Welcome to, LegalLines, a new service from your Chamber of Commerce. This column will give you the opportunity to tap into the expertise of attorneys who are members of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. Each month, we will have attorney members answering questions that fall across many types of law. If you'd like to submit a question for consideration, send it to [email protected]. The responses provided in the article are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. A response in this article by an attorney does not create an attorney-client relationship between the attorney and the reader. The opinions expressed at or through this article are the opinions of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of the Chamber, its employees, agents, directors or members, Lee Sterling, guest editor
FAMILY LAW
Stanley D. Prowse
The Law Offices of Stanley D. Prowse
Q. My husband and I have decided to get a divorce, but we're arguing about child support and how much he should pay me per month. I've been a stay-at-home Mom for 10 years raising our three kids, and have no business skills. He earns $10,000 per month, and we have about $300,000 in assets plus our house that's worth $600,000 with a mortgage balance of $515,000. What can I expect if we go to court?
A. You can expect to get temporary spousal support of approximately $1,182 per month and post-judgment spousal support of approximately $886.50 per month. Because your marriage lasted longer than 10 years and you're unemployed, the judge will not put a termination date on your spousal support or make it go down every few years.
However, the judge will say that you have a legal obligation to support your children and become self-supporting. During the divorce and afterwards, your husband will go back to court periodically, complain you're not trying hard enough, and ask the judge to lower his payments by imputing income to you. Eventually you will be compelled to work full time.
Assuming you have the kids about 75 percent of the time and you're unemployed, you will get child support of approximately $3,126 per month. Your husband will also go back to court periodically to try to lower his child support by increasing his time share.
Your assets and debts will be split 50/50. With your $150,000 share of the $300,000, you could buy your husband's interest in the house for $42,500. However, you probably wouldn't, because your support payments would probably not be enough to handle the mortgage as well as all your other expenses.
Deducting 7 percent for costs of selling the house, it looks as if you should walk away with $174,000, but bear in mind that a big chunk of that money will go to your lawyer, particularly if you and your husband fight about the kids.
Prowse can reached at [email protected]
PROPERTY LAW
Ariel R. Bedell, Esq.
The Loftin Firm
Q. I leased a commercial space 3 years ago for a 5-year term. At the time I had 10 employees. Now I'm down to just three of us occupying this space for 11. I've tried to negotiate with the landlord to lower the rent to no avail. I signed the lease as President of my Corporation. Can I just walk out on the lease?
A. A tenant can always walk way from a lease, but the more important questions are, will you be personally liable for breaching the lease and can the landlord come after you for damages? The answer to these probing questions is "it depends!" Don't you just love lawyers?
First, because the lease was signed by the corporation, many landlords will require a principal to sign a personal guarantee to limit your ability to walk away from the lease. Hint, to any landlords out there! If a guarantee was signed, it will set forth the extent of your liability. Without the personal guarantee, then assuming proper formation and operation of the corporation and no justifiable reasons for a court to "pierce the corporate veil" then you would not be personally liable for the corporation's lease.
Second, if you are held personally liable under the lease, the amount of damages can be extensive, potentially holding you liable for any amount of tenant improvements the landlord paid for, any rent credits or concessions you received and for all unpaid rent due under the entire term of the lease. Even if you are not personally liable, these would become a debt and obligation of the corporation which you may have a hard time walking away from.
The bottom line: carefully review, understand and negotiate a lease before you sign the lease will help protect you in the event you need to terminate your lease early. Your situation ultimately depends on many factors, including the lease and the operations of your corporation. Tread carefully before walking away.
Bedell can be reached at [email protected]
Intellectual property LAW
Eric Hanscom
InterContinental IP
Q. I just got a bill in the mail for an international trademark. Is this legit?
A. No, it is a scam. While you can get foreign trademarks in individual countries, or groups of countries like the EU, there is no "international trademark" that covers the entire world. If you read these letters closely, a few key phrases will stand out.
First, there is usually a reference somewhere that states that this letter is an "offer" or a "solicitation", not a bill from a government office (even though they do their best to make it look like a bill). Second, look for the word "publication", you will find it hidden somewhere in the letter. They are going "publish" your existing trademark internationally. This is relatively useless, as the United States Patent & Trademark Office has already "published" your trademark internationally.
Third, look for horrible English. To quote directly from the opening lines of a recent "trademark offer" we received:
"Dear madam, and sir,
the publishing of the pubic registration of your patent . . ."
First, don't they know the difference between a trademark and a patent? Second, the larger keys outside and below your little fingers are the Caps keys, learn how to use them.
