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with your business.

It depends on your goals, risk tolerance, and tax situation. An LLC offers flexibility and liability protection with fewer formalities, making it a popular choice for small businesses and sole proprietors. A corporation — particularly an S-Corp or C-Corp — may offer additional tax planning opportunities and is often preferred for businesses seeking outside investment.

The right choice has long-term implications for how your business is taxed and governed. An attorney can help you evaluate which structure fits your situation before you file.

If your business name, logo, or slogan is central to how customers find and recognize you, you should consider a trademark. Registration gives you the exclusive right to use that mark in connection with your goods or services, and makes it far easier to stop others from using something confusingly similar.

Without registration, your rights are limited to the geographic area where you actually operate. Many business owners wait until after someone else files — at which point the process becomes significantly more expensive and complicated. Early filing is almost always the better strategy.

A will is a legal document that directs how your assets are distributed after you die — but it must go through probate, a court-supervised process that can take months or years and is a matter of public record. A revocable living trust transfers your assets into a trust during your lifetime, allowing them to pass directly to your beneficiaries without probate, more quickly, and privately.

For California residents — especially those with real property — a trust is often the more practical and cost-effective tool. Many people benefit from having both: a trust for major assets and a pour-over will to capture anything left outside the trust.

A Medi-Cal Asset Protection Trust is a legal tool that allows California residents to transfer assets out of their estate in order to qualify for Medi-Cal long-term care benefits. California's Medi-Cal program can seek reimbursement from a deceased recipient's estate for the cost of care provided — a process known as estate recovery. By placing assets in a properly structured trust well in advance of needing care, individuals can protect their home and savings for their heirs while still qualifying for benefits.

This type of planning must be done at least 30 months before applying for Medi-Cal, so early action is critical.

Do not ignore it — but also do not panic. Most IRS and California Franchise Tax Board notices are not audits; many are routine requests for information or corrections to a return. However, how you respond and what you say can significantly affect the outcome.

Before replying, you should understand exactly what is being requested and whether the agency's position is correct. An attorney can review the notice, advise you on your rights, and communicate with the agency on your behalf. If you are facing an audit, a collections action, a lien, or a levy, legal representation is strongly recommended from the outset.

The tax treatment of your business entity can have a significant impact on what you keep at the end of the year. A sole proprietorship or single-member LLC is taxed as a pass-through — profits flow to your personal return and are subject to self-employment tax. An S-Corporation allows owners to split income between salary and distributions, potentially reducing self-employment tax exposure. A C-Corporation is taxed at the corporate level, which can be advantageous for businesses that reinvest profits rather than distribute them, but creates double taxation on dividends.

Each structure has trade-offs depending on your income level, growth plans, and how you intend to compensate yourself. A combined legal and tax planning conversation is the best way to identify the right fit.