1 Why Trust this Guide?

Bennie had a lot going on, more than he felt he could handle. Things seemed to be spinning out of control lately, and Bennie wasn’t sure what was his problem. He wanted to chalk it up to bad karma, but he wasn’t Hindu or Buddhist. Bennie instead figured he had something he could learn to keep things more in order. And then the realization hit him that several of his problems were legal problems. One way or another, Bennie wasn’t managing his legal rights, responsibilities, risks, and interests in the proactive way in which he could. And so he went in search of a comprehensive guide to get a better handle on his legal affairs. One thing was for sure: Bennie wasn’t going to let legal issues keep running him over. 

Guidance

My first client at the start of my law career forty years ago was about half my age, just a teenager. I don’t think he’d finished high school. Yet in one sense, he was already twice as wise as me. He knew that if he could get alongside a decent lawyer and maybe an accountant, banker, and real estate agent, then with his abundant energy and ambition, his life and business would both soon take off. As a brand-new lawyer, I had little clue of law’s power and authority to promote a vital life. You might have thought that after seven years of schooling, three of those years in one of the nation’s top law schools, I’d have known better. I quickly learned, though. My teenage client owned one ancient piece of business equipment for which he still owed the kindly seller who had foolishly extended him credit. Yet with the professional help that he so consistently sought and accepted, my client was before long so soundly organized, authorized, positioned, managed, planned, prepared, financed, and insured, and so well respected by his friends, competitors, and even his few enemies, that he became a resounding personal, family, financial, and business success. My first client knew and respected the authority of law to guide a business and life. My hope is that you do, too. Let this guide be your tool.

Desire

Another reason to consider this guide’s seasoned advice is because in doing so, you are expressing your desire. A good life is a lot about caring. You want to suffer and be miserable your whole life? Exhibiting a bad and careless attitude with no desire will definitely do it for you. But you want instead to prosper and live a good life? Then you’d better care about things while exhibiting a good attitude. Seeking counsel is a sure way to express your desire and a good learning attitude. When you seek strategic advice, you are looking to improve your situation and outlook. You aren’t wallowing in your mud, moaning about how hard or unfair life is. When seeking counsel from professionals having hard-won wisdom, you are also looking to draw something useful from the very hardship you’d prefer escaping. Strivers succeed, moaners don’t. Strivers who seek and accept wise counsel don’t just succeed; they thrive until they, too, can share wise counsel. 

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2 What Are Legal Affairs?

Darlene had just left her third visit with the attorney in her church office. When Darlene had learned that an attorney was offering free legal help at her church one afternoon a week, she’d immediately signed up. Darlene wasn’t even sure that she had a legal problem. She just knew she needed help. On her first visit with the attorney, Darlene didn’t even know what to say. She just poured all her problems out, feeling disorganized, emotional, helpless, and embarrassed. Fortunately, the attorney had listened carefully and compassionately, making only a few affirming comments while asking only a few questions. Yet when her time was coming to a close, the attorney surprised Darlene by identifying several clear legal issues, while also clarifying her financial, familial, and medical issues. Darlene left that first visit without clear solutions yet, but at least she could now see her different sorts of problems. And on her second and third visits, the attorney helped Darlene chart clear steps to address her legal issues, while also guiding Darlene toward resources to address her non-legal issues.

Triage

Triage is the preliminary examination of casualties to prioritize who may survive with what kind of treatment. Hospital emergency rooms and military field hospitals perform triage on emergency medical patients. Other professionals do their own sort of triage when meeting new clients, to determine who they can and cannot help within their field and skills. People have all kinds of issues, all at once. Some of those issues are legal, while other issues are medical, financial, familial, educational, psychological, psychiatric, philosophical, or spiritual. Navigating effectively through life often involves unwinding one’s own complex problems to discern and address their nature and sources. Your problem may be legal, or it may be partly legal but more so medical, financial, or relational. Distinguish the different types of your issues and problems so that you can address them with the right help and adjustments. Know when you have a legal problem versus some other kind of problem.

Law

To distinguish your legal problems from your other problems, you need an idea of what law is. Law is authority that the government recognizes and enforces. Law comes in several different forms, most of which the following paragraphs describe. But the type or source of law may not be so important to you as the fact that you have a legal, rather than a spiritual or relational, issue. No matter the kind or source of law that your matter implicates, law determines the outcome of a legal matter. If you have a legal problem, law solves it, one way or another. If instead your problem is philosophical or psychological, law isn’t going to help you. Lawyers find lots of things interesting. A lawyer will talk with you all day long about philosophical, theological, or relational matters. But it’ll only be talk, and law won’t do anything for you, unless you have a legal issue. You have a legal issue when the government will apply authority to solve the issue, one way or another. Lawyers don’t prescribe medication, administer therapy, or give benedictions. You’d need a doctor, therapist, or priest for those services. Lawyers instead invoke government authority. 

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3 Why Do Legal Affairs Matter?

Keith had ignored his issues for too long. And now, he was paying the piper. First, he’d gotten pulled over for not renewing his license plate tags in time, on his way home from a round of golf. Unfortunately, he’d probably had a few too many beers on the golf course. Keith’s arrest had been embarrassing and expensive, so much so that he might have missed a couple of his drug tests and not paid all his court costs. His builder’s license renewal had then come due, but the renewal form suggested he’d not get a renewal until he cleared up his court problems. So Keith let his license lapse, figuring who’d know? But when he tried to pull a building permit for his next job, the system flagged his expired license. He lost a big contract that he needed to keep things afloat. Keith felt like his house of cards was crashing down. And all for not renewing his license plate tags in time.

Order

Legal affairs matter because they keep order in your life. Think of it: if law is a government-backed guide for what you may do, must do, or must not do, but you’re not following the guides by keeping your legal affairs in order, then you’re inviting the government to change the course of your life. If you don’t keep your legal house in order, someone may soon pull down the house that you’re building out of order. Build your life on a disordered pattern, inconsistent with the cautions, warnings, guides, and commands of law, and your life will have a weak structure, unable to withstand the natural storms and stresses of life. Legal affairs give you the pattern for a sound, stable, and stress-resistant life. Pay attention to your legal affairs, and you should be able to weather the storms of life. 

Interests

Think of it another way. You have interests in your life, having to do with your needs, desires, hopes, expectations, and ambitions. You awake in the morning with the expectation of a secure home in which to prepare for your day. You have a strong interest in the security of your home and availability of your property for your use throughout your day. As you head out for school, work, or play, you have a strong interest in moving freely about, without others unduly interfering with your movement. Your interest at school is to learn, while your interest at work is to engage in creative and productive labors in exchange for timely negotiated pay. When you stop at the store to pick up a few things on your way home, your interest is in receiving the advertised goods at their fair price, not fraudulent or poisoned goods at a deceptively manipulated price. When you greet your smiling neighbors back at home at the end of your day, you trust that they haven’t stolen your cat or defamed your character. Every one of us carries a rich collection of reasonable interests throughout our days. Law protects and advances every one of those reasonable interests. Keep your legal affairs in order, and you’ll be free to pursue every one of your reasonable interests.

