This is especially true given the litigious nature of our society. As a result, many entrepreneurs employ asset protection strategies. Asset protection is a form of strategic planning aimed at minimizing risk and protecting assets from creditors’ claims and litigation.

Careful asset protection can help you retain and sustain the value of the property and accounts you own. As an entrepreneur, here are a few strategies you can use to protect your assets:

1. Separate your personal assets from your business assets by establishing a limited liability business entity. The default structure for an individual starting a business is the sole proprietorship; the default structure for multiple people starting a business together is a partnership. These entities, though simple to create, do not legally protect the business owners’ personal assets. However, business structures like the limited partnership, limited liability company, and the corporation provide limited liability. This means that the owners of the business are not personally liable for the company’s debts or other liabilities—for example, if a judgment is obtained in a lawsuit against the business. A properly established and maintained limited liability business structure restricts liability to assets belonging only to the business. Creating a separate legal entity is one of the first steps every entrepreneur should take to protect personal assets. Subsequent practices like opening a separate business account, complying with legal requirements such as paying state filing fees, and not commingling personal funds with business funds further establish the legal separation between personal assets and business assets.

As state leaders attempt to develop guidelines for reopening safely, you may have questions about the requirements for maintaining a safe environment for your business. Specifically, you may be wondering how to document the steps you have taken if someone in your workforce is exposed to COVID-19 and tests positive for the virus.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for establishing and enforcing safe working environments for employees through the use of training, outreach, education, and assistance. On May 19, 2020, OSHA released a revised memorandum on recordkeeping in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

OSHA generally requires business owners with more than ten employees to keep records of and report all serious work-related illnesses. OSHA recognizes COVID-19 as a recordable illness. As a result, even smaller businesses may need to report certain work-related COVID-19 illnesses if a work-related COVID-19 illness causes an injury requiring in-patient hospitalization, amputation, loss of sight, or a fatality. This means that businesses should create and maintain records at the worksite for at least five years in compliance with OSHA standards.

Savvy business owners recognize the value of contracts but often explore ways to reduce the cost of obtaining them. In some instances, business owners attempt to create their own contracts by using templates available online.

However, creating your own contract is fraught with risks. What you do not know can, in fact, hurt you. The following are examples of the potential risks you face when you choose the do-it-yourself (DIY) route.

1. The Contract May Leave Out Key Provisions. Creating your own contract in an attempt to save money can run the risk of unintentionally leaving out key legal terms and clauses that protect your interests as a business owner. Contracts created with online templates are often overly broad or vague, resulting in agreements that, when analyzed, fail to provide the specific protections that make the contract valuable. Attorneys have the experience and resources to craft contracts that include the most important provisions to protect your business.

Regardless of their current political views or health and financial statuses, business leaders agree that they must navigate this time with care. The decisions that business owners make during difficult periods could have long-lasting effects on the business's future success. As a business owner, here are a few things to keep in mind as you navigate these unprecedented challenges.

1. Prioritize the protection of lives. Whether making decisions about reopening or exploring the best ways to express company values, business owners must prioritize the health and safety of their workforce and customers or clients. Failure to do so may result in the loss of valuable employees, increased health risks, and ultimately, decreased revenue, as consumers in this day and age use their dollars to speak. From a legal liability perspective, negligence in providing a safe environment for your employees and customers or clients could have significant legal ramifications.

If you are asking yourself this question right now, here are some things to consider before going down the bankruptcy road.

First, bankruptcy is a valid option to consider. But, do know that each moment you spend considering bankruptcy is a moment not spent considering how to turn your business around. Use your energy wisely, get the information you need quickly, and then make your decision so you can move forward powerfully.

Before considering bankruptcy, you should talk with a business coach or advisor who can help you reorient your business model to see if additional capital could help you dig out of the hole you’ve found yourself in. We may be able to help you here. It may sound odd to be thinking about more capital when you are already in over your head with debt, but if you have a good business model, you may just need to look at your business differently, restructure and upgrade the way you are looking at your cash flow and budgeting process.

In addition to providing aid for individuals and businesses, the CARES Act increases accessibility to funds and loans from certain retirement plans and accounts. The information the IRS recently published clarifies which individuals may benefit from the legislation and which plans and accounts are covered.

