Andrew Ayers

Grandma leaves the cabin to her 3 kids. Two generations later, 9 cousins own it. One stops paying the property tax. Two want a new roof, one wants a patch. Everyone wants the 4th of July week. That's the cousin problem, and it's fixable if you plan for it now.

Updating your will doesn't always mean starting over. Sometimes it's a short amendment called a codicil. When should you check? Any time the law moves. The SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 both changed how retirement accounts get planned for.

Your health care power of attorney names your sister. She dies before you do. Who makes medical decisions for you now? Name a backup. And look at your plan again any time the law or your health changes.

Your will has no expiration date. That sounds like good news until you realize a will from 20 years ago may still name guardians for kids who are now 35, and leave out the grandkids entirely. Married, divorced, new baby, death in the family? Read it again.

Bought a rental or sold a house since you signed your will? Check what each beneficiary would actually get now. Then call your financial advisor. Big money changes are a reason to revisit your plan.

Jack Daniel’s is owned by 100+ descendants, many of them cousins. Stock down by half, family split over a $15B offer. Your family business can hit the same wall. Fix it before the cousins inherit. andrewmayers.com/blog/cousin…

Check in on your will every 3 years. It can be a 15 minute call. Kids turn 18, you buy a rental, someone in your will passes away. Small changes add up, and your will should keep up with them.

My client complained that two years of litigation was taking forever. I told him that for an LLC dispute with no operating agreement, two years is fast. He and his business partner started as friends. Built the company on a handshake. Writing an operating agreement felt awkward, so they skipped it. Then the business went sideways. Nothing in writing about buyouts, valuation, or how either owner could walk away. So now a court decides. These days my client and I spend afternoons reading three years of personal texts between two former friends. Late-night arguments included. All to figure out who agreed to what. A handshake feels like loyalty when things are good. When money gets tight, it becomes a lawsuit. Five pages on day one would have been cheaper than either.

If your will names someone who has died as a beneficiary or your personal representative, it's time to update it. Same goes for a marriage, a divorce, or a new child. Big life changes are the #1 reason to pull your will back out.

I meet clients all the time with a will from 15 or 20 years ago, worried it's expired. It hasn't. No law puts an expiration date on a will. The real question is whether it still fits your life. A will written for young kids doesn't plan for grandkids.

Eight cousins want to keep the family cabin. One wants to sell. In Minnesota, that one cousin can force a court-ordered sale. Here’s how a cabin LLC stops it: andrewmayers.com/blog/cousin…

Your LLC won’t save you if you personally hurt someone on the job or botch work your license covers. The company shields you from a lot of business debts. Not from your own bad acts. Here’s where the line is. #LLC #smallbusiness

Avoid personal guarantees on LLC debts whenever possible. Landlords and lenders often require them for new businesses lacking credit history, making you personally liable if the business can't pay. #LLCTips #BusinessFinance

Are you personally liable for your LLC's debts? Generally, no. But proper formation, an operating agreement, and demonstrating it's a real business are key to maintaining that limited liability protection. #LLC #BusinessLaw

Thinking your LLC disappears if you don't dissolve it? Nope. An un-dissolved LLC doesn't just vanish. #LLCTips #BusinessLaw

Your will can leave your Bitcoin to your kids. It can’t give them the seed phrase. Crypto estate planning needs legal authority AND actual access. Here’s how to handle both in Minnesota: andrewmayers.com/blog/digita…

Your will says who gets your house. It says nothing about your 401(k). A man in my conference room learned that last week. He’d remarried and updated his will twice. Everything to his new wife. But his $400,000 401(k) still named his ex-wife. He hadn’t looked at that form since before the divorce. If he’d died that week, the plan could have paid his ex-wife. His will didn’t matter. The divorce settlement didn’t matter. A 401(k) pays whoever is named on the form. Minnesota law automatically cancels an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation after divorce. But federal law overrides it for 401(k)s and most employer plans. For those, the old form controls. You can spend $10,000 on a full estate plan and still lose $400,000 to a form you signed years ago. Married, divorced, new kid? Check your beneficiary forms. The form always wins.

Shutting down your business? Proper dissolution filings start clocks for creditors to sue, typically within 120-90 days, but up to 5 years after publication. Letting it lapse keeps you liable indefinitely. Consult an attorney for clarity on your liability. #BusinessTips #LLC