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4 What Undermines Legal Affairs?

Living in her parents’ basement humbled Deborah. After all, she was a forty-year-old career woman with two college degrees, not at all a poster child for the failure-to-launch generation. Living in her parents’ basement forced Deborah to look back not just at what had gone wrong but also why things had gone wrong. Deborah’s legal problems were clear enough. First, her graduate-school mentor had accused her of falsifying research data during her graduate program, when errors in his published work had come to light. Deborah had barely managed to keep her graduate degree, but the reprimands the graduate school imposed caused Deborah’s professional board to yank her license. Losing her license meant Deborah lost her clinical practice and job. And when she and her long-time boyfriend split as a consequence, Deborah was out of her home. Yet Deborah kept pondering: what had caused her downfall? Could her downfall have been her own ambition?

Roots

As you read the following chapters on the several significant areas in which you have substantial legal interests, keep in mind the roots that may be leading to your legal issues and problems. Keep the roots in mind even if you don’t yet have significant legal problems in some or any of those areas. That’s the danger with roots: they take hold before you see them. Only after they’ve gotten a grip on your legal affairs do they begin to manifest themselves in outright problems. Not every legal problem has a long and deep root. But many of them do. Some legal issues emerge out of a deep character flaw that might have first taken shape as early as childhood. Other legal issues emerge out of a misguided ambition adopted in college or graduate school. Other legal issues arise out of a sloppy practice or habit that slowly developed early on in a career or job. And perhaps the sloppiness itself arose from a general indiscipline or inattention to detail characteristic of a weakened family line. Try to discern and address the root of your legal problem, even while cutting away its ugly entanglement.

Character

Character can indeed be a contributor to legal problems. Character expresses itself in a habit or tendency so deeply ingrained as to be a part of one’s natural or inherent makeup. Anyone can make a mistake. Law often excuses a single mistake. But make a series of similar mistakes over an extended period of time, and the problem looks more like a bad character for carelessness than an excusable mistake. And law isn’t so likely to excuse repeated carelessness. Likewise, a single factual mistake in a communication is generally excusable. But a series of factual mistakes in one’s own favor begin to look more like deliberately deceptive and fraudulent lies, traceable to dishonest character. Law may excuse the mistake but won’t excuse the fraud. Law looks at character as much or more than conduct. You should examine your character and the character of others when evaluating your legal affairs. Character matters in legal affairs.

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5 What Are My Legal Interests?

When he was a young adult complaining about the burdens of adult life, Parker’s parents had teased him that he was still adjusting to adulting. But after a good decade of adulting, Parker was realizing that his early complaints had indicated an alarming lack of discipline and attention. Parker now had legal issues piling up, all arising out of his refusal to give his adult affairs their due. And those legal issues, including a paternity action, license discipline, a credit card company’s money judgment against him, wage garnishment, and inability to rent an apartment no less buy a home, were now slowing him down, keeping him from moving on in life. Parker wished he’d paid more attention. Now, he was paying the piper. 

Interests

To manage your legal affairs well, you need to have a reasonably clear idea of your legal interests. We pay attention to what we think matters. And when the subject comes to your legal affairs, you have a lot that matters. You have several major interests that law addresses, protects, and in some instances complicates. Manage those interests well, and law will be on your side, protecting those interests, promoting your pursuit of laudable goals, and opening doors to greater opportunities. Mismanage those interests, and law will hold you accountable. Doors you wanted open will close for you, and other doors through which you would prefer not to walk will open. This chapter surveys those interests before the following chapters dive deeper into each of them. As you read this chapter, assess the interest areas on which you may need to focus to get your legal affairs in better order.

Conduct

Your conduct is a first area where you may need to make some adjustments to keep your legal affairs in order. Set aside for a moment the questions of with whom you live, where you work, what you own, and with whom you contract, each of which raise significant legal issues. First, consider what you are doing. Take a look at the nature, quality, and intentions of your own actions. Your conduct and what you’re hoping to satisfy or accomplish through it are big determinants of whether you can keep your legal affairs in order. Crimes you commit or to which you are an accomplice, drugs or alcohol you imbibe when committing those crimes, your criminal record, your status as a victim of crime or the victims your crime produces, your civil liability for fraud or negligence, and your responsibility for regulatory violations are all legal problems arising out of personal conduct. Wander astray, disregarding the interests of others while pursuing your own temptations, and your conduct will cause legal problems.

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6 How Does Law Guide My Conduct?

Darnell had grown up a bit of a rebel. Darnell had never considered himself a bad kid. Most of his youthful hijinks had been harmless, more to get attention than anything else. The police knew him well, and he knew several of the policemen by name. But Darnell had avoided juvenile delinquency. Yet he was now in his mid thirties, with his rebellious streak still intact. Only now, it was causing him serious legal problems. He didn’t just know the policemen by name. Darnell also knew some of the judges and lawyers. The worst thing, though, was that Darnell could see how his legal issues were holding him back, when he didn’t want to end up some sort of deadbeat scoundrel.

Conduct

Time to get a hold of yourself. The integrity of your personal conduct is indeed a driver of your legal affairs. Neither a rich uncle, political connections, more than your measure of good fortune, nor magical superpowers will save you if you consistently think and act carelessly or with bad intentions. If your personal conduct consistently violates law, rule, regulation, or community norms, then you need to modify that behavior now before the consequences catch up with you. And you need to avoid others who do so. Read and respond to each of the following sections to ensure that your personal conduct is meeting the law’s requirements. You may think yourself above the law on crimes, criminal records, fraud, and negligence, but we can all use a good reminder. None of us is immune from the temptations, vices, and carelessness that can lead our conduct into conflict with the law. Maintain the good quality of your conduct, and you should stay clear and ahead of the law. Indeed, you should win the law’s encouragement and protection.

Crime

Do not underestimate the risk of committing a criminal wrong. Few individuals graduate from high school or college with prison as their goal. Yet crime is a problem at every income level and in every demographic, trade, or profession, not just among the poor or undereducated but for everyone. Individuals of middle and high income, substantial education, and good reputation still commit serious criminal wrongs warranting long prison terms. Even comparatively minor crimes like possession and distribution of illicit drugs, solicitation for prostitution, embezzlement and conversion, forgery, mail-and-wire fraud, retail fraud or shoplifting, uttering and publishing bad checks, stalking, and drunk driving can seriously and permanently impact careers, relationships, and reputations. A single crime involving dishonesty, impairment, or other immorality could cause loss of a professional license or trade certification. If you are involved in or contemplating criminal activity, stop immediately no matter your belief in whether law enforcement will detect it. Assume instead that law enforcement knows or will soon find out everything that you know and do. Do nothing criminal, ever. Keep it legal. Get immediate help to address whatever is tempting you toward criminal misconduct.

