Our Business and Estate Planning FAQs

Yes.

Your Articles of Incorporation or Articles of Organization are not the same as a business license. Once your LLC or corporation is formed with the Missouri Secretary of State, your municipality may require that your businesses obtain a business license before opening a business in their city.

A business license is obtained directly from the local governmental authority.

A Missouri limited liability company (LLC) is created by filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State of Missouri.

The Articles of Organization must include:

• LLC's name and address
• Name and address of the LLC’s registered agent
• Whether the LLC will be member-managed or manager-managed
• LLC's duration, if not perpetual

Every Missouri LLC must have a registered agent for service of process in the state. This is the person or business entity that agrees to accept legal papers on the LLC’s behalf if it is sued. The registered agent must have a physical street address in Missouri.

LLC Operating Agreement

In addition to filing the Articles of Organization, your business should also create a written LLC "Operating Agreement." The Operating Agreement does not need to be filed with Missouri Secretary of State's Office. However, the Operating Agreement is an important document because it explains the LLC members' rights and responsibilities, their percentage interests in the business, and their share of the profits.

No, not unless your spouse has named you to be his/her attorney-in-fact under a Durable Power of Attorney and his/her health care agent under a Medical Directive.

Absent these two documents being in place (and presented to a medical provider), you will need to go to the Probate Court and be appointed as your spouse’s guardian and conservator.

A "no contest" clause states that if a beneficiary under your will or trust challenges his or her inheritance, he or she will receive nothing.

Remember, however, in Missouri, you cannot disinherit your spouse.

Yes. In Missouri, a "no contest" clause is enforceable.

No. In Missouri, married persons may not completely disinherit their surviving spouse, unless the spouse agrees by executing a waiver of their rights to inherit in the form of a prenuptial agreement or other legally enforceable contract.

Depending on your situation, a surviving spouse is entitled to receive up to a one-half or one-third of the deceased spouse’s estate.

No. That is a very common misconception. Your Revocable Trust may avoid probate of your assets upon your death, however, your Revocable Trust in Missouri (and most states) will not protect your assets from nursing home expenses.

The assets you place in your Revocable Trust are considered owned by you and must be spent down before you qualify for long-term care in a nursing home.

The solution?  Call our office to develop a strategy to protect your assets from long-term care expenses.

If a parent knows that their minor child has a propensity to act recklessly or carelessly when driving, then the parent is expected to take reasonable steps to prevent that child from causing foreseeable harm to others.

For example, in Missouri, if a parent knows his or her child is an inattentive driver who constantly talks or texts while driving and despite that, the parent allows the child to continue to drive the family car, and the parent makes no effort to restrict the child's use of his or her phone, then a parent would be on notice of the child’s dangerous propensities. If the child ends up causing an accident while talking or texting, the parent could be considered negligent for failing to prevent foreseeable harm.

There are 29 states that have “filial support laws” which provide that children can be legally responsible for their parents’ long-term care costs. However, Missouri currently does not have filial support laws.

You could become contractually liable by signing agreements with the nursing home or hospital. Be careful what you sign!

No. Missouri does not protect the ownership of any type of 529 or other college savings plan from your creditors. 

Call us now to learn more about a 529 Educational Savings Trust which can protect the money in your 529 College Saving Plan for your children.