Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Matthew Mullhofer: Attorney At Law Protects Your Assets

Protecting your assets during a time of crisis is something everyone seeks to do. People work hard during their lifetime to make their lives comfortable. One bad legal judgment can change the way you and your family live if you are unprepared. Attorney at law Matthew C. Mullhofer knows all about this topic as he focuses on helping families and people of business protect their assets so that they can not be seized in times of legal troubles involving both the government and in the instance of a lawsuit.

Matthew Mullhofer emphasizes the need to take precautionary measures when it comes to your assets. Once a judgment has been passed on you it's to late to transfer or protect your assets in any way. The time to do this is beforehand so that should the unthinkable happen your assets can not be seized.

Matthew helps clients with needs pertaining to the following:
  • Frivolous Lawsuits
  • Trusts
  • Family Limited Partnerships
  • Limited Liability Companies
  • Domestic Corporations
  • Estate Planning
  • Corporate acquisition, licensing, and registration of trademarks.
There are numerous other services Matthew Mullhofer offers his clients, all of which are designed to protect what you've worked so hard to earn or have a legal right to. To view a complete list of Matthew Mullhofer's services please visit his website. You may also contact Matthew for assistance with any questions you might have.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Beware of Offers to Reassess Home to Lower Property Taxes

A Client recently walked into the Law Offices of Matthew Mullhofer asking for his opinion on a company advertising to reassess his home to lower his property tax.



The company wanted $250.00 to file the application with the county assessor's office. Matthew Mullhofer weighed in on the issue because he had just gone through a similar situation with his property in Orange County.



After researching the procedures for reassessment, Matthew Mullhofer indicated that the advertisement was over priced and that the company was offering to do something that the client could do for himself for free.



These letters or advertisements come from companies called government property tax reassessment, county property tax reassessment, and gov. tax reassessment. These companies seem to be sending out their notices to everyone.



The client asked Matthew Mullhofer, do these companies actually offer some value to the homeowner? When property values are down by double digits, in most areas, it does make sense to petition the county to lower your property taxes. The government says they routinely reappraise peoples homes whether they are asked to or not. However, the value that the government may reassess your property at maybe different from what fare market value is based on sales.



That makes one wonder, what incentive does the county assessors have in lowering homeowners property taxes when the local governments are strapped financially. Matthew Mullhofer had researched the issue and found that the government did have a conflict of interest in promising to reduce property taxes but also begging for state and federal tax increases. The result was to search for experienced companies that would file and process the paper work for a reasonable fee.



What was a reasonable fee, the client asked? No more than $50.00 said Matthew Mullhofer. A company that Matthew Mullhofer used personally called http://californiaproptaxappeal.com/ that he located on the internet, was willing to file the necessary paper work, including current sales comps in the area where the homeowner's house is located , charged $50.00 for the service.



It is true that you can do this on your own but it seems the work involved would be worth the $50.00 spent.



If you have questions regarding home values and tax reassessment, please feel free to contact the Law Offices of Matthew Mullhofer at (714) 827-9955.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Costly Mistakes of Incorporating Your Company Online

A client walked into the Law Offices of Matthew Mullhofer explaining why he decided not to use an online service to incorporate his new business.

He explained to Matthew Mullhofer that he did not feel comfortable handing out vital information such as social security numbers, credit card accounts, and asset information to an unknown entity.

Matthew Mullhofer agreed with the client's realistic fears of identity fraud and theft. Unlike online companies, attorneys are licensed by the state bar and are held accountable for their actions.

In addition to the identity fraud issue, Matthew Mullhofer pointed out that there are many tax and legal consequences that must be addressed when setting up a new corporation such as what type of entity fits best for ones business. The choices are many: C-corp versus S-corp, limited liability companies versus corporations, and limited partnership versus general partnership. The online companies do not offer advice regarding these decisions.

There are also tax considerations such as choosing a calendar year end over a fiscal year end. What are the proper business expenses and deductions? How does one go about making an initial stock offerings and how to provide proper capitalization for the company?

Matthew Mullhofer also pointed out that if you do not follow the appropriate state and federal corporate formalities you may be in jeopardy in losing your limited liability status as a corporate officer/director.

Incorporating your business is a legal process and should be left to the legal professionals.

We all have different training and skill sets. You would not take your car to be fixed by anyone other than a car mechanic. As attorneys and tax professionals, we specialize in forming a corporate entity that can legally exist for many years to come.

For more information on incorporating please visit Matthew Mullhofer's website at www.protectmyassets.com