Audit: Check your attitude: do you agree that otherwise-decent people sometimes commit surprising wrongs with serious consequences, so that we should all be constantly on guard to respect the law? If you disagree, then consider a few examples. Billionaire inventor Elizabeth Holmes, once among the richest and most-celebrated businesswomen in the world, remains imprisoned after her conviction for criminal fraud. Football, television, and movie star O.J. Simpson incurred a multimillion dollar civil judgment for double homicide and later went to prison related to extortion. President Bill Clinton faced impeachment and lost his law license to disbarment for perjury and obstruction. Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling suffered conviction for multiple financial felonies. And celebrity investment advisor Bernie Madoff spent his last years in prison after conviction for a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. Get legal representation immediately to help you respond to requests for criminal investigation, defend criminal charges, or consult on the legality of your planned or past conduct.

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7 How Does Law Address Education?

Linda had looked forward to going back to school later in life after her divorce. She just hadn’t expected all the rigmarole to get started. There were the financial-aid form, loan agreement, tuition agreement, and housing agreement, all to read, complete with attached records, click on all the acknowledgement boxes, and sign. Then there were the educational program agreements, pathway documents, clinical handbook, internship agreement, preliminary professional license application form, and student conduct code, again to read, complete with attached records, click on all the acknowledgements, and sign. Linda even had to get fingerprinted and authorize a criminal history background check for her preliminary professional license application form. As she completed legal document after legal document, Linda laughed that maybe she should instead have gone to law school.

Education

Education has long been the presumed best path to a better life. But like other aspects of life in our sophisticated society, education can present a minefield of legal issues. That is especially so because education involves your whole life. Schools don’t just sell you a hot dog, hamburger, cable television service, or car. Schools welcome you to their campus, care for you while there with food, medical, transportation, library, and recreational services, educate you through elaborate programs with clinical facilities replicating the real world, and on your way out help you get licensed, certified, otherwise credentialed, and employed. Schools have an incredibly complex role to fulfill. In doing so, they rely heavily on law and legal procedures. Law has a lot to say about education because education is so critically important to our welfare. Policymakers promote education not only through curriculum, staffing, and funding measures but also through law, rule, and regulation. In this chapter, see if you are making the most of your educational rights, responsibilities, and opportunities, within the confines of law.

Access

Access to education is a first critical question that law addresses. State constitutions and laws guarantee children a right to free public education. Those laws require schools to enroll children within their districts and may require schools to consider requests for out-of-district enrollments. Federal and state laws also require school officials to enroll homeless children. State truancy laws require children to attend school. State laws may require school officials to investigate why certain students are not attending before suspending them for absences. Federal and state labor laws also prohibit certain child labor, particularly as that labor would interfere with childhood education. Federal cases interpreting the Constitution, along with federal and state statutes, prohibit schools from using race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or disability to deny equal access to education. These rights don’t just get your student into school. These rights can also keep your student in school when school officials attempt unlawfully to expel your student through a disciplinary hearing. Students with behavioral issues in school are sometimes reacting to bullying against which the school has a legal duty to protect them or manifesting a disability that the school has a legal duty to accommodate but is failing to do so. The same can be true with a student’s failure to academically progress and even as to excessive tardiness, absences, and truancy, for which the school may threaten dismissal and transfer to an alternative disciplinary program. You and your student also have rights of free speech and expression in school. Schools must not threaten expulsion because of the exercise of those rights. Get qualified legal representation if your school or your child’s school is denying program access or threatening school expulsion in violation of legal rights against bullying, intimidation, and discrimination.

Audit: Identify which of the following circumstances may be interfering with your education or the education of your children: (a) school-district residency or other enrollment disputes; (b) exclusion from classrooms or programs over allegedly disruptive behavior; (c) exclusion from programs based on race, sex, disability, or other personal characteristics; (d) disputes over attendance and excused or unexcused absences; (e) approvals for tutors, aides, counselors, or other professional help with academics or behavior; (f) disagreements with the school over medication or other therapeutic regimens; (g) discipline, suspension, dismissal, or other retaliation for religious views, symbols, or clothing; (h) discipline, suspension, dismissal, or other retaliation for political or artistic expression; (i) disagreements over transportation to and from school.  Consult a lawyer knowledgeable in school law for each issue that you identified or for any similar access issue. 

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8 How Does Law Address Housing?

Martha and her husband had been homeowners for nearly twenty years when they finally paid off their home mortgage. Looking back on it, Martha marveled at the legal path she and her husband had followed to get to the point that they owned a beautiful home, free and clear of any debt obligation. There had been the initial wrangling over the purchase contract when the home inspection had revealed defects about which the sellers had known but fraudulently failed to disclose. Then they had refinanced their home not once but twice, first to get away from an adjustable-rate mortgage and then to get an even better rate when interest rates fell further than expected. They’d also had a dispute with the city over a special assessment against their home for sidewalk installation up and down the street, with the tax assessor over a big hike in their home’s assessed valuation, and with an insurer over smoke damage from a kitchen fire. But with some adept navigation, everything had come straight in the end. And now, they had a wonderful home and valuable financial asset.

Housing

Law also has a lot to say about your housing. We each need a secure place to live. Shelter is such a basic need that in law it approaches a civil right. Even the homeless or others in need of emergency shelter have certain legal protections, with which the first section below deals. Law also provides substantial protection to renters, which the second section below describes. Law also closely regulates home purchases and sales, the rights, obligations, and advantages of homeowners, the mortgages that homeowners use to finance home purchases, the foreclosure of those mortgages, and tax advantages and obligations of homeowners. Home insurance raises other legal issues and protections. A home is the largest asset that most of us purchase in a lifetime. Laws addressing home purchase, sale, financing, security, taxation, and protection mean a lot to us. Consider below these and other legal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities your housing implicates.

Shelter

We all hope to have secure shelter at all times. Yet no one is immune from the natural and artificial disasters, domestic violence, and other events that can leave us in need of emergency shelter. Law offers the homeless certain protections. We get to use public spaces with reasonable security for our persons and effects, when we must rely on those public spaces for temporary shelter. Courts have granted constitutional protection against law-enforcement actions involving unreasonable search, seizure, and disposition of personal effects, and against arrests for loitering. State and local laws create homeless-assistance programs. Law may also require police to offer emergency shelter before taking other actions to arrest or remove homeless persons and dispose of their personal effects. Federal law authorizes special programs for the housing, care, and education of runaway and homeless youth. Federal and state laws authorize subsidies to transition individuals and families from emergency shelter into apartments with rent tied to household income. Once in housing, you have further legal support to defend yourself and family members against violence and threats of violence. State laws authorize restraining orders to remove violent family members or other individuals from your home and personal-protection orders to keep them from threatening your security in and around your housing. Public-interest lawyers, legal-aid lawyers, and family lawyers deal frequently with emergency-shelter issues.  Consult a qualified lawyer if you or someone about whom you care needs the law’s help with housing.

