Port St. Lucie Business Transactions & Planning Attorneys

A little planning can make a big difference when it comes to starting or growing your own business. At Apfelbaum Law, our Port St. Lucie business transactions & planning attorneys can help you with the legalities of starting your own business.

Some like the freedom of being their own boss, while others enjoy the feeling of building something from the ground up. While starting a business is an exciting time, it’s important to remember that cutting corners with legal paperwork may lead to problems for your company later on. Many clients tell us they’re concerned they don’t even know what they don’t know. It can be easy to overlook an important step, or forget to include the right information in a business contract.

Unfortunately, sometimes people find they need a Florida business lawyer when they are struggling with business disputes or other problems. Sometimes these can’t be prevented, but often having the proper paperwork can head off many issues that might arise in a business. Having employees sign a non-compete or non-disclosure agreement, for example, could protect you from an employee leaving to start his or her own business—and taking some of your hard-earned clientele in the process.

These aren’t the only contracts that businesspeople need to consider. We also help with formation and representation of business entities, helping our clients set up the right type of company for their business plans, and ensuring the appropriate paperwork is prepared and filed. Once that’s completed, we assist with a wide variety of contracts, including operating, shareholder and partnership agreements, which help define each person’s role and responsibilities in the business.

Understanding Employment Agreements

Employment agreements not only help protect proprietary information, but they can also head off disputes later on by defining who owns intellectual property created by an employee for the business. Agreements with independent contractors and distributors also determine roles and responsibilities, to keep these relationships running smoothly.

Although most business people like to think of themselves as satisfying every customer, it’s also in your best interest to have customer agreements in some situations. While it’s not necessary to get a signed contract before selling someone a smoothie at a beachside stand, some businesses do benefit from these. In particular, companies that handle a customer’s property or personal information may need customer agreements to protect themselves and reassure clients.

For example, if you have a business repairing computers, you might want an agreement that says you won’t use or disclose any personal info on a customer’s computer, so customers feel safe trusting you with their data. You might also want to spell out that you’re not liable for damage in certain circumstances. What if you’re trying to rid someone’s laptop of a pesky virus when an unexpected power surge hits and zaps the motherboard? Or, maybe you successfully removed the virus, but by the time the customer brought his computer in, a really important file of his had already been permanently corrupted, and despite your best efforts, you can’t restore it. In these types of situations, customers sometimes become angry at the repair person, and may even threaten legal action. A properly written customer agreement could protect you from liability in these types of occurrences.

If you have questions or concerns about contracts, business law, real estate, or other Florida or Port St. Lucie legal services, please contact Apfelbaum Law for a consultation. We can be reached at 772-236-4009, or contactus@alawfl.com.