Establish Business Credit-Credit Cards, Vendors

by Abcotten in Uncategorized

To build your business credit profile, you’ll need accounts and vendors that report your payments to the credit bureaus. A business credit card can be a good start.

Business credit cards may also offer benefits and rewards programs that are more helpful to business owners than the features or rewards on a personal credit card.

In addition to opening a business credit card, you can build your business’s credit by opening accounts with vendors that report payments to the business credit bureaus.

You may already have vendors that you pay on terms, but ask (rather than assume) that they report the payments. If they don’t, consider opening accounts with new vendors after verifying they’ll report your payments.

Pro Tip: Pay those vendors early!

Schedule a consult with the attorneys at Main Street Law for additional guidance.

Establish Business Credit-Intro

by Abcotten in Uncategorized

To begin, check your business (and personal) credit. Unlike with personal credit reports, there isn’t a legal requirement for the bureaus to give you free access to your business credit reports. All three of the major business credit bureaus — Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax and Experian — will give you a full copy of your business credit report for a fee, and you can get free access to your Experian and Dun & Bradstreet reports through Nav, a company that helps business owners build and manage their credit.

Similar to consumer credit scores, competing agencies create and sell different business credit scores. FICO®, Dun & Bradstreet®, Experian® and Equifax® all generate their own business credit scores. Some lenders and vendors may also turn to specialty business credit reports when evaluating your business.

Business credit scores range from 0 to 100. Most small business lenders like to see a business credit score above 75, but local lenders may consider lower scores for small businesses or startups.

Facebook Story: Business credit scores range from 0 to 100. Most small business lenders like to see a business credit score above 75, but local lenders may consider lower scores for small businesses or startups.

Schedule a consult with the attorneys at Main Street Law for additional guidance.

What is a Personal Guarantee?

by Abcotten in Uncategorized

After starting a business, you may find that you need to sign a personal guarantee when taking out a business loan or opening a business credit card. This guarantee basically means that you’ll be personally liable for the debt if the business is unable to pay it back — a situation that could put your personal assets at risk. Once you establish business credit, you may qualify for a business loan or credit without a personal guarantee.

Schedule a consult with the attorneys at Main Street Law for additional guidance.

Will: What’s Required?

by Abcotten in Estate Planning

A will ensures your possessions will be divided according to your wishes. It dictates the terms of your estate, and it also eases the burden of your loved ones at a difficult time.


For those who die without a will, Mississippi law directs the division of your estate, possibly in a manner you would not approve. The law places your blood relatives in four prioritized groups. Group A would consist of your surviving spouse, your children (including adopted children), and descendants of your children who died before you. Group B would include your mother, father, brothers, sisters, and descendants of those siblings who died before you. Group C would be your grandparents, aunts and uncles, and Group D would include any additional blood relatives.


The first Group to contain heirs are designated the “heirs at law.” Within that group, those heirs become your beneficiaries, and each receives an equal share of the estate. The results may surprise you. For example, if the court declares Group A as the heirs at law, the surviving spouse and children would receive equal shares of the estate. The law does not allow the spouse to get more than the children.


Preparing a will gives you the control. To write a will, Mississippi law states you must be at least 18 years old, of sound and disposing mind, must intend the document to be your will and must have the written will validly executed.


Upon your death, your will must go through probate, a court proceeding which declares the will valid or invalid. Once the court declares a will valid, it appoints an administrator for the will unless the deceased named an executor. If the administrator or the executor is not an attorney, one must be hired to serve as an advisor.


What if your heirs are not happy with their inheritance? Depending on the type of heir, in Mississippi, they can either renounce or contest the will. If the will makes any provision for an heir whatsoever, the only option is to renounce the will altogether. A widow may renounce a will and receive a child’s share depending on the circumstances. A surviving relative would contest a will if he or she thinks the will is invalid or that the deceased was unduly influenced or did not have a sound mental capacity when making the will. If declared invalid, the will is void, and the estate is divided as if no will existed.


Under Mississippi law, a will must include the surviving spouse, but parents do not have to leave part of their estate to their children. To disinherit a particular child, the parent should clearly state it in the will. It is also important to write a new will when you get a divorce, remarry, have children or when other circumstances change in your life.

Elements of a Solid Consulting Agreement

by Abcotten in Business Law

Whether your business is to offer consulting services to others or whether your businesses needs to procure the services of a consultant, you should be clear on what terms, at a minimum, need to be included in your contact. Note, please do your due diligence when hiring any consultant, even when you receive a referral.