Audit:  Identify which of the following issues your community faces with respect to emergency shelter: (a) inadequate 2-1-1 or other social-assistance referral system; (b) insufficient number of emergency-shelter beds; (c) loitering and panhandling reducing personal security and interfering with tourism or business; (d) law-enforcement mistreatment of the homeless; (e) inadequate access to the courts for restraining and personal-protection orders; (f) insufficient quantity of transitional, subsidized housing; (g) landlord discrimination against homeless prospective tenants; (h) inadequate law enforcement for victims of domestic violence; (i) inadequate legal relief for victims of natural or human-caused disasters. Get qualified legal representation when facing any of the above issues. 

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9 How Does Law Address Transportation?

The demand letter shocked Damian. All he had done was let his girlfriend borrow his vehicle for a day or two while hers was in the shop. Damian hadn’t expected her to take her sister out to a bar and then try to drive home while over the legal blood-alcohol limit. And he hadn’t expected his girlfriend to crash into a tree, badly injuring her sister. The whole thing had been a nightmare. The nightmare only got worse when the sister’s lawyer sent Damian a letter demanding that he turn the sister’s million-dollar personal-injury claim over to his motor-vehicle insurer. Damian could now see, from the lawyer’s letter, what was going on but surely wished that he had some legal advice before he lent his vehicle to his girlfriend.

Transportation

Safe and efficient transportation is critical to your success and well-being. Law thus has a lot to say about it. Law heavily regulates public transportation by ride hailing, taxicab, limousine, bus, train, boat, and plane. Law also heavily regulates private motor vehicles, not only their design, manufacture, sale, and operation, but also their financing, titling, registration, repossession, recall, repair, accidents, and insurance. Law in each of these areas can provide you with substantial rights and protections while simultaneously imposing specific liabilities and special obligations. Consider the following sections on your vehicle purchase, titling, insurance, operation, and accidents. Consult a qualified legal representative when you have legal issues relating to your transportation.

Public

Law closely regulates public transportation. State and federal anti-discrimination laws can prohibit discrimination in publicly funded transportation, when based on race, color, national origin, and other protected characteristics. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires public transit to provide reasonable access to riders with disabilities, including things like lifts or ramps for transport entry and exit, securing of wheelchairs, storage of mobility devices, priority seating, and accessible routes and stops. Other laws require reasonably safe and secure transport, including protecting against violence and harassment. Civil recoveries of money damages for personal injury or wrongful death may be available if the public transporter fails to meet the highest duty of care. Public transporters may, on the other hand, restrict riders from possessing weapons, flammable liquids, illegal substances, and large or heavy items, and from engaging in smoking, vaping, fighting, excessive noise-making, panhandling, vandalism, or other disruptive, damaging, or endangering activities. Civil and criminal penalties for disobeying, assaulting, or threatening public transport officials, or disrupting public transportation, can be severe. Customs officials will also closely regulate public transport across national boundaries. Consult a qualified legal representative when facing public transportation issues. 

Audit: Identify which of the following legal issues that you have encountered relating to your use of public transport: (a) denial of public transport based on protected personal characteristics; (b) inadequate handicap access to public transport; (c) violence or harassment on public transport; (d) personal injury from unsafe transport; (e) theft or robbery loss from insecure transport; (f) confiscation of personal items prohibited from public transport; (g) detention for disruptive conduct; (h) detention at customs for inadequate documentation of lawful status; (i) detention at customs for transport of illegal items. Retain a qualified legal representative to help you address any of these issues you face.

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10 How Does Law Address Employment?

Willa made a sheepish smile at the HR director as she made her way into the HR office yet again. “What is it this time?!” the HR director asked with mock exasperation, an exaggerated role of her eyes, and a chuckle at Willa’s apologetic grin. Willa had indeed been in the HR office at work a lot lately. First, it was questions over her paycheck. The employee manual showed that Willa was supposed to have received a step increase that hadn’t shown up in her paycheck. Then, it was for reimbursement of the expenses for a clinic visit when Willa had to get stitches for a work injury. Willa had also stopped by the HR office to ask about a family leave to care for her mother after a surgery and to enroll in the company’s health savings plan. And this time? Willa closed the HR office door behind her so that no one but the HR director would hear. Willa had something serious to report.

Employment

Your employment means a lot to you. You draw not only income and benefits like health insurance and retirement funding from employment but also purpose, respect, relationship, and reputation. Naturally then, law has a lot to say about employment. Law addresses the full spectrum of work from job posting, application for jobs, negotiation of terms, hiring, training, wages, and benefits, to job safety, injury, privacy, evaluation, and promotion, right down to medical and family leaves, layoffs, plant closings, unemployment, and termination. Law protects workers while preserving a sphere within which employers can shape jobs and influence workers to accomplish the tasks that will preserve the enterprise. Consider the following job rights and responsibilities for opportunities to improve your work and, with it, your life. Retain a qualified legal representative to help you advocate on employment issues and rights.

Recruiting

Law helps you find employment. Law regulates how employers advertise for jobs and how employees apply for and obtain it, primarily through anti-discrimination laws. Federal and state anti-discrimination laws prohibit employers from advertising and hiring based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, genetics, and, in some states or locales, marital status. You should not see employers advertising for “young men,” “young women,” or “good Christians,” for instance, except in the rare cases where a protected category is a bona fide occupational qualification, such as hiring an actor to portray a famous person in history or a pastor of a specific faith. Employers must also avoid using proxies for protected categories, such as “mature” or “attractive,” and be cautious using neighborhood, credit history, or criminal history that may have a disparate impact on a protected population. Some states and locales have ban-the-box laws prohibiting employers from asking about criminal histories on employment applications, permitting criminal-background checks only after an offer of hire. The large number of protected categories and the fact that everyone is a member of at least one protected category effectively require employers to hire according to valid job criteria. Defamation law also protects you from false damaging work or character statements. You should be getting a fair shake when applying for jobs. Consult a qualified legal representative if you suspect that discrimination or similar foul play is keeping you from getting a job.

Audit: If you have been applying for jobs without success, then consider whether you any of the following factors may have been keeping you from getting a job: (a) your race, ethnicity, ancestry, or national origin; (b) your age; (c) your sex, marital status, or family status; (d) your health, disability, or genetics; (e) your faith or religion; (f) your height, weight, or appearance; (g) your military service; (h) your citizenship; (i) your criminal history or credit history; (j) false statements from former employers. Retain a qualified lawyer if you have evidence that any of these factors are preventing your employment. 

