Articles Posted in Corporate & Business

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Business Lawyer

Real life involves contracts. In fact, even if you never actually talk to, use or even see a lawyer, it’s still likely that you have several contracts in your life that you are a party to right now while you are reading this article. Additionally, if you are involved in any type of business operation it’s likely that contracts are a regular part of your life and business.

It’s not uncommon that when people find out what I do for a living they start asking me questions about contracts that they are dealing with as part of their life. It could be a rental agreement, or it could be a contract for the purchase of a home or a car. I have also had people ask me questions about the student loan contract that they are dealing with and trying to pay off, or the credit card collection notice that causes them to ask me about their contracts. Regardless of what type of contract it is, one of the most common questions I am asked is, “Am I bound by the contract I signed?”

By Lane V. Erickson, attorney

I often have clients ask me which state they should set their business up in. More often this question is, which state should I incorporate in? Many people wanting to set up an LLC or corporation have heard or read on the internet that states like Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming can offer business benefits beyond what most states can offer. So where do you set up your business or corporation? My advice and counsel is that unless you own, or plan to own, a business that is large and doing business in many states, it is almost always best to set up you business in the place where you already live. There are 3 main reasons for doing this.

1. THE COSTS OF REGISTERING A BUSINESS

By Joseph G. Ballstaedt

If you and a friend or family member have started a side business or some type of small money-making venture, you may have inadvertently formed a partnership. To form a partnership in Idaho, partners don’t need to file paperwork with the state of Idaho, form a written partnership agreement, or agree to form a partnership. Rather, under Idaho law, a partnership can form by conduct alone. Specifically, when two or more people get together and run a business as co-owners and share profits, they have formed a partnership, a legal entity separate from their individual entities. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t intend or want to form a partnership; a partnership may nonetheless exist.

As a partner in a partnership, you may have unexpected liabilities. Each individual partner is an agent of the partnership for purposes of the partnership’s business, and when a partner does any normal and expected business work or transactions (acts done “in the ordinary course” or running the partnership), those acts are almost always binding on the partnership, in additional to acts explicitly authorized by all partners. Acts that are binding on the partnership are in turn binding on all individual partners (with limited exceptions) because each individual member to a partnership is usually jointly responsible for the debts, obligations, and liabilities of the partnership.

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Everything runs smoother in a business when you are organized. 　This is especially true when your business is a corporation or an LLC. 　The reality is that most states require corporations and LLCs to keep certain types of records. Doing so is both a good business practice and can help you keep in good standing in the state where you created your corporation or LLC. 　Records that corporations and LLCs should or are required to keep usually fall into the following 4 categories:

1. ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONAL DOCUMENTS