Personal Injury Lawyer – how to protect yourself.
If you have had a car accident, even if you don’t think you have been injured, there are certain things you need to do to protect your own rights and to protect yourself from claims from other people involved in the accident.
Always call the police even if it is just a “fender bender”. A police report is essential to making any sort of insurance claim yourself for damage to your vehicle or for accident benefits which are available regardless of fault to all insured motorists. A police report is also essential if you want your insurance company to defend you against a claim from another person involved in the accident.
Your next call, after the police investigation is completed, should be to your insurance agent if you have one or to your insurance company directly.
Late reporting of an accident may allow your insurance company to deny you coverage if you are sued as a result of a car accident or create skepticism if you are making an accident benefits claim.
If there is even a hint of you being injured and you haven’t gone to the hospital from the scene, go and see your family doctor for assessment and appropriate treatment as soon as you can. If you can’t get an appointment right away, go to a walk-in clinic for initial treatment. Car accident injuries, such as whiplash injuries, can take days or weeks to develop, and documenting the initial complaint as soon as possible after the accident creates a good foundation for a damages claim.
Then, feel free to call Earl Taylor at Green Germann Sakran at 905-639-1222 x245 for a free consultation about your rights after an accident. There are no upfront legal fees and no legal fees at all unless you recover a settlement or judgment.
Learn more about Personal Injury Lawyer Earl Taylor »
A business lawyer can discuss the benefits of why you should incorporate your business.
My father was a grocer and he was always a sole proprietor. He did very well and it worked for him. He never bothered to consider the benefits of incorporating. Even when he bought a grocery store for my brother and revenues doubled, there was never any discussion around our home on whether we should incorporate. If you want to learn more about why you should incorporate your business – read on.
Times have changed and I now believe that my father should have considered incorporating for a variety of reasons, like:
- The lifetime capital gains exemption on sale of an active business (up to $800,000 per individual shareholder);
- Protecting personal assets from creditors and personal injury claims;
- Getting the benefit of a lower corporate tax rate, income splitting, dividends, and retained earnings;
- Estate & Succession planning – ie. a trust to own holdco – holdco to own the realty and opco.
Easy to say, however, there are many things to consider on whether or not to incorporate. For example, if you own a rental property that is considered “passive income” and therefore incorporating does not entitle you to a lifetime capital gains exemption. Only “ongoing concerns” are entitled, like retail or sales business, manufacturing – something that involves doing something to earn money rather than sitting back and waiting for it to collect in your bank. Of course, I am using a simplistic analogy. However, if you had at least 5 employees in a rental property business, then all of a sudden, it is no longer considered “passive income” and you would be qualified for a lifetime capital gains exemption in the event of sale of shares of the corporation.