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11 How Does Law Address Business?

Jacob hadn’t planned to start a business. He had instead assumed that he’d get a job in one of the local plants and maybe some day move up to a manager’s role. But Jacob’s lawn mowing for neighbors while he was in middle school had gradually grown into landscaping services for his family’s friends and acquaintances when he was in high school. By the time Jacob graduated from high school, he already owned a pickup truck, trailer, and equipment. He was also hiring his buddies to help him out. Within a few short years, Jacob had bought an old building and lot, and was fixing up the place for his landscaping business. Most of his buddies were by then working in the local plants, while Jacob continued to hire high schoolers or recent graduates who were looking for other jobs. But Jacob knew he was doing better financially and in other ways than he would have done working in the plant. He loved business.

Business

Law provides substantial structure and support for building a business. Building your own business can bring great benefits to you and your family, employees, customers, and community. A profitable business can produce substantial financial and other rewards. You can support yourself and your family, provide a good job and wages for friends and acquaintances, and bring your customers valuable goods and services. You might also fund charitable missions or establish a corporate foundation out of your business profits. A business can also become a valuable asset to sell to fund retirement or other plans, or to convey to children, grandchildren, or long-term key employees. Even if you are employed full-time in a rewarding job within your career field, developing a business on the side can spur your creativity and productivity, and offer career development and financial security. See in the following discussion how law helps you along the way in building and growing your business.

Organization

Law first helps you organize your business, when organization can be critical to business success. You may operate a business as a sole proprietor. But businesses benefit from the identity, structure, perpetuity, and limited liability of a corporate form. Law gives you the options of a partnership, limited partnership, limited-liability company (LLC), subchapter S corporation, or C corporation. Each corporate form has its advantages and disadvantages as a business structure. An LLC is a newer and overwhelmingly popular corporate form that combines the advantages of limited liability and pass-through taxation. An LLC can keep contractual and tort liability at the corporate level, protecting you from personal liability. Yet an LLC does not pay income tax at the corporate level. Instead, the LLC’s member-owners pay income tax on the LLC’s net earnings. LLC owners thus pay income tax once rather than twice at the corporate level and on distribution to owners. See the guide Help with Your LLC for information, illustrations, and forms on how to start and operate your LLC. Get qualified legal representation to help you organize your business in the best form.

Audit: Identify which of the following advantages of a corporate business form could help your business along: (a) a corporate identity; (b) the perpetual life of a corporation; (c) the ability to bring in other corporate owners; (d) limiting contract liability to the corporate entity; (e) limiting tort liability to the corporate entity; (f) the ability to sell the corporate entity; (g) the ability to convey the corporate entity to heirs under a will. 

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12 How Does Law Address Family?

Audrey had been having a hard run. She knew she was at least in part to blame for it. Like her pregnancy with her boyfriend. And then her child-neglect proceeding when the social worker discovered drugs in her apartment. But Audrey didn’t feel she was to blame for all her problems. After all, her boyfriend could have married her rather than leaving her to raise their child. And then, when Audrey married her husband, he shouldn’t have left her after she caught him having an affair. She hadn’t meant to hurt him when throwing the lamp at him, and it wasn’t her fault that the police had arrested him rather than her when they arrived to investigate. Audrey also felt that her husband should have returned when she shared with him that she was carrying their baby. A hard run indeed. Audrey just hoped that the divorce judgment would be good to her.

Families

Families mean so much to individual health and welfare, and social order, that law would naturally give substantial attention to them. Things most important to us occur within families, from birth through infancy, education and maturation, love and intimacy, homemaking, sickness, disability, and demise. Laws that preserve, protect, and promote families are primarily state laws, although federal law addresses domestic-violence prevention, interstate child-support enforcement, division of retirement plans in divorce, and household income taxes.  Family laws become critical when families are in crisis. Yet even in stable and secure times, you can benefit by knowing and pursuing the protections of family laws. Consider the following discussion of the laws of cohabitation, marriage, divorce, children, and other family laws. Know your family rights, responsibilities, and opportunities.

Cohabiting

Law affects persons who live together without marrying. Laws affecting cohabitation are not specific to cohabitants. State legislatures and courts have been reluctant to develop specific laws governing the rights and responsibilities of non-married cohabitants. While states have alimony laws governing obligations between divorcing spouses, for instance, states do not generally recognize equivalent rights for separating non-married cohabitants, even when the cohabitation has been long, close, and stable. Instead, cohabitants must rely on general property law, contract law, tort law, and other general laws, fitting them to the cohabitation circumstance. Because law offers no particularly well-developed legal framework for cohabitation, some cohabitants enter into cohabitation agreements that provide a framework of mutual rights and obligations around home ownership and maintenance, personal-property ownership, financial support of one another whether in health or disability, household services, control of accounts, care for children and pets, and temporary or permanent separation. From a legal standpoint, cohabitation can take more thought and planning than marriage takes, where rights, obligations, and expectations are clearer. Do not underestimate the significance of the property, financial, support, services, and other issues that cohabitation can create. Consult your lawyer before you face cohabitation issues in the midst of a crisis. Let law help you order your relationships.

Audit: If you are cohabiting or considering doing so, then rank your greatest unaddressed concerns from among the following: (a) ownership, use, and maintenance of, and payment for, the residence; (b) ownership of, access to, and benefit from bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts; (c) ownership, use, and maintenance of, and payment for, vehicles; (d) support, care, and custody of children; (e) ownership, care, and custody of pets; (f) ownership of home electronics, recreational equipment, art, and other valuable personal property; (g) ownership, control, and use of kitchen and home appliances, linens, and other household effects; (h) financial support of one another whether in sickness or in health; (i) payment of joint credit cards or other loans and debts; (j) obligations on separation. Consult a qualified lawyer to help you negotiate and document agreements.

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13 How Does Law Address Finances?

Sasha stared at her account statement, just delivered online. Fortunately, she had opened the email and attachment, just to take a quick look at the balance, which she always kept loosely in mind. Sasha figured the balance should be around $10,000. Sasha blinked and stared again, while trying to clear her head. The account statement showed only a $1,000 balance, not $10,000. Sasha searched the transactions to see what had happened, noting several withdrawals of thousands of dollars over consecutive days. But Sasha hadn’t withdrawn anything, instead just making her usual bill payments after the direct deposit of her paycheck. Breathless, lightheaded, and already angry, Sasha headed straight for the bank. She wanted her money back in her account, now. And she wanted to know who made or authorized the withdrawals.

