Good things from a lawsuit

Not everything that comes from a lawsuit is bad. The one I was involved in with our local transit authority forced us to review many aspects of both our business and our personal lives.

The first thing we did was ensure that our company’s pension plan was fully funded. It was structured as a profit-sharing plan, and if we had been forced into bankruptcy, those funds would have been untouchable.

We also made a point not to skimp on employee bonuses, we didn’t want to risk people leaving the company during a difficult time. My wife, being a thoughtful attorney, decided to put 90% of our house in our children’s names.

I told her that this could potentially be undone by the courts, but she didn’t want to hear it. My mom and dad were also on the bond for the project, as my dad was still a part owner when we bid on it.

He was 74 at the time, and neither he nor my mom had done any estate planning. Much of that was because my mom believed you only wrote a will if you were about to die and she had no intention of doing that anytime soon.

My dad owned a condo in Florida and had stopped renting it out since it was fully paid off. He then established residency in Florida and set up a trust that held their New York residence, transferring the title to the grandchildren upon their passing.

He also addressed other estate matters at that time, divesting additional properties to family members. He asked his Florida attorney whether a court might think he was hiding assets if we lost the case.

His attorney laughed and said, “You’re 74, no court would fault you for doing estate planning.” Ten years later, when my mom had a stroke, we didn’t have to worry about whether she was competent to sign a will.

When she passed away two years later, and my dad three years after that, the estate work had already been completed.Next week, I’ll talk about dealing with the settlements of the labor disputes and the lawsuit.

If you need business advice, contact me at bobchuckpatterson@yahoo.com.

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