the buyer. Practically speaking, both sellers have provided services to procure the sale and to collect and ship the goods, so both must in practice be compensated.

So even though the original sales rep agreement doesn’t specify what should happen in this situation, there is some logic to leaving it up to the parties to figure it out.

However, the deceased seller does not have much influence in this situation. After all, the company has the proceeds from the sale, the new seller is eager for compensation, and the old seller may threaten to sue, but realistically it’s not clear what their compensation will be as a percentage of the sale. proceed.

That’s why I encourage sales reps to include language in their sales rep contracts that describes at what point a sale is considered to have been made and commissions earned. If you specify that the commission is earned when a sale is deemed to have been made, and the sale is defined as being made upon presentation of a signed purchase order accepted by the company, then the commission amounts are “earned” in the sense that they have been accrued, and will be paid subject to the company receiving the payment. This is a long way from discussing whether or not the commission is payable or should be split. Rather, it states that the commission is earned and paid as soon as the company receives payment from the buyer.

It doesn’t matter if you are a company that pays salespeople on commission or a salesperson on commission, there are many complexities involved in setting up your commission payout; first, the date the purchase order is submitted and approved; second, the date the commission is considered ‘earned’; and third, the date the commission will be payable.