Finances

Your finances have a lot to do with how well you manage life for your own benefit and the benefit of those around you. Things tend not to work so well when your finances are poor or disordered. Law thus protects and helps you manage your finances. When you need the help of financial institutions to manage your finances responsibly, law regulates those institutions and your relationship with them. When you need to borrow money for a home, vehicle, or other purpose, the law regulates the lender and lending. When you have debt problems, the law regulates the collection of and escape from that debt. Law also regulates checking, savings, and retirement accounts. Tax laws also affect your finances, imposing income, sales, real-property, and other taxes. Know the laws affecting your finances. Put those laws to good use to keep your finances in order. See the guide Help with Your Money for strategic advice on money management.

Banking

Financial institutions are a frank necessity in today’s economy given the ubiquity of electronic financial transactions. Federal and state laws regulate banks and credit unions closely to ensure their liquidity, the security of your funds, and your honest treatment. A federal program insures your deposits to at least $250,000 per account. Banks let you control access to your account through the account agreement you sign when opening the account. That agreement may take the form of a signature card that both identifies your signature for security purposes and includes the terms on which the bank will handle your funds. State contract law, the law of negotiable instruments, and federal banking regulations then together ensure that banks handle your accounts and transactions responsibly according to the terms of your account agreement. When, for instance, a bank releases account funds over a signature that you have not authorized, state law would ordinarily require that the bank restore the funds, particularly if you are monitoring your account statements to timely notify the bank of any irregularity. No one other than you and those whom you designate should control your funds, except as garnishment laws may otherwise provide. The account agreement will also control what fees the bank may charge you for transactions and services. When banks fail to disclose fees and charges properly, or otherwise mislead customers as to the cost and nature of their services, state law and federal regulations provide you with remedies.  Consult a qualified lawyer over excessive or undisclosed fees and charges, loss of your funds, or service misrepresentations.

Audit: For each of your bank accounts, whether checking, savings, or other, document the following information: (a) the banking institution; (b) the type of account; (c) all persons whom you have granted access to the account; (d) all persons who hold an interest in the account whether or not they have access; (e) all periodic obligations (car-loan payments, utility-bill payment, etc.) that you have authorized the bank to pay automatically; (f) the day each month and manner (paper or electronic) in which you receive account statements; (g) your diligent practice of reviewing those statements within a reasonable time after receipt. Consult a qualified lawyer over any irregularity in the handling or security of your accounts. 

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14 How Does Law Secure Property?

Mike stood in the shade of his porch, looking out across the driveway and beyond at all the stuff he and his family had accumulated. Vehicles, trailers, boats, and bikes crowded the driveway. Pets wandered here and there, while livestock dotted the pasture, itself filled with farm equipment, hay, and feed. Mike took a deep sigh of mixed satisfaction and weariness. He and his family enjoyed and appreciated all that they owned, especially the home they occupied and land on which their home sat. But everything they owned took some care, and that care added up to a lot. Mike was thinking that the time had come to pare their holdings at least somewhat. 

Property

The things you own, including housing, vehicles, and personal effects, are important to your welfare and the well-being of your family. Law protects your right to use and enjoy your property but also limits those uses while imposing other obligations associated with your use and ownership. Law controls your right to recover for property loss whether through liability actions or insurance, and the right of others to recover when suffering loss because of your use of property. Law supports and rewards your development of new property forms both in business and creatively. Law also guides how you dispose of property through charitable giving and estate planning. Consider these and related issues in the following discussion. Know your property rights, responsibilities, and opportunities, to preserve and promote your family’s well-being. 

Ownership

Your rights of ownership begin with the right to occupy and control your property while you either invite or exclude others. Whether the property is your home and surrounding land or your vehicle or personal effects, your primary interest is in its exclusive use and control. Criminal and civil laws of trespass, robbery, larceny, theft, conversion, and invasion of privacy ensure your rights of exclusive use and control. An uninvited stranger simply walking across your land may be liable for trespass, without even causing any damage. Some state laws mandate punitive damages when others cut trees or take other resources from your land without your permission. You may share property rights with co-owners or, in the case of real property (buildings and lands), with others through easements for things like sight lines, gaining access to other lands, or maintaining utilities. Law closely regulates your ownership and use of real property, vehicles, weapons, and certain other property. In general, your uses must not interfere with others, who could have nuisance or other civil actions against you if your uses do interfere. Ownership also carries the responsibility to keep your property reasonably safe when you invite use by others that benefit you, and free from hidden dangerous defects when you permit use by others for their benefit. The law also protects your right to improve and benefit financially from your real property within zoning and other land-use restrictions, with the prospect for variances to make greater use than the laws on their face allow. Law also closely regulates construction on real property but must leave owners reasonable uses. Laws also regulate and tax the sale, transfer, and recording of title to real property and titling and registration of vehicles. The law of real and personal property is extensive and complex, granting you many rights and benefits while imposing some responsibilities. 

Audit: Identify whether you have any issues over ownership, title or registration, possession, control, exclusive use, privacy invasions, interfering use, liability, sale, or transfer of any of the following properties: (a) primary residence; (b) surrounding lands; (c) second home and surrounding lands; (d) neighboring lands; (e) vehicles; (f) boats; (g) campers and trailers; (h) electronic sites, wi-fi, and intranets; (i) tools and equipment; (j) credit and accounts; (k) name, image, or other identity.  Consult a qualified lawyer to help you address those issues. 

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15 How Does Law Ensure Freedom?

Darlene had been the only one among her friends and acquaintances who had stood up to the government officials who tried to shutter her business, just as they had destroyed thousands of other small businesses. Doing so had cost Darlene a lot of time, stress, money, and reputation. But in the end, law proved Darlene right. The government had broken its fundamental promise constituting its only authority over the people whom it governed, which was not police and the military but instead the consent of the people. And Darlene’s action didn’t just save her business. Darlene had saved the government from itself, preserving the slimmest measure of public tolerance for a government that had nearly destroyed itself.

Freedom

Law’s rule guarantees you freedom. Others have paid dearly so that you have the right and opportunity to exercise your freedom. Enjoy those freedoms to the fullest extent. They come at great cost. Freedoms of religion, speech, and association are all fundamental First Amendment rights. Exercise these freedoms fully while respecting the rights of others to do likewise. We are healthiest individually and communally when we do so. The law grants you these and other fundamental rights as privileges of your citizenship. Know your rights and responsibilities as a citizen, and exercise them to ensure your continued freedom. If you or your family members are not citizens, know that the law nonetheless guarantees non-citizens fundamental rights. The law even grants asylum and other protections to the undocumented alien, while further granting constitutional protections to the arrestee and prisoner. Consider the following discussion elaborating these freedoms. 

