The Islamic month of Ramadan brings with it many blessings, and one of them is personal reflection and rejuvenation. This often sets the tone for creating resolutions toward personal improvement. While this is often done on the spiritual level, resolutions can also be done on the practical level including a legal one.
Throughout the month of Ramadan, your team at Amal Law Group will be providing short articles with tips and tricks to navigate the oftentime confusing legal landscape. To get you started, here’s a list of things you should put on your radar screen, allowing you to ensure that the proverbial camel is tied to the tree.
All That Paperwork!
1. Pull out your important documents folder and update your list of what you have, what you need to make copies of, and what needs to be added to the folder. Such documents should include your will, immigration papers, marriage certificate, divorce decree, court Orders, deed to your real estate, titles to your vehicles and other personal property, and birth/death certificates.
2. Clean up the clutter. While going through your documents, throw out ones that are no longer legally valid. For instance, if you own a car, there’s no need to keep expired registration cards or insurance cards in the glove compartment. Having them mixed in with your current ones and finding the right one when under the stress of an incident will only increase your stress. Decluttering – always a good thing, just make sure what you’re throwing out is truly expired…and when you do throw it out, shred it.
Your Last Will and Testament and Related Documents
3. Review your Will and have it updated to reflect any changes since your last review. For instance, if your family composition has changed or you found new non-profits to bequeath some of your wealth to, now is the time to make the necessary changes to reflect your wishes. If your wishes are not memorialized in writing in the proper legal format, they won’t be recognized in probate court after you’ve passed away.
4. Review your living trust and your health care power of attorney forms to make sure they reflect your current wishes. Life happens and if, for instance, the person you named as your agent no longer lives near you, you need to change that; or perhaps you changed your mind about that DNR request. Verbally telling your family about your change of mind isn’t good enough, it needs to be in writing and must follow the proper legal format to be valid.
For the Employer and Employee
5. If you own a business, you owe it to your employees and yourself to ensure you are in compliance with the law. Review your employee handbook to make sure it’s up-to-date with local, state, and federal laws. Also, review federal and state law to ensure your business is in compliance with relevant labor and human rights laws; you’ll also see a review will be a worthwhile refesher for you as well!
6. If you are an employee, pull out your contract/agreement and review it. Make notes of any changes you’d like to make when the contract is up for renewal so that you can negotiate these into your new contract. If there are provisions that you don’t quite understand or you think should be renegotiated, make a note of it to discuss with your attorney. This way you’ll be well-prepared when contract renewal time arises.
Protecting Your Privacy and Identity
7. Passwords – shhhhhhhh. Rotate out your old passwords and bring in new ones to protect your identity and assets. Remember to record these new passwords in a safe place and to clearly mark the retired ones. This is recommended because some websites don’t allow you to recycle old passwords.
Taking Advantage of Second Chances
8. Clean up your criminal record. Illinois law is one of the best in the nation for purging arrests from public view and sealing convictions. In cleaning your record, more doors of opportunity open and, best of all, you’ll see a huge psychological burden lifted from your shoulders.
Your Wealth – A Gift from the Above, a Responsibility to Take Seriously
9. Update your sadaqa and zakat lists. When you make a donation, store the receipt electronically and make a hard copy for your files. This way, when it’s tax season next January, these documents will be readily available after you’ve long forgotten about making that donation months earlier.
10. Managing our wealth is important, and managing our debts equally so. If you have multiple loans, look into the possibility of consolidating the loans. Whether you have one loan or several, do your best to see how you can pay them off earlier than later. You’ll be doing yourself and your wallet a great favor in becoming debt-free all the sooner.
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The above is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Seek legal advice only from an attorney. For legal advice on the above matters, contact Amal Law Group, LLC to set up an appointment. If you have a few questions that can be wrapped up in 30 minutes or less, try our 30-Minute Quick Call Appointment.
