San Antonio Business Lawyer

“After taking business transactions apart in the courtroom for more than twenty years, clients (and opponents) began asking me to work on their transactions from the front and prevent the ten most common problems from ever occurring in the first place.”

________________________________________________________

James Montgomery

James Montgomery

I am the San Antonio business lawyer who works with people in buying and selling businesses, planning for the future, and to get out of financial trouble.

For the last thirty years, I have tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants in State and Federal courts from California to Texas to Delaware. I have been the advocate for individuals and small companies as well as companies in the Fortune 100.  Those litigation cases have ranged from representing thousands of homeowners for broken plastic pipe in their homes to oil royalty disputes to breach of confidentiality agreements.

After literally taking business transactions apart in the courtroom for years, clients (and opponents) began asking me to work on the transactions from the beginning to try to prevent the problems from ever occurring.  In that stance, I have helped buyers and sellers in the sales of businesses ranging from large retail stores and manufacturing facilities to insurance agencies.  I have helped clients buy multi-million dollar, multi-story office buildings and and negotiate commercial lease agreements.

I work to improve the way my clients do business if that fits their goals.  I help design corporate structures and business transactions to increase profit, minimize taxes, and  make sure that assets are protected from lawsuits.  Having filed many suits and obtain judgments, I have learned where the potholes will be.

My business advice programs are based on regular review and meetings in order to get to know the client’s business and plans in more depth than is possible in the normal “hire a lawyer only when in trouble”.  It will cost a lot more for me to get you out of trouble than it would cost to keep you out of trouble in the first place.

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I have been named a SuperLawyer in Texas and featured in Texas Monthly.

My lawyer peers have granted me “AV” which is Martindale Hubbell’s (rating agency) highest peer rating for lawyers.

I have presented papers and spoken to audiences that range from service clubs to the State Bar of Texas Continuing Legal Education seminars. I was recently named Individual Finalist, San Antonio Ethics In Business Award, 2009 by the San Antonio Business Journal.

06.20.08 M&S 8x8 300cvEIB NominationDream Logo Small


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The Montgomery Letter – January 12, 2010

How To Protect Your Personal Information
From Identity Theft Thieves

1. Monitor your credit report

Many consumers don’t even realize their identity has been stolen until they are denied credit due to information provided on their credit reports.

2. Don’t give out personal information indiscriminately

Before you give any personal information by mail, internet or telephone, confirm you are dealing with a legitimate organization.

3. Be careful with your mail

Don’t use an unsecured mailbox when mailing anything that contains financial information. Mail sensitive materials from a post office collection box or your local post office. Remove mail from your own mailbox promptly. And, if you’re planning to be away from home, be sure to put a hold on your mail until you return.

4. Guard your trash

Identity thieves have been known to gather personal information from trash. Before throwing them away, be sure to tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, bank statements, and the credit card offers you get in the mail.

5. Only give your Social Security number when absolutely necessary

There are legitimate reasons you will be asked for your Social Security number. Your employer and financial institution may need it for wage and tax reporting, and it’s usually necessary whenever a credit check is required. Before giving out your number, be sure to ask why it’s needed and how it will be used

6. Pay attention to billing cycles

If your bills don’t arrive on time, follow up with creditors. A missing statement could mean an identity thief has taken over your account and changed your billing address.

7. Exercise caution online

Before making any purchase via your computer, look for the icon of a lock in the lower right-hand corner of your browser window. If it’s there, you’re dealing with a secure site. If not, you’ll be safer finding another merchant.

8. Remove personal information from old computers

If you delete sensitive files by using your keyboard or mouse, the files may remain on your computer’s hard drive where they can be easily retrieved. To make sure your files are unrecoverable, use a “wipe” utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive.

Following on that thought — it is not just old computers.

With free programs, the PASSWORDS on your computer are available RIGHT NOW to anyone who gets access to your web browser.

Here is information YOU MUST KNOW to protect the security on your computer – Read It Right Now. . .
Don’t Get Identity Theft Protection
Go Ahead – Roll The Dice!

I don’t know whether or not you have real identity theft protection – the kind that will repair your credit not just notify you if something is reported. Don’t get identity theft protection unless you value your security. This program covers fixing your problem, not just alerting you like almost all the ones advertised (and for only about $35 per month). Makes a great employee benefit. Can be paid before taxes.

Click Here To Find Out How To Get Identity Theft Protection

Time for a business security audit? – Call me 690-3700
_______________________________________________________________________

Know someone facing foreclosure? – they need to talk with me about their options
690-3700

Looking for a private investor that would be interested in buying out a client’s current investors on a $17k note. The client is offering 12% and 2 points for a 1 year note. It is on a current rental property that the client has owned for 4 years. If you or someone you know would like to know more, please email me at jemlaw@mac.com.
Interested in buying notes?
I am forming a group to buy to buy a note that will be secured by real estate and refinanced within one year. Total will be about $400,000 in $50,000 pieces. This notice is not an offer to participate. If you want to know more, call me at 690-3700.
_______________________________________________________________________
If you know someone who might want to read The Montgomery Letter – just go to my website, www.jamesmontgomerylaw.com and enter their name and email address in the subscription box on the right side of the page. Send them an email that you gave it to them. They will receive an email asking them to confirm the subscription.