Religion

The Founders’ decision to make freedom of religion the first right in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights was no coincidence. Federal and state constitutions and laws ensure that you have the right and opportunity to use that most fundamental of all rights to pursue your religion freely. The law enables you to be more than a nominal adherent. You may read, quote, and rely on religious scripture, attend and participate in religious services, study, learn, and teach religious doctrine, serve in religious missions, give to and receive from religious charities, and pray prayers and sing songs of faith, both publicly and privately. You would have none of these opportunities without the rule of law. Leaders in other countries without the rule of law ban, persecute, imprison, starve, torture, condemn, and kill peace-loving traditional religious adherents. To preserve your fullest religious freedom, the law prohibits the government from establishing religion. You get to choose, not the government. The First Amendment expressly restricts Congress from establishing or interfering with the free exercise of religion. The Fourteenth Amendment extends that protection to prohibit similar actions by state and local governments. Federal and state religious-freedom acts even prohibit neutral laws that substantially burden your freedom of religion. Federal statute creates a private right of action to enjoin government from interfering with your religious practices and to hold it liable in damages for your harm. Federal and state anti-discrimination laws ensure that your religion does not keep you from gaining and holding employment, or enjoying public services and accommodations. Retain a qualified lawyer if the government is interfering with your free exercise of religion.

Audit: Identify any interference you face with your free exercise of religion, in the following areas: (a) zoning officials refusing variances for houses of worship; (b) inspectors enforcing building codes to prevent religious uses; (c) local officials refusing to allow religious studies or meetings in homes; (d) local officials refusing to allow street preaching; (e) local officials requiring licenses for door-to-door religious workers; (f) schoolteachers refusing to allow children to sing worship songs, read scripture, or speak about religion; (g) employers refusing to accommodate religious clothing, symbols, worship, or prayer; (h) employers refusing to hire because of religion; (i) hotels, restaurants, and other places of public service and accommodation refusing service because of your religion; (j) laws prohibiting use of peyote or other substances in religious practices.  Retain a qualified lawyer to help you address any of these issues. 

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16 How Does Law Help My Legacy?

Geoff sensed that he had reached the point in his life to turn from accumulating assets to preparing to distribute them. Geoff had been good at earning, investing, and accumulating. He had a relative fortune that he controlled and that provided more than amply for his family. Geoff also shared generously with his community in various ways. But now, Geoff could see that things would eventually come to an end, and maybe sooner rather than later. Geoff needed an estate plan. Yet he also wanted to do something creative and visionary that might last for more than a generation or two. Fortunately, Geoff knew the lawyer whom he wanted to help him pursue that plan. 

Legacy

Law also promotes your opportunity to leave a lasting legacy, for years or even generations beyond your demise. The above chapters have briefly touched on some of those legacy opportunities. They begin with your opportunity to accumulate earnings, amass and invest savings, acquire and hold appreciating assets, and build or create things of value. Law recognizes your property and holdings as assets of your estate after your passing. You have the law's support and encouragement to provide, through a will or trust, for the distribution of your estate after your demise, for the benefit of those family members, future generations, charities, causes, or other individuals and organizations you wish to favor. You may also form and fund a foundation or form, support, and operate a charity, as your legacy. This chapter addresses those opportunities in brief. See the guide Help with Your Legacy for greater detail on opportunities to create and leave a legacy.

Will

Law encourages individuals to provide for the orderly disposition of their property and payment of their debts after demise. State laws authorize individuals to execute a will by which they provide for the administration of their estate after death. A will provides for payment of expenses of administration and debts the decedent owes, and for distribution of remaining assets. When you execute a will, you decide on your heirs. If you do not execute a will, your estate passes by the laws of intestacy, generally to your spouse and adult children, depending on varying state laws. To execute a valid will, you need to reduce your wishes to a writing that you sign at the end, with two adult competent witnesses also signing. Notarization of signatures may confirm their validity without further attestation. State law may also hold valid a will in the testator’s handwriting, signed at the end, even without witnesses, provided that witnesses can confirm the testator’s handwriting at a probate hearing. Retain qualified legal representation to help you execute a valid will expressing your wishes.

Audit: Identify the following issues on which you should have qualified legal advice related to the treatment of your property and debts after your demise: (a) whether to execute a will; (b) what to include in your will; (c) how to ensure your will’s validity; (d) where to file or store your will; (e) whom to provide copies of your will.

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17 What Are Some Legal Landmines?

Wilkins felt like the world was coming to its chaotic end. First, he’d had an awful motor-vehicle accident, one in which he was fortunate to escape with his life. Rather than expressing sympathy for Wilkins, his wife had chastised him roundly for not having had a will in place as she had several times requested. The accident made him check his life insurance, where he discovered he still had his ex-wife listed as his beneficiary. Better fix that, Wilkins surmised. Then Wilkins had his paycheck garnished for old credit-card debt his ex-wife had run up during their divorce proceeding, that his ex-wife was supposed to have paid. Between the debt garnishment and the income withholding for his child support, Wilkins could barely pay his mortgage to keep a roof over his current wife’s head. Then, when Wilkins got served with a lawsuit for the motor-vehicle accident, his auto insurer refused to defend it, saying that Wilkins had let his policy lapse. Soon after, Wilkins got a summons from the court for an infraction for not having the required vehicle insurance in place. Wilkins was beginning to wonder if bankruptcy would help, but then, he’d probably lose his home and his wife.

Landmines

Legal issues have a way of sneaking up on you, especially if you don’t have your legal affairs in order. When you don’t anticipate the legal issue, you often miss opportunities to prepare for it, soften its blow, or even avoid it entirely. That’s the purpose of this guide, to encourage you to get your legal affairs in order before it’s too late and you have complications and losses you could have avoided. To further illustrate the prospect for legal landmines, consider the following common legal landmines, in no particular order. Avoid these landmines if you can. And if they’re not a particular risk for you, let them remind you that other landmines may lurk. Keep this guide’s cautions and audits in mind. Keep your legal affairs in order.

Violations

Traffic violations can certainly sneak up on you if you do not obey the traffic laws. Speeding, disobeying traffic signals and signs, failing to stop or yield to traffic having the right of way, and drunk or drugged driving are all relatively common traffic violations, among dozens of less-common violations. When the violation causes an accident, the infraction or charge and its penalties increase. When the accident causes a death or injury, the charges and penalties increase further. Traffic violations are a peculiar landmine for two reasons, even beyond the criminal or civil penalties and substantial civil liability that can accompany them. First, a single serious traffic violation or an accumulation of lesser violations can lead to loss or restriction of your driving privileges. Losing your driving privileges can mean losing your job, ability to provide and care for your children and home, and other serious collateral consequences. Second, the traffic stop can lead to police discovery of other violations such as the intoxicated driver, unregistered or uninsured vehicle, unregistered or illegal guns, illegal drugs or contraband, open intoxicants, and other implicating items inside the vehicle. Beware operating a motor vehicle in anything other than lawful manner. Traffic violations are common legal landmines.

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18 What Are Some Legal Trends?

