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Keep Your Corporate Shields Up

As a general practice lawyer in Texas, I help a lot of people start their own businesses. I also help people protect their businesses by making sure their corporate shields are up, documentation-wise. See, a lot of people start LLCs and corporations by filing a certificate of formation with the Secretary of State and think […]

Which Hat Am I Wearing?

I wear a lot of hats.  I don’t mean I have lots of responsibilities, I mean I wear. a. lot. of. hats.  Three fedoras, two driving caps, two Panamas, two cowboy hats, a couple of baseball caps, one Air Force ORF cap – that’s what happens when you spend too many years in the tropics […]

Change the Facts, Change the Answer…

My dad was my law partner for over 20 years, and one of his favorite (!) trial stories was the client who, in the middle of cross-examination by the opposing attorney, began a response with, “I ain’t even told my lawyer this yet, but…”.  I’ve also had the dubious pleasure of having a client say, […]

For Want of a Staple, A Probate Was Lost

Sounds silly, doesn’t it?  It’s just a staple, after all.  What does it matter if you remove it to make a copy? Believe it or not, a number of probate cases have been turned on their heads because somebody took out the staples on an original will, presumably just to make a copy.  Why?  Because […]

“I Have A Stupid Question…”

“Here’s a stupid question…” – I hear this too often from my business clients.  The Jacobson Law Firm has helped form hundreds of business entities and serves as Registered Agent for many of them.  This means that I get to break the bad news when one of those businesses gets sued, but it also means […]

A Living Will Isn’t a Death Sentence

Since a lot of my law practice involves estate planning, I prepare a lot of what are called “advance directives” (ADs) – documents that authorize somebody else to make decisions for you if you can’t.  The least understood of these ADs is the directive to physicians, or “living will”.  A lot of people think that […]

PTSD – Serious for the Sufferer, Serious for the Family

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is an epidemic among military members.  Its symptoms run the gamut from nervous reactions to loud noise, to complete incapacitation even in the simple activities of everyday life. PTSD can often be treated with medication, therapy, service animals, etc., but sometimes it leads to the ultimate tragedy: a veteran takes […]

When you need it, it’s too late to get it

As an estate planning and probate lawyer, I occasionally have clients who come in, chat with me and my support staff, fill out an estate planning questionnaire and have me prepare draft documents for them – and then never get around to actually executing the documents.  The reasons vary – sometimes a husband and wife […]