Located on the mighty Mississippi River, Baton