Richard shook his head at how things had changed since he started in security at the courthouse decades ago. Standing in the back of the courtrooms, watching the litigants come and go, gave Richard a good picture of the changes. A few things remained the same, like the debt collectors rushing in with their slim files for another pile of worthless judgments out of which to try to squeeze some juice. But the courthouse was seeing many fewer prisoners. Most of the arraignments were now video feeds of the drunk-driving arrestees from the jail. An endless parade of no-fault divorces and child custody and support disputes had filled the courthouse void. Cases involving technology, like identity theft, online fraud, and social media defamation, were new to the courthouse. Richard missed the old mix of home burglaries, shoplifting, and boundary disputes.

Trends

Trends in law can be important. Commerce, culture, society, and technology all change quickly. Law changes with them, responding to their change while injecting its own new variables. Some legal issues, tools, and resolutions remain the same, but other legal affairs change either subtly or vastly. The rise of no-fault divorce, wage-earner plans in bankruptcies, no-fault motor-vehicle laws, and the limited-liability company are examples from decades ago of vast changes in how law addressed important and common issues. The expansion in the number of classes or categories that anti-discrimination law protects, the laws requiring disability accommodations in schools and workplaces, and environmental laws and regulations are other examples of whole new legal regimes emerging in the past few decades with widespread effects. Trends in law can affect your legal affairs. Watch for them as they emerge. Here are a few trends that might be your next legal issue.

Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the latest new wave of technology, and it looks to be a big one. Lawyers, law firms, and judges are using artificial intelligence to aid legal research and drafting, and speed or streamline administrative systems. But clients are using AI tools, too. Law codes and cases were once hidden away in libraries for lawyers and law clerks to laboriously peruse. Subscription services then uploaded them to databases for law firms to license and search at substantial expense but significantly greater ease and efficiency. Most law codes and cases are now readily available online, free to anyone. AI tools, though, are harvesting online information, not so much codes and cases but instead lawyer marketing materials, to answer legal questions that non-lawyers pose. Clients are going to lawyers with what they believe to be the answers, when the answers may be very different because of the local law or peculiarities of the case. Legal information is far more readily available. Legal insight and wisdom is still rare. Do your online research. But beware your results. Get qualified legal representation on important issues.

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19 How Do I Order My Legal Affairs?

George wanted to do well for himself and his family, not just as a provider but as a wise keeper of the family’s legal, financial, and other affairs. George didn’t just want to earn a good living for his family. He also wanted to show his family members that they could trust him to make wise decisions for how to manage household affairs. George wanted to take secure steps, avoid the traps and pitfalls, and lead his family in a confident, stable, effective, and reputable manner. And George knew that to do so, he needed to learn more about his legal rights, obligations, and interests. He needed a method for keeping his legal affairs in order.

Order

You’ve now seen from the above chapters just how numerous and complex your legal affairs can be. Many different laws, rules, and regulations affect you and your family and interests. You’ve also seen from the above chapters how not having your legal affairs in order can adversely affect your interests. In the worst case, you could end up in prison for disregarding your legal affairs, and not just the criminal laws but even the tax laws, traffic laws, property laws, family laws, and other laws, rules, and regulations. Short of prison, ignoring your legal affairs could cost you your spouse, children, money, home, vehicle, job, career, reputation, and everything else important to you. On the other hand, keeping your legal affairs in order could lead you to achieving your dreams and to a prosperity beyond your imagination. The good news is that for the most part, you get to choose. This chapter suggests some steps to get your legal affairs in order and to keep them in order.

Assess

A good first step for keeping your legal affairs in order is to take stock of your affairs. Call it management by walking around, or call it what you will. But to till the fields effectively, you first need to know the lay of your land. Take a good, hard look at the condition of your legal affairs in all the areas this guide suggests. Start by evaluating your personal conduct, and move on from there to evaluate your education, home, transportation, family, finances, employment, business, freedom, and legacy. The above chapters in this guide give you a blueprint for orderly legal affairs. The chapters and their sections also end with audit questions to help you evaluate your legal affairs. List the areas where you know you have adjustments to make to reduce your legal risks and improve your legal security and prospects. Save the list somewhere, like an electronic file on your cell phone, so that you can readily access, review, and update it. You might already have a daily agenda, task list, or to-do list. Add a list of your legal affairs that you need to get in order.

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20 What Measures Legal Success?

Norma sat quietly in the back room of her home, soaking up the sunlight pouring through the French doors. She could see two rabbits exploring the flowers in the garden for a good meal. Norma thought of rising to chase them off but instead just smiled, thinking she’d let them eat what they wished. They would later anyway, even if she chased them off for now. Norma’s smile made her think back over her life with gratitude. She’d been doing that a lot lately, knowing that her years were swiftly drawing to their natural close. Norma had lost her husband years ago. But he had set things up so well for Norma that she had lived securely since his passing. And Norma knew that she could continue to do so until her demise. Yes, that was one of the many things Norma appreciated about her husband. He had kept their legal affairs in good order for both of them and for their children and grandchildren. They’d had a good life, and she looked forward to seeing him again soon.

Life

This guide has repeatedly indicated that keeping your legal affairs in order can contribute to a good life. Law is so prevalent, touching on every human relationship, condition, and interest, that disordered legal affairs generally mean a disordered life. Legal affairs are not something laid atop your life, like a luxury fur coat. Legal affairs instead reflect the condition of your life. Legal affairs grow out of and entwine themselves around every aspect of your life. If, for example, rabid pursuit of pleasures of the flesh are your thing, you’ll have attendant legal issues, especially if your pursuit transgresses necessary social and personal boundaries. If, for another example, cut-throat business competition is your modus operandi, you’ll have attendant legal issues, especially if your overly aggressive practices violate necessary business standards or cause harm to others. Your legal affairs reflect the quality and commitments of your life. Measure your legal success in the quality of your life. 

Relationships

The quality of your relationships also goes a long way toward measuring your legal success. Your most-significant relationships depend on your ability and willingness to keep your legal affairs in order. You can measure your success in keeping your legal affairs in order by the quality of your most-important relationships. If your spouse can’t trust you to conform your conduct to legal standards, including such things as obeying the traffic laws, holding up your end of contractual bargains, respecting safety and environmental regulations, and paying your taxes, among a few dozen other legal requirements, then your relationship with your spouse will suffer. The same will be true with your children; your legal transgressions and issues will unsettle, frustrate, and embarrass them. Your relationships with your employer, neighbors, and friends likewise depend on your basic ability to keep your legal affairs in order. Your employer needs you to keep your license or certification, your neighbor needs you to respect the laws of privacy and nuisance, and your friends need you not to lead them astray into crimes, accidents, offenses, and liabilities. If your relationships are basically good, you’re likely keeping your legal affairs in good order. 

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