In life, there are no guarantees. You might find yourself in a car accident at age 70 even if you’ve never even had a fender bender before. You might struggle with a marriage after 30 blissful years. Legal entanglements, too, can sneak up on you.
That’s why it’s important to know how to avoid legal entanglements – not just for the next few days, the next few weeks, or even the next few years. We want to talk about avoiding legal entanglements over a lifetime so that you can live in peace with the worry-free mind of someone who has tied up all of their financial and legal loose ends. If that sounds enticing to you, read these five ways to avoid legal hassles.
1. Pay your taxes and your bills on time and in the full amount. This might seem like a simple idea to some, and an impossible chore to others. But if you want to avoid legal and financial entanglements, paying all of what you owe people is a definite necessity. You can avoid legal entanglements with Uncle Sam if you are straight-forward and punctual with your tax bills. And you can avoid declaring bankruptcy if you’re so careful with money that you never let yourself go into debt. If you do this every month, without fail, you’ll enjoy a prosperous life.
2. Cover yourself with insurance. Car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, house insurance – it’s all part of one big strategy: preparing for the worst. Get in a car accident with no insurance and you can be sued for a lot of money that comes out of your pocket. Get a health condition that you can’t pay for without insurance and you’ll see your life fall apart before your eyes. That’s not to say these crises are without solutions, but you know the old saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
3. Get everything in writing. Promises to repay loans, contracts, hiring agreements – make sure it’s all down in writing and you’ll have the weight of the law behind you. Verbal agreements can hold up in court, sure, but there’s nothing quite so ironclad like a written signature that says you are telling the truth and someone else is not. The more you get into a habit of getting everything in writing, the more you’ll realize just how powerful it can be.
4. Hire lawyers you can trust. Even if you just hire lawyers to handle issues like wills and estate planning because you’re so good at avoiding legal entanglements, make sure you trust them. You’d be amazed at what a good lawyer can do to make your life more worry-free.
5. Prepare for the twilight of your life. Always remember that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. If you pay all your taxes, then you have to prepare for your death as well. Be sure that your estate is ready to be doled out properly and without argument after your passing, and you’ll help get rid of possible legal entanglements even when you’re no longer on this earth.