Hinch Law

"How often do I need to review (or update) my Will?"  There is no magic answer to that question; instead generally speaking it is good to review your estate planning documents whenever life changes occur.  These would include marriage and divorce, having or adopting a child, death in the family, moving, and coming into an inheritance, as just a few examples. Sometimes a client will ask this question while cringing at a perceived self-serving response from the attorney, requiring the client to come back to the attorney repeatedly, and thus incurring more cost.  Regular reviews with your attorney are helpful like "checkups" to ensure you still have a "healthy" estate plan that meets your needs. Those needs change over time, and the law is constantly evolving as well.  In light of these constantly changing dynamics, it would be unrealistic to view estate planning as a "one and done" process. To help with this question, consider the "Who,...

Over the past few months I've had the opportunity through the Illinois State Bar Association  on two occasions to provide continuing legal education presentations about commercial general liability (CGL) insurance and coverage of defective construction.  This can be a tricky area and the law can vary by jurisdiction; the Illinois line of governing cases differs from other States. An insurance policy is essentially a contract between the insurer and the insured, consisting of 1) the declarations, 2) the insuring agreement, 3) conditions, 4) exclusions, and 5) endorsements.  In the CGL world, many insurers use a variation of a nationally standardized form.  One thing that trips folks up is that some of the endorsements seem to say there should be coverage for certain things (for example, defective work done by a subcontractor) and so the temptation is to put the cart before the horse. In Illinois, you don't even get to the endorsements unless the court first finds ...

The Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District recently released its opinion in People v. Smith , affirming a circuit court's award of summary judgment on claims alleging a contractor violated the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act  (CFA), the Home Repair and Remodeling Act  (HRRA), and the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act .  The trial court awarded $50,000 damages and, in a first for an HRRA case to the best of my knowledge, permanently enjoined the contractor from "future home repair and remodeling work in Illinois." The case was brought by the Illinois Attorney General against the individual contractor personally, as well as two corporations for which he served as agent.  Apparently several consumers had filed complaints with the Attorney General alleging that they had hired this contractor to do home repair and remodeling work and paid a significant down payment, but that the contractor had never completed the work nor returned their mone...

Now that the calendar has turned over to 2012, the new I llinois Residential Real Property Transfer on Death Instrument (TODI) Act , 755 ILCS 27/1 et. seq, (the "Act") has taken effect.  The Act gives Illinois residential property owners a new and useful estate planning tool. What is a TODI?  A TODI is similar to, but distinctive from a deed; it is recorded with the county in which the property is located while the property owner is alive, but that takes effect only upon the death of the owner , as long as certain statutory conditions are met. Why the Act Matters - In Illinois, real property personally owned by a decedent requires a probate action, regardless of the value of the estate.  The TODI gets the property out of probate.  Trust planning can accomplish the same goal but is not typically focused on a specific property.  The TODI is a simpler, more cost-effective mechanism, more tailor-made to accomplish the goal of transferring residential real pr...

This post was updated in August 2018. As of that date, the Prizes and Gifts Act remained the same as when this post was originally written, but social media policies such as Facebook have been modified. A sweepstakes or giveaway can be an effective promotional tool for a wide variety of businesses.  With the hyper-prevalence of social media, it is more feasible than ever for a business to reach a far and wide audience and potential market for its products or services.  If you are considering tapping into the power of social media to offer a promotional giveaway, it is important to know the rules first.  The rules are governed by 1) the law and 2) the policy terms of the social medium, which you are typically required to follow by their terms of service.  In Illinois, the applicable law is the Illinois Prizes and Gifts Act , 815 ILCS 525/1, et. seq (the Act).  Check your local jurisdiction elsewhere. The Act applies to any written promotional offer made...

Ok, after a brief interlude, I'm back to complete the third and final part of my answer to the latest question in the "Ask a Lawyer" series.  The question is, "Why should I hire a lawyer to incorporate my business?"  We have broken this question down into three parts, as follows: How do I know what form of business entity is right for me?  Should every business incorporate? What's the difference between a corporation and a limited liability company?  Which is right for me? Why should I hire a lawyer to help form my corporation/LLC?  Why not do it myself?   Having addressed 1 and 2 in previous posts, this post will answer 3 and complete our response to the overall question.   Allow me to call out the elephant in the room implied in question 3 -- lawyers cost money, perhaps a lot of money. That's money that could be spent investing in the business.  On the other hand, forming a corporation is "easy."  To satisfy the State of Il...

I am honored to have had an article I wrote published in the October 2011 issue of the newsletter for the Illinois State Bar Association 's Construction Law Section, entitled "Must a homeowner establish the contractor's state of mind to state a claim for a violation of the Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act?"  I have written extensively about the HRRA on this blog (I believe this will be my 20th post carrying the "home repair and remodeling" tag), both because it is directly related to one of my core practice areas, construction law, and also because it is an area of the law that has been a veritable hornet's nest in recent years, and therefore fascinating.   The statute was amended last summer and the Illinois Supreme Court released an important case opinion at essentially the same time.   Further amendments were enacted this summer and will take effect in January 2012. Before last summer, the controversial question was essentially this - ...