  • Defined Objectives of the Parties
  • Scope of Services: tightly define the consultant’s specific duties and responsibilities with particularities.
  • Sign-off provision: Enables you to sign-off on each stage of the project in order to ensure that you have been satisfied with the work as it progresses.
  • Fees, Costs, and Expenses should be articulated in detail.
  • Project Timeline: A specific timeline for when the project will start and when the project will end and must include when all payments to the consultant will be made during the course of the project.
  • Independent Contractor Clause: Ensure the consulting agreement meets the independent contractor standard as defined by Mississippi state law.
  • Insurance: Depending on the nature of their business, the consultant may need to carry certain insurances.
  • Non-compete provision: Depending on the nature of the consulting services provided, this clause prohibits the consultant from providing work for any competitors to your business within a certain geographical range and for a certain period of time.

COVID-19 and New Home Businesses: Legal Considerations

by Abcotten in Business Law

Due to COVID-19, many people are finding themselves with a lot more free time, and new entrepreneurs are on the rise. Congrats! As you consider launching your business from your kitchen table or favorite comfortable chair, let’s review a few legal considerations for home businesses.

Selecting a Business Structure

Many home businesses operate as sole proprietors. This means the individual running the business is the one who files a Schedule C, which is a tax form. Depending on the particulars of your business, you may want to consider whether an LLC, partnership, or corporation is the right path for you to take. To determine this, it is best that you talk to an attorney and an accountant to see what business structure works best for your enterprise both now and in the immediate future. This inquiry will need to consider the operations of your business, of course, take into consideration whether your business operates a fleet of vehicles, has employees, and/or is engaged in a trade or commerce where the liability risks are greater.

Additionally, if your business involves more than one owner then a sole proprietorship is probably not the business structure that fits best. For any business structure other than a sole proprietorship, your enterprise will be required to get a federal tax identification number. In many cases, getting a federal tax identification number will allow you to protect your individual privacy by not having to give your social security number to either vendors or customers for their records.

Protect Your Business Name

What you name your business is important. If you plan to trademark your business’ name then utilize the national trademark office’s website. There are a number of companies that do the search for you on a fixed fee basis.

Preparation of Contracts and Agreements

At the outset and along with everything else you will need to do to make your home business successful, you will also need to focus on getting the right contracts and agreements prepared so they are ready for when you open your business. Contractual agreements let everyone know what to expect and how to deal with potential issues.

More on Advanced Health Care Directives

by Abcotten in News

The Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act of Mississippi (MCA §41-41-201, -209) describes the “Advance Health-Care Directive” (AHCD) as the instrument by which a person with mental capacity can designate an agent who will be able to make health-care decisions for the maker. In the event you lose capacity through illness or injury, medical providers may be reluctant to render non-emergency treatment without consent of someone with lawful authority to approve such measures. The AHCD allows you to control and direct personal health-care decisions after the onset of any future incapacity.

Section 1 of the AHCD is the health-care power of attorney, in which one or more persons may be listed in the maker’s order or choice and designated as agents to make medical and health-care treatment decisions for you, the maker. You can select whether the agent may make such decisions without prior determination of your incapacity, or whether one or more doctors must first determine the your incapacity before the agent can make decisions. In Section 2, you can state any personal health-care decisions, for example: keeping or removing life-support treatments or tube-fed food and liquids in the event of terminal illness, and other choices concerning medical treatment based on the maker’s own personal values. In the optional Section 3, you can list the name and contact information about her personal physician. Section 4, added in 2006, allows organ donation instructions in the directive.

In light of the stringent privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governing the release of personal medical information, it is wise to include specific language in the AHCD that identifies the agent as your “personal representative” who is entitled to request and receive your medical information for HIPAA purposes.

The AHCD is not enough. Healthcare decisions are emotional and deeply personal You should communicate personal values to family members. The law generally requires that a health-care agent, to the extent he has reason to know the decision that the principal would make for himself under the circumstances, must make that decision also. This is called the “substituted judgment” rule, because the judgment of the incapacitated person must be substituted for the independent decision of the agent. If the agent has no basis to know what the principal would choose in the situation, then the agent must act in the best interest of the principal (the “best interest” rule). Therefore, you must discuss your values and choices about medical care and end-of-life treatment to your designated agent before the need to use the directive arises.

Let’s Plan to Succeed

by Abcotten in Estate Planning

Poor planning will only yield poor, at best unpredictable, results. A few legal instruments can provide you with a form foundation of certainty. With a will, you can direct who will receive your assets and how they will own those assets after your death. Without a will, Mississippi state law may leave those assets to persons you do not favor. With a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive, your financial and medical affairs and decision-making can be carried out by those you trust if you become incapacitated by an illness or injury. And, a healthcare directive would allow someone you trust to communicate with doctors and make any decisions in the vent you could not speak for your yourself, e.g. placed on a respirator.


Absent the powers of attorney, your finances may get locked down and your medical care may become stalled until a court gives authority to a guardian or conservator.