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The Montgomery Letter January 5, 2010

The Inheritance Tax Is Gone . . .
But For This Year Only
The inheritance tax completely went away as of January 1, 2010!  Unfortunately, the sunset provision will bring it back right now as of January 1, 2011.  With a vengeance as the credit drops to $1,000,000 per person from $3,500,000 in 2009.  The tax rate is also higher.
Write your Senator and let them know that you want them to pass the extension with the $3,500,000 credit and lower tax rate!


“What I learned from My Father, the Grifter -
A lifetime of lessons on money from a con man”
by Pat Jordan


The lessons in this article are a bit surprising given the source.

Keep your overhead (“your nut”) low. The less your monthly overhead, the less you have to make every month.  The less  you have to earn each month, the more potential freedom that you have.

My good friend Rob Minton puts it this way in his renegademillionaireblog.com:

“What it really seems to boil down to is:
If your “nut” is lower, you own your business.
If your “nut” is higher, your business owns you.

Or I can put this another way…
If your “nut” is lower, you can work less and enjoy life more.
If your “nut” is higher, you must work more and enjoy life less.

Bottom line – Your “nut” ultimately dictates how much happiness and freedom you’ll have in life.”

Think about it.  For every dollar in expense, you have to make at least two dollars to pay that expense.

How do you fire yourself?

What are the largest expenses you have?  Home loan and car loan?  What if you had them paid off?  What if you had non-work related income every month sufficient to pay those bills?  How would that change your life?

It is the New Year!  It is time to take action.  Change or expect the same result.


Kill Your Phone Remotely

Many of today’s most popular smartphones can be erased remotely if they are lost or stolen. Here’s how to do it.

Consider what you have on your phone . . . anything there you might not like to have some thief know?  Here is how to “kill your phone”.


Don’t Get Identity Theft Protection
Go Ahead – Roll The Dice!

I don’t know whether or not you have real identity theft protection – the kind that will repair your credit not just notify you if something is reported. Don’t get identity theft protection unless you value your security. This program covers fixing your problem, not just alerting you like almost all the ones advertised (and for only about $35 per month).  Makes a great employee benefit.  Can be paid before taxes.

Looking for a private investor that would be interested in buying out a client’s current investors on a $17k note.  The client is offering 12% and 2 points for a 1 year note.  It is on a current rental property  that the client has owned for 4 years.  If you or someone you know would like to know more, please email me at jemlaw@mac.com.


Interested in buying notes?
I am forming a group to buy to buy a note that will be secured by real estate and refinanced within one year.  Total will be about $400,000 in $50,000 pieces.  This notice is not an offer to participate.  If you want to know more, call me at 690-3700.
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The Montgomery Letter – business law firm 12/15/09

There is Snow at Stoneybrooke in Breckenridge Colorado
 
 


 
 
Every Now and Then . . .
 
Congress Actually Does Something Intelligent
 
Will The Senate Follow Suit?
 
  The Estate Tax
 
Editors Note:  By a 25 vote margin, the present 45% rate and $3.5 million credit ($7 million for married couple) was extended by a House vote.
 
The House’s decision to extend the current estate tax rate did not come as a surprise to industry observers, who never believed the government would allow the tax to expire altogether and give up the much needed revenue. 
 


 Struggling With How To Handle Social Media In Your Company?
 
To blog at work or not?  Ready to adopt a policy but have no idea what should be in it?  Here are the policies of over 100 companies on that very subject.
 


Don’t Get Identity Theft Protection
Go Ahead – Roll The Dice!

 
I don’t know whether or not you have real identity theft protection – the
kind that will repair your credit not just notify you if something is
reported.  Don’t get identity theft protection unless you value your security.   This program covers fixing your problem, not just alerting you like almost all the ones advertised (and for only about $35 per month).  Makes a great employee benefit.  Can be paid before taxes.
 


Look Before Contributing to a 529 College Plan

If guardians control the savings account, creditors can seek the money.

Here’s one more thing to worry about: If you contribute money to a tax-advantaged 529 college plan, the beneficiary could lose that money if the parent holding the account declares bankruptcy.

 
 
Debt settlement negotiation could be an option.  Just call me to schedule a free needs analysis review.  690-3700
 


 
Postponing The Sale Of Your Business?
May Be Time Soon
 

The last two years were a bit slow for the mergers and acquisitions industry, but that’s about to change. Based on industry cycles and political and economic analysis, experts point to a resurgence in both buy- and sell-side activity. Some expected trends:
 
Slated changes to the capital gains tax should drive sellers to market. Capital gains taxes will be increasing by at least 5 percent, (with some camps predicting a jump of 10 or even 15 percent to pay for the federal deficit.) On top of that, there is the proposed surtax of 5.4 percent for the new health care bill; that equates to a 69 percent increase in capital gains!
 


