Category: GRLaw General

As a new business owner or entrepreneur, your excited to start your business and build out your dream location and begin to sell your services or merchandise.  Before you sign the lease that was given to you most likely by the landlord for that new store or office you should keep in mind that it was most likely written to protect the landlords interests and not you as the tenant.

Commercial lease agreements are typically lengthy and wordy documents and provide for all manner of issues related to the premises.  Aside from providing the stipulated rent and other common provisions, they include topics such as who is responsible for the maintenance of the building, who will pay the property taxes, etc.  It is important to review very carefully these agreements to insure that you as the tenant are aware of your responsibilities.

Did you know that:

• You can negotiate with the Landlord for tenant improvements in the form of monies provided by the Landlord to be used for the build out of your location;
• You can negotiate an exit strategy in the event that your business does not do as well as you hope;
• You can negotiate when your lease starts, meaing not when you sign but when your are actually ready to open, the allows for you to make your improvements or remodeling to the location without having the burden of making lease payments;
• You can negotiate the rental increases.

Tenants should be knowledgeable about what they are signing, Landlord’s typically want the business owner to sign a personal guarantee when entering into a lease, this can be problematic when the lease contains an acceleration clause which allows for the Landlord to collect the remaining balance of the rental term and personally sue the guarantor for payment.

It is important to have these complicated commercial leases reviewed and negotiated prior to signing by an attorney who is knowledgeable in the area, it will be the best investment your new business can make.

Sometimes husband and wife get caught up in the moment and lose perspective as to what is important, if your headed for divorce and you know there is not other alternative, you should keep a few things in mind.  In a divorce, the parties should be thinking of the most efficient way to break free from each other but often times the parties become more entrenched by opposing each other in every aspect of the divorce causing legal fees to go up and up and ultimately just prolong the inevitable.  

I advise clients to only dispute the really important matters that absolutely cant be resolved by them and to try to find a happy median with most everything else. Basically don’t sweat the little stuff, its not worth it.

Florida, the state where I practice is a no fault state, meaning it does not matter why the parties are divorcing.  It does not matter whether the wife ran off with her assistant or the husband ran off with the tennis coach, whats important is that the marriage is irretrievably broken.  I know its hard, but you have to leave emotion out of a divorce and think logically, it doesn’t matter who gets the couch.

Whatever the parties had together is marital and will be split in half in whats called equitable distribution.  Equitable distribution is the division of both your assets (checking account, retirement account, house, pension, car, jewelery, etc) and your liabilities (mortgages, loans, credit cards, or other debts). If you came into the marriage with assets or liabilities these amounts should not be considered as part of your equitable distribution of marital assets.  Also, if you have received an inheritance and have not commingled it then this asset is also not marital.

War is costly, the more you know before you go into war the less you are likely to spend in needless attorneys fees and costs.  As an attorney, I will tell you that we are wired to want to fight for our clients and obtain a result which is in our clients best interest.  Sometimes its worth paying to fight a war and other times its not.  Your attorney should be able to tell you the pros and cons of litigating your matter as opposed to trying to find an amicable solution from the start. 

In a typical divorce, the petitioner or plaintiff who files for divorce will incur the cost of filing along with the cost of service of the documents on the respondent or defendant.  Basically, the husband or wife who files will incur a filing fee and service fee which is usually in the range of $500.00.  Attorneys in family cases usually charge hourly unless the divorce is amicable between the parties and the attorney can price a flat fee for what is called an uncontested divorce where all of the parties agree on the terms of the divorce.

If your in the process of divorce or are thinking about divorce, analyze what is important, minimize costs by only litigating whats truly important, it may be time sharing with your kids or some other matter that cant be resolved amicably.  Stay informed in your case, just because you have an attorney does not mean you shouldn’t be on top of whats going on.  Good luck, for any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me, Javier L. Gonzalez, Esq. at jgonzalez@gr-law.net. 

Perhaps a happy medium may be reached where private individuals may still advertise but only with government oversight and/or the approval of an advertising agency. Needless to say, the actual adoption process would still need to go through the appropriate agency.  Much work is still needed from the Legislature to ensure this happens.   However, it is up to the public to vote for politicians who will be willing to listen and pass the appropriate legislation.

For more information, please contact David Vega, Esq. at dvega@gr-law.net

If you have been thinking about divorce because your marriage is failing, someone cheated, your having economic problems, or you just want to get out of a bad relationship, there are a few thing to consider before untying the knot.

First, if you have kids who are under the age of 18, they should be your priority.  Plan ahead and figure out how to break the news to your kids and how best to soften the stress of seeing there parents split up.  I don’t know of a good way to break the news but I think reassuring them that both parents love and cherish them and nothing will change that is a first step.   Kids are the true victims of divorce and it is difficult for me not to get angry with the parents when they try to use them to get to the other person, they need to be left out of the situation, period.

Second, if you have a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement make sure to read thoroughly before moving out, it may say you get nothing and now your homeless.

Third, determine your assets (money in the bank or under your pillow, homes, cars (not the leased BMW or Mercedes) and anything else of value that can be sold) and liabilities or debts (credit card debt, loans, mortgages).  Remember, in a divorce the court wants to equitably divide all your stuff, the good and the bad.  Now, if you had assets or debts before the marriage, this should remain yours, this may be good or bad depending.

Fourth, are your the bread winner or is it your spouse, or do you both bring home the bacon.  Well, the income of the parties comes into play when your dealing with child support or alimony.

Lastly, depending on the length of your marriage you may be eligible to receive alimony or be obligated to pay alimony.  Alimony is a way to place one spouse in equal financial footing when the other spouse makes more money or is the only moneymaker.  The classic example of a spouse being eligible for alimony is where the couple has been married for 30 years and one spouse is the sole breadwinner,  the non-income producing spouse is eligible for alimony to put him or her on equal financial footing.  This was designed for the homemaker who gave up their career to raise the children.  

My name is Javier L Gonzalez, Esq. and I am a divorce attorney in the Magic City of Miami, Florida.