Kansas City Legal Blog

Kansas couples who are getting a divorce should be aware that the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, passed at the end of 2017, may affect their tax situation after the marriage ends. This will apply to parents and people who will be paying or receiving alimony.

There is no longer an exemption for children that parents can alternate taking after they divorce. Instead, the single parent who has the child living in the home more than half the time and who pays more than half of the household expenses can claim a deduction as head of household. This parent can also claim the child tax credit. The IRS has not clarified whether the tax credit is tradable, but couples can include in the divorce agreement a provision that changes may be made if regulations change. This could allow parents to share these benefits.

Contracts are the backbone of a business. Kansas entrepreneurs who attempt to transact business without the security of a contract may soon find themselves struggling to get paid or haggling over the details of a verbal agreement. Without a contract, you may soon find that your customers and clients are taking advantage of you, or that you are wasting valuable resources dealing with disputes.

Not only does a contract provide a written memory of your agreement, but it gives you a legal leg to stand on if a customer complains that you did not fulfill your part of the agreement. Creating a solid contract that will benefit your business means including some key elements.

A cost overrun could make a construction project in Kansas less profitable. Therefore, it is essential that the involved parties take steps to control costs. This may be done through language in the construction contract itself. For example, the contract could state that multiple bids be sought in an effort to obtain lower prices through competition.

It can be a good idea to add a clause defining what is considered to be unallowable labor. This is important because any action that is not allowed by the contract would need to be approved before it happens. Ultimately, this clause can help to avoid unexpected overruns or other disputes during a project. There is a good chance that a change order will occur at some point during a construction project. Therefore, there should be a system of reporting the changes and verifying the costs associated with them.

If your spouse already had a child when you married, you may have had to work hard to gain the respect and acceptance you desired from the child. Now that you are solidly part of the child's life, you may be thinking of taking it to the next level by adopting your spouse's child as your own.

Adopting your stepchild may seem like the most natural thing to do. After all, you are already family, and your desire to make your bond official and legal is understandable. However, achieving this goal is not always easy. As important as it may for you and your spouse to take this step, there may be one challenging hurdle to cross.