 Interested in buying notes? I am forming a group to buy to buy a note that will be secured by real estate and refinanced within one year.  Total will be about $400,000 in $50,000 pieces.  This notice is not an offer to participate.  If you want to know more, call me at 690-3700.
_______________________________________________________________________
If you know someone who might want to know what is in The Montgomery Letter – just go to my website, www.jamesmontgomerylaw.com and enter their name and email address in the subscription box on the right side of the page.   Send them an email that you gave it to them.  They will receive an email asking them to confirm the subscription.
 
Happy Holidays!

 
 
 
James Montgomery
www.jamesmontgomerylaw.com
Of Counsel:
Elms Harmon Macchia, LLC
7800 IH 10 West, Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78230
210-690-3700
210-568-4550
Past issues have been archived on my yourexitstrategy blog.  In the future they will appear on my jamesmontgomerylaw.com site.
  


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The Montgomery Letter 12/1/09

A Great Thanksgiving!
The day before Thanksgiving, we welcomed our fifth grandchild and fourth grandson into the world.  Brody Stoner arrived at 10 pounds and 22.4 inches long (tall?).
What a great way to do Thanksgiving!


You May Have Heard Me Joke That 2010 Would Be A Good Year To Die
If You Have To . . .
Navigating The Estate Tax

So much for the perfect year to die in. For most of this decade, the advice from estate planners has been clear: The best time to die is next year. That’s because the estate tax has been slated to disappear for 2010–falling to exactly zero for one year, then returning.


How Do Spammers Send From Your Email Address?
Spammers can send messages that pretend to come from anybody — that’s one of the tricks in the phishers’ toolbag, allowing them to forge messages “from” your bank. Not only that, but spammers can send email to your friends and business associates, while pretending to be you.


Identity Theft Protection

I don’t know whether or not you have real identity theft protection – the kind that will repair your credit not just notify you if something is reported.
Don’t get identity theft protection unless you value your security. This program covers fixing your problem, not just alerting you like almost all the ones advertised (and for only about $35 per month).

More Members Of Middle Class File For Bankruptcy
Staci Schubert’s career has taken her from New York to California, from graphic designer to website designer to sales executive. Most recently, she launched a business as a designer of handbags and accessories.

At 40 and with such accomplishments, Schubert is Middle Class America. She and her counterparts have long been the nation’s backbone, because their steady jobs and purchasing power have helped drive our economy.

Debt settlement negotiation could be an option.  Just call me to schedule a free needs analysis review.  690-3700


Dividend Stocks Deserve A Second Look

Most advisers know that stocks have provided investors with about a 10% rate of return over the past 100 years, but most don’t realize that 53% of the return has come from price appreciation and 47% from dividends. Dividends can provide a reliable source of cash flow that can be reinvested to promote compounding and dollar-cost averaging, or taken as income to support lifestyle.


I asked several of the financial advisors that I work with to make recommendations.  The regulatory review requirements prevent most from making recommendations but here are two suggestions:
From Kam M. Emerson

Agent / Owner

Allstate – The Emerson Group

210-826-0885

www.allstateagencies.com/051050

“If someone walked in my door today, depending on their age and timeframe I would go with one of the following two to start with:

1) American Funds All-Weather Foundation

group of 3 American Funds

40% AMCAP Fund

40% American Mutual Fund

20% The Bond Fund of America

The last time we saw a market close to what we just saw was ‘73-’74.  This combination of funds survided that market and the subsequent market downturns.

They have a history of resilence and growth.

2) Prudential Variable or Fixed Annuity with HD Lifetime 6 Plus

Guaranteed lifetime income stream is based on 6% compounded growth of the annuity’s highest daily value until the first Lifetime Withdrawal

Guaranteed lifetime income stream is based on at least:

200% of the account value at benefit election on the 10th anniversary

400% of the account value at benefit election on the 20th anniversary

* Minimum guarantees are for income purposes only and assume no Lifetime Withdrawals from benefit election. A Non-Lifetime Withdrawalwill proportionally reduce the Protected Withdrawal Value as well as the 200% and 400% guarantees. At time of withdrawal your customermust specify the withdrawal is intended to be a Non-Lifetime Withdrawals”

My note:  You need to do your homework and evaluate any investment.  No advisor makes guarantees and advisors will review your needs with you to make sure that investments meet your particular situation.  Check with your investment advisor before making any investment.

_______________________________________________________________________
James Montgomery
www.jamesmontgomerylaw.com
Of Counsel:
Elms Harmon Macchia, LLC
7800 IH 10 West, Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78230
210-690-3700
210-568-4550
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