Forming a business entity provides business owners with many advantages: liability protection, tax flexibility, access to capital, and more. But there is at least one downside: occasional junk mail. If you’ve recently incorporated, an “Important Notice” may arrive in an official-looking envelope informing you that you must post various labor notices in your workplace or face fines. Conveniently, they include...
Continue ReadingEngaging in sexual activity with patients is, as we say in the legal field, a very bad idea. Sexual misconduct can trigger severe disciplinary action by the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners (“TBCE”) and civil liability for damages. Doctors who behave responsibly with patients can nevertheless face liability for sexual discrimination and harassment in the workplace. And even doctors whose personal...
Continue ReadingCapitol Inside released its 2017 Texas Lobby Power Rankings and named principal attorney Joshua Massingill a “rising star” lobbyist. The publication’s biennial power rankings are a staple of Texas politics and recognize the state’s most prominent and effective advocates.
Continue ReadingNote: This article first appeared in the Fall 2016 edition of the Texas Journal of Chiropractic, the premier resource for Doctors of Chiropractic in Texas. In his book The E Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber opines that the fatal assumption made by many small business owners is that “if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that...
Continue ReadingStarting a Chiropractic Business: Tips for the Entrepreneurial Doctor Note: This article first appeared in the Summer 2016 edition of the Texas Journal of Chiropractic, the premier resource for Doctors of Chiropractic in Texas. Why New Doctors Struggle with Running a PracticeMany new doctors graduate from chiropractic school, decide to launch their own practice, and soon discover that while...
Continue ReadingAs you may know, Texas is a community property state. This means that Texas law differentiates between community property, which belongs to both spouses equally, and separate property, which belongs to one spouse. In general, property acquired during marriage is community property. Separate property consists of anything one spouse owned before marriage, property acquired by one spouse by gift or inheritance,...
Continue ReadingJoshua Massingill, Principal Attorney at Norton & Massingill, PLLC – a boutique law firm in Cedar Park, Texas practicing in the areas of business law and estate planning – has been appointed to the Texas State Bar’s Law Practice Management Committee. His term will begin in June 2016 and expire in June 2019. The State Bar of Texas Law Practice Management Committee is...
Continue ReadingContracts are a part of everyday life. Buying a phone, joining a gym, opening a bank account — all typically require you to sign a contract. For most people, signing agreements or clicking to “accept our terms and conditions” is simply routine. At times, this carelessness can come back to haunt us. It costs how much to cancel my...
Continue ReadingThe “laughing heir” (one who inherits property and laughs all the way to the bank because his relation to the deceased is too distant to warrant grief) is a common conceit in television and movies. A woman opens the mail to find a letter explaining that one of her long-lost relatives has died and, as the relative’s only surviving...
Continue ReadingMost people don’t spend much time thinking about planning their estate. It’s complex, daunting, and quite boring. (Editors’ Note: We actually find estate planning incredibly fascinating! But we understand that’s not normal.) Here are some of the top excuses people make for not devising an effective estate plan… Estate planning is for wealthy people. This is a common misconception...
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