If you are retaining an attorney for the first time, you may not know what to expect. Whether you have a business dispute, are getting a divorce, or need an estate plan, the right attorney has the knowledge and experience to help you with your legal needs. In exchange for hiring a lawyer, you get...
Blog Posts
Can an Arbitrator Take Emergency or Interim Measures Like the Court Can?
If you are taking your dispute to arbitration, you may want to consider whether an arbitrator can take emergency or interim measures like a court could. While an arbitration has some similarities to court proceedings, in some situations the emergency relief could be more difficult to obtain, not ...
Supporting Relatives in Need Through Estate Planning
People who provide financial or other support to relatives can continue to help them after they die through estate planning. If you do not have a will or any other estate planning structures, but you give financial support to family members regularly or otherwise help them, consider making an est...
Trust Companies in The Bahamas: The Basics
In The Bahamas, private trust companies act for individuals or firms, often as part of broader estate planning for families. Trust companies are empowered to do things on others' behalf such as making transactions or managing funds. Like agents, trustees, and fiduciaries, trust companies take ...
Choosing a Trustee for Your Bahamian Trust
For persons interested in establishing trusts to hold some of their assets as part of an estate plan, choosing a trustee will be an important task. Picking the right person or entity that will manage these assets for the life of the trust makes a difference in the operation of your trust and th...
Can Estate Planning Protect Your Assets from Creditors?
When people begin to think about making an estate plan, they may wonder whether estate planning can protect their assets from creditors. Asset protection is certainly a valid goal sought by many planning their estates. But do not start moving money around now without understanding how estate pl...
What Is a Deed of Assent in The Bahamas?
An executor of an estate in The Bahamas may need to execute a deed of assent during the probate process. For those unfamiliar with probate court procedures, terms like “deed of assent” can be confusing. If you are acting as executor for the first time, gaining a basic understanding of the terms...
Do You Own a Business? Time to Make an Estate Plan
If you own a business, make an estate plan right away to protect both your business and your family should you pass away. Many business owners devote all their time to their companies' present problems but do not spend time planning for the future. Unfortunately, their employees, customers, and f...
The Importance of Clarity in Language for Commercial Contracts
The importance of clarity in the language used in commercial contracts cannot be overstated. Even one unclear word or ambiguous phrase could lead to contentious litigation. When companies negotiate contracts, their representatives should take special care to avoid ambiguities and uncertainties in...
Resolving Trusts and Estates Disputes Using Mediation
Families facing trusts and estates disputes after the death of a relative can use mediation to resolve the disputes while preserving relationships. Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution process in which a neutral mediator discusses the issues with parties to a dispute and attempts to res...
Locating International Assets for Probate
When someone dies while owning assets in different countries, the estate executor or administrator will need to locate these international assets for probate of the will. Probate courts review wills made by deceased people and decide who will receive all the property that forms part of their esta...
Why You Need an Attorney to Review Your Contract of Employment Before You Sign It
In The Bahamas, you need an attorney to review your contract of employment before you sign it. There are a number of reasons why you should take the time to find an attorney before putting pen to paper. Chief among them, a contract of employment is a binding legal document. A Contract of Employm...
Overview of Recent Exchange Control Changes in The Bahamas
Recent changes to exchange control in The Bahamas have affected transaction caps and limits on exchange of foreign currency. Businesses and individuals who use foreign currency should review the changes to make sure they understand today's Bahamian exchange control rules. Exchange control limits...
Double Recovery and Election of Remedies: Why They Matter for Businesses
When businesses enter into commercial contracts, they run the risk that the other party will not perform their contractual obligations. If a business has the right to terminate a contact due to a breach, it has a choice of remedies to make it whole. The business must elect the most appropriate re...
How Is Repudiation of a Contract Different than Termination?
A contract can be brought to an end in a number of ways. The concept of terminating a contract encompasses different actions a party could perform contrary to the parties' intent when they signed the contract: breach of an essential term, serious breach of a non-essential term, mutual agreement t...
Basics of Terminating a Contract Before It Ends
Parties to a commercial contract may, at some point, wish to terminate the contract before it ends. In other words, they want to discharge their obligations to perform any remaining contractual requirements. To terminate a contract without the other party's agreement and without facing penalties ...
Discovering Information and Requiring Disclosures from Third Parties in The Bahamas
Often parties to lawsuits discover that third parties have information that the parties need to pursue or defend their legal claims. Third parties are people or entities that are not named in the lawsuit as plaintiffs or defendants. The third party could have documents needed to prove or disprove...
Whistleblowers in the Workplace: The Business Owner’s Response
When your business or compliance officer receives a report of some unlawful action having occurred from an employee or whistleblower, you will need to take action quickly to investigate. Not only should you address the substance of the report, but also you should consider the reliability of the w...
Do Directors Have Fiduciary Duties to Shareholders of Their Company?
Company directors in The Bahamas have fiduciary duties to their company because of their decision-making power and level of control over the company's operations. These duties require them to act in the company's best interest – not necessarily any individual shareholder's best interest. Sometime...
The Constructive Trust as a Remedy for Fraud
Bahamian law may imply the formation of a constructive trust as one of the remedies for fraud. Other remedies include damages or rescission of a contract formed on the basis of fraud. A previous article discussed rescission. Unlike a traditional trust that is used in estate planning and describe...
Summary Versus Unfair Dismissal from Employment in The Bahamas
In The Bahamas, summary dismissal and unfair dismissal from employment differ because of the reasons underlying the dismissal. Both employees and employers should become familiar with the grounds for dismissal permitted by Bahamian law. Summary Dismissal Bahamian employers may summarily termina...
How Do Creditors Use Mareva Injunctions to Freeze Debtor Assets?
A debtor in The Bahamas who tries to move assets to avoid paying creditors may find himself restrained by a Mareva injunction from doing so. Debtors' first instinct when confronted by a creditor demanding payment may be to dispose of or hide all valuable assets so there is nothing left for the cr...
Obtaining a Default Judgment in The Bahamas
When a defendant does not respond to a plaintiff's claims in a court case, the court may grant a default judgment in the plaintiff's favor. Plaintiffs can use this powerful procedural tool to obtain judgments requiring payment of damages without the need to further pursue absent defendants. In T...
Using a Court Injunction to Stop an Unlawful Action
In The Bahamas, you can use a legal tool called an injunction to stop someone from taking an unlawful action. An injunction is a legal remedy for an injustice that is permitted by law. When you obtain an injunction, you get a court order requiring another party to do something or to stop doing s...
Independent Contractor Versus Employee in The Bahamas
The differences between independent contractors and employees may seem obvious on paper, but in practice it is not so easy to distinguish between these two types of workers. Employers should take care to follow the Employment Act for all workers who qualify as employees under the law. The Employ...