Dallas Business Law Topics

A partnership agreement is not a requirement to start a new business, but if you are thinking about forming a new business partnership in Texas, or if you have a partnership already established, you should think about drawing one up. According to FindLaw, establishing your own rules by which to govern your business prevents the state from imposing a set of default one-size-fits-all rules upon you. Furthermore, making your own partnership agreement allows each partner to know where he or she stands and what expectations he or she must meet, which may help prevent minor problems from escalating into major disputes. 

One of the most basic items to include in your partnership agreement is the name of your business. You may use a fictitious name for your company, as long as it is not already in use, or you may name it after the partners involved. In either case, your partnership agreement should also include the following information.

As a new calendar year gets underway, many companies are turning their attention to how the newly implemented tax laws will play out as they file their 2018 business tax returns. Texas businesses may also decide to reevaluate the form of the entity they are using.

Historically, the tax burden associated with operating a business as a C corporation deterred many companies from creating this type of structure. As a result, the S corporation and the LLC grew to become quite popular in part due to their tax structure which could be more favorable to smaller businesses. That, however, may well change under the new tax code and some businesses may wonder if they should migrate to a C corporation structure.

If you own a business in Texas, you likely rely on customers' timely payments to pay expenses and fund growth. When a customer not only fails to pay you but also files bankruptcy to prevent any sort of debt collection action, you may be torn between pursuing the debt into bankruptcy or giving up the claim altogether. If you are like many business owners, you may assume that pursuing the debt is not worth your time or money.  But this might not be the case at all.

Though pursuing the debt into bankruptcy will require you to expend some resources, it is not as difficult as many creditors think. If, after weighing the pros and cons of pursuing the debt, you decide to proceed with collection efforts, there are routine steps you should take. The first is to comply with the Bankruptcy Code and cease all collection actions immediately. The "automatic stay" comes into effect instantaneously upon the debtor's filing of a bankruptcy petition and makes it illegal for creditors to continue with debt collection efforts without seeking approval of the bankruptcy court.  Record the account as bankrupt, and if you hired a third-party agency to collect the money on your behalf, inform it of the client's new status.

The business structure you use for your new Texas startup impacts many facets of the organization. At Palmer & Manuel PLLC, we often provide expertise to clients who wish to choose the right business structure of their startup.

When selecting the type of business entity, the formality of the operation, management, record-keeping, tax and ownership interests are among the top considerations. While there are many options to choose from, the four business structures listed below are among the most common for new companies.