Fourth, look for a rather long paper and money trail. For example, the notorious RIPT has an address in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, they want money wired to a bank in the Czech Republic, and you must agree to jurisdiction in Florida.
Hanscom can be reached at [email protected]
FAMILY LAW
Stanley D. Prowse
The Law Offices of Stanley D. Prowse
Q. My husband and I have decided to get a divorce, but we're arguing about child support and how much he should pay me per month. I've been a stay-at-home Mom for 10 years raising our three kids, and have no business skills. He earns $10,000 per month, and we have about $300,000 in assets plus our house that's worth $600,000 with a mortgage balance of $515,000. What can I expect if we go to court?
A. You can expect to get temporary spousal support of approximately $1,182 per month and post-judgment spousal support of approximately $886.50 per month. Because your marriage lasted longer than 10 years and you're unemployed, the judge will not put a termination date on your spousal support or make it go down every few years.
However, the judge will say that you have a legal obligation to support your children and become self-supporting. During the divorce and afterwards, your husband will go back to court periodically, complain you're not trying hard enough, and ask the judge to lower his payments by imputing income to you. Eventually you will be compelled to work full time.
Assuming you have the kids about 75 percent of the time and you're unemployed, you will get child support of approximately $3,126 per month. Your husband will also go back to court periodically to try to lower his child support by increasing his time share.
Your assets and debts will be split 50/50. With your $150,000 share of the $300,000, you could buy your husband's interest in the house for $42,500. However, you probably wouldn't, because your support payments would probably not be enough to handle the mortgage as well as all your other expenses.
Deducting 7 percent for costs of selling the house, it looks as if you should walk away with $174,000, but bear in mind that a big chunk of that money will go to your lawyer, particularly if you and your husband fight about the kids.
Prowse can reached at [email protected]
PROPERTY LAW
Ariel R. Bedell, Esq.
The Loftin Firm
Q. I leased a commercial space 3 years ago for a 5-year term. At the time I had 10 employees. Now I'm down to just three of us occupying this space for 11. I've tried to negotiate with the landlord to lower the rent to no avail. I signed the lease as President of my Corporation. Can I just walk out on the lease?
A. A tenant can always walk way from a lease, but the more important questions are, will you be personally liable for breaching the lease and can the landlord come after you for damages? The answer to these probing questions is "it depends!" Don't you just love lawyers?
First, because the lease was signed by the corporation, many landlords will require a principal to sign a personal guarantee to limit your ability to walk away from the lease. Hint, to any landlords out there! If a guarantee was signed, it will set forth the extent of your liability. Without the personal guarantee, then assuming proper formation and operation of the corporation and no justifiable reasons for a court to "pierce the corporate veil" then you would not be personally liable for the corporation's lease.
Second, if you are held personally liable under the lease, the amount of damages can be extensive, potentially holding you liable for any amount of tenant improvements the landlord paid for, any rent credits or concessions you received and for all unpaid rent due under the entire term of the lease. Even if you are not personally liable, these would become a debt and obligation of the corporation which you may have a hard time walking away from.
The bottom line: carefully review, understand and negotiate a lease before you sign the lease will help protect you in the event you need to terminate your lease early. Your situation ultimately depends on many factors, including the lease and the operations of your corporation. Tread carefully before walking away.
Bedell can be reached at [email protected]
Intellectual property LAW
Eric Hanscom
InterContinental IP
Q. I just got a bill in the mail for an international trademark. Is this legit?
A. No, it is a scam. While you can get foreign trademarks in individual countries, or groups of countries like the EU, there is no "international trademark" that covers the entire world. If you read these letters closely, a few key phrases will stand out.
First, there is usually a reference somewhere that states that this letter is an "offer" or a "solicitation", not a bill from a government office (even though they do their best to make it look like a bill). Second, look for the word "publication", you will find it hidden somewhere in the letter. They are going "publish" your existing trademark internationally. This is relatively useless, as the United States Patent & Trademark Office has already "published" your trademark internationally.
Third, look for horrible English. To quote directly from the opening lines of a recent "trademark offer" we received:
"Dear madam, and sir,
the publishing of the pubic registration of your patent . . ."
First, don't they know the difference between a trademark and a patent? Second, the larger keys outside and below your little fingers are the Caps keys, learn how to use them.
Fourth, look for a rather long paper and money trail. For example, the notorious RIPT has an address in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, they want money wired to a bank in the Czech Republic, and you must agree to jurisdiction in Florida.
Hanscom can be reached at [email protected]