The De Bruin Law firm offers a wide range of legal services to clients in Greenville, SC and the surrounding upstate. Our experienced attorneys can help you with legal matters in the areas of business law, criminal law, estate planning, and real estate law.
What are some issues associated with buying or selling a business?
/in Business LawThe first issue to address when you buy an existing business is the role of the seller in your new business. If the seller is going to become an employee, you will need to discuss the role of that seller as the employee is going forward. Having someone who is a business owner sell the […]
How can I prepare beforehand to sell or purchase a property?
/in Real EstateIf you are working with a realtor, a real estate agent, or a real estate company, we want you to stay with them through all the things leading up to when you make an offer on a house or when you put your home on the market. Your real estate agent is the professional that […]
Do I need an attorney for a real estate closing?
/in Real EstateSouth Carolina is one of the few states that requires a licensed South Carolina attorney to handle many of the major aspects of a closing. Major aspects of a closing include supervising the title search and title commitment, recording deeds, mortgages, and other important documents, as well as supervising the escrow process and disbursement of […]
What Is an Estate Plan? What Does It Consist of?
/in Estate PlanningEstate planning is not limited to people with a large amount of assets. It is not in any way, shape, or form exclusive to wealthy individuals or wealthy families. Estate planning is a means of creating a strategy to distribute your assets after your death to ensure that those assets go to the people that […]
What Does It Mean To Actually Fund A Trust?
/in Estate PlanningFunding a trust simply means taking assets that are titled in your name, and transferring them to your trust. By way of an example, if you have a car, you have a title. The car is titled in your name. If you were to put that car into a trust, you would go to the […]
What Are The Components That Make Up An Effective Trust?
/in Estate PlanningA Trust has three major components. The first is the detailed instruction about the administration of the Trust itself. This answers questions such as, what do you want to happen? Who do you want the beneficiaries to be? How do you want it to be serviced? These detailed instructions are the first component of the […]
What Actually Is a Trust?
/in Estate PlanningA Trust is a fiduciary relationship between parties, and it allows a Trustee to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary of those assets. Specifically, a Trust can be created to direct how your assets are utilized and how they pass to the beneficiary. Normally, Trusts are created to reduce an estate tax liability or […]
Do I Need To Have An Attorney Involved In Funding A Trust?
/in Estate PlanningYes, we believe it’s always advisable to seek legal assistance when funding a trust, especially when you’re dealing with the nuances of what type of trust you want, what type of assets you want placed in the trust, determining the list of assets, understanding the tax-related consequences of how items will be titled if they […]
Can I Add An Asset To My Trust At Any Time?
/in Estate PlanningAbsolutely, you can add assets to a trust at any time. This can be done by titling the asset from your name into the trust name. The only consideration is to make sure that you’re not titling assets in a trust name that are better left to just changing a beneficiary designation. Is there any […]
Advantages of Avoiding Probate
/in Estate PlanningThere are several important advantages that come from avoiding the probate process. First, time. If you are the owner of a small business that you intend to pass along to a family member, this can be especially important. Probate puts everything in a state of limbo, sometimes leading to long delays before important business decisions […]