Retirement Account Rules Established by the CARES Act

Under the CARES Act, individuals may withdraw up to $100,000 in Coronavirus-related distributions from certain retirement accounts. Distributions are deemed “Coronavirus-related” if they are withdrawn from approved plans between January 1, 2020, and December 30, 2020, by individuals who have been adversely affected by COVID-19 in various specified ways (discussed below). Distributions may be taken from 401(k), 403(b), and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Under normal circumstances, there is a 10 percent penalty for those who are under the age of 59.5 and withdraw funds from these accounts; however, the CARES Act waives this penalty.

In addition to expanding access to retirement distributions, eligible individuals may also take loans of up to $100,000 from their employer-sponsored retirement plans. Prior to the Act, the limit was $50,000 or 50 percent of the vested account balance. Any loans taken under this provision must be entered into by September 22, 2020. For existing loans, payment due dates have been extended, and repayment is not required through December 31, 2020.

Some have been eager to do so, others have been very opposed, but still, others are on the fence. The exponential growth of the virus throughout the country seems to have slowed or leveled off in some places, but the threat of getting infected is absolutely still present. All the same, people (possibly including you) are worried about their livelihoods, paying their rent, and keeping their businesses alive.

A global pandemic isn’t something we’ve ever experienced, so it’s hard to know how to move forward safely. As a business owner, you may be wondering what risks you may be taking on, not just health-wise, but legally, by reopening. What if one of your employees gets sick, or has a family member who gets sick, and sues your business? Would customers be in danger? And if they became ill, could they hold you and your business liable for it?

If this seems like a minefield of liabilities to you, you’re not alone. Politicians are currently debating how to protect businesses from liability while also protecting employee and customer health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sent draft guidance to Washington for the administration to review and reveal to the public. But in the meantime, you might feel like you're flying blind.

Okay, now that I’ve emphasized how important that is, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture of Covid-19 stimulus money, and what else you may have access to now.

On March 27, the President signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill into law that will hopefully provide some relief for many individuals and businesses. The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) sends money directly to Americans, expands unemployment coverage, and makes a number of other changes. Many of those changes are set up to directly serve small business owners and their staff, and $350 billion has been set aside specifically for those purposes. Please note: $350 billion is going to go fast, so get your applications in early for everything you qualify to receive.

There is a grant (referenced above), and two types of loans, in particular, that can help keep you in business during the COVID-19 crisis, and it’s all rumored to have a relatively fast turnaround and payment deferrals. We’ll see what’s true over the coming weeks.

But when problems crop up, you as a business owner can’t afford to freeze. Or fight, or flee, for that matter. Freeze, fight, and flee are the three most common responses to trauma, and they are reactive states that can sneak up on us before we even know what’s happening.

So, step one to making it through every challenge is to start to get to know yourself, and how you respond to trauma—do you freeze, fight, or flee? Make a note for yourself, so that you can see it when it happens.

Often there are ways out of a bad situation that can actually put you in a better position than the one you were in before. Sometimes the best you can hope for is to keep the damage to a minimum. Either way, the first thing you need to do when you are faced with challenges and uncertainty is to get your head on straight.

Here are some suggestions on how to look at your problems in a way that will keep you moving forward rather than frozen with indecision, fighting for your life, or running for the hills.

As a result, many businesses are finding it difficult to perform their contractual obligations. Consequently, a common but often overlooked contractual clause is in the limelight: the force majeure clause. Contrary to popular belief, the mere existence of a force majeure clause does not invalidate a legal obligation or provide a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. It instead provides parties with a justification to either delay or cease their performance of one or more contractual obligations. In other words, depending upon the specific language of the provision, the contractual obligations may remain in place. Moreover, the force majeure clause allows the nonperforming party to assert an affirmative legal defense if litigation surrounding an alleged breach was to arise.

What Is Force Majeure?

“Force majeure,” French for “superior force,” is defined as “a provision that excuses a failure to perform resulting from ‘Acts of God’ and other circumstances outside the non-performing party’s control.” The mere existence of a force majeure clause does not automatically mean the parties to the contract can use it. The determination as to whether a clause is enforceable in a specific situation is dependent upon state law. Courts in many states have held that the force majeure clause will not excuse or suspend performance unless the clause in question explicitly includes the specific impediments to performance being asserted by a party to the contract.