This week, I’m going to give you the steps to take in creating a pet trust to provide for your companion animal, or animals, if you cannot be there.

A will is not enough

You might think that merely including a letter laying out the specifics of your pet’s care with your will is sufficient to provide care for your companion animals. However, you need to remember that the directions in your will won’t take effect until the estate is administered.

In the meantime, what happens to your pet? If there’s no provision for their immediate care, you may as well have just made an informal agreement, which is not enforceable.

Trusts lead to peace of mind

When you have money in a trust for your animals, it gives their future caretaker the ability to fund their needs in exactly the way you want them to. A trust is a legal arrangement that dictates how your pet, or pets, will be cared for if you pass away before they do. 

Go-bags originated with the US military, which requires its personnel to always keep one on-hand packed with the essential items needed to survive for at least three days following a disaster. 

When you have just minutes to evacuate, you won’t have time to think about what you should pack to survive the days—or weeks—to come, so the time to prepare for your family’s safety is now.

In 2020, we’re not only dealing with deadly wildfires again in California, but we’re also experiencing multiple hurricanes on the East and Gulf Coasts, and a number of devastating tornadoes and floods in the Midwest. And on top of all that, we’re still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already killed more than 180,000 Americans and seems unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

In light of the increased dangers posed by the pandemic, we decided to update our previous go-bag article. Although most of the items you should have in your go-bag remain the same, here we’ll cover the supplies and documents you should pack to deal with COVID-19.

As you begin this process, it is critical to note that expansion, while providing a great opportunity to increase productivity and scale, can also expose your business to additional risks. As you prepare to expand your workforce, keep the following questions in mind: 

1. Are you hiring an independent contractor or an employee? One of the most important things to remember is that a worker’s classification impacts your legal liability and tax obligations. For example, you are not responsible for withholding taxes for an independent contractor. However, you are required to withhold certain taxes from an employee’s wages. A worker’s classification on paper alone is insufficient; the actual dynamics of the working relationship determine it. If you exert substantial control over what a worker is doing, and the worker has very little independence, the worker will likely be classified as an employee and therefore entitled to the rights of an employee. Be diligent in establishing the parameters around each working relationship.

Due to government-mandated business closures and stay-home orders, many owners and employees of small businesses have been forced to work virtually, and they have seen the benefits. Studies show that remote working increases productivity. Large technology companies like Facebook and Twitter have announced that they will be implementing remote working until at least September 2020. Some companies have even gone as far as to give employees the option of working from home permanently. The “new normal” that many predict involves more companies maintaining a remote workforce.

As a business owner, you may be exploring the idea of permanently utilizing a remote workforce; however, you may not be aware of all of the relevant factors to consider and preparations to implement. Be sure to take the following measures as you move toward permanent virtual employment.

As you’ll learn here, there are a number of reasons why you may want to start strategizing now if you could be impacted, because if you wait until after the election, it could be too late.

While we don’t yet know the outcome of the election, Biden could win and the Democrats could take a majority in both houses of Congress. If that does happen, a Democratic sweep would have far-reaching consequences on a number of policy fronts. But in terms of financial, tax, and estate planning, it’s almost certain that we’ll see radical changes to the tax landscape that could seriously impact your planning priorities. And while it’s unlikely that a tax bill would be enacted right away, there’s always the possibility such legislation could be applied retroactively to Jan. 1, 2021.

This two-part series is aimed at outlining the major ways Biden plans to change tax laws, so you can adapt your family’s planning considerations accordingly. Last week in part one, we detailed Biden’s plan to raise roughly $4 trillion in revenue by implementing a variety of measures designed to increase taxes on individuals earning more than $400,000.