Buying a home is the largest financial decision a typical person makes. There are many issues that require a lot of the buyer's time and attention, such as locating the right house, obtaining financing, figuring out the logistics of moving, and often selling the...
A Bill introduced in the State Senate earlier this month (2015 Senate Bill 69) could significantly increase the likelihood that an employer is able to enforce a non-compete agreement. As many Wisconsin employers know, non-compete agreements and restrictive covenants...
Two of America's largest and most respected law firms accidently released the collateral for a $1.5 billion loan. The debtor, General Motors, was in bankruptcy and its unsecured creditors' committee successfully resisted attempts to undo the mistake, depriving the...
Many e-commerce retailers continue to elude an obligation to collect sales and use tax on out-of-state sales, but following the March 3, 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, we can add Justice Anthony Kennedy to the list of...
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that circuit courts may (perhaps must) order lenders to complete foreclosures and bring abandoned properties (known as "zombie properties") to sheriff's sale after the five-week redemption period. The Court further ruled that the...
On January 20, 2015, the United States Department of Labor ("DOL") announced that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding (the "Memorandum") with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development ("DWD"). The stated goal of the Memorandum is to prevent the...
Organizing a corporation or limited liability company (LLC) is easy and inexpensive and gives the owner the potential benefit of limited personal exposures for liabilities incurred by the business entity. However, many owners forget that it takes more to limit...
Can a lender be forced to take a foreclosed property to sheriff's sale even if it doesn't want to? After three recent conflicting opinions released by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the answer in Wisconsin is, "We don't know." The answer appears to turn on whether...
The IRS has announced the annual inflation adjustments for the 2015 tax year as well as other 2015 tax changes resulting from recently passed legislation. The following table gives you a general overview of the 2015 adjustments and changes. As always, you should...
Wisconsin adopted a marital property system for ownership of property by married couples in 1986. Wisconsin's marital property system is treated the same as community property for federal tax purposes. Wisconsin is one of only nine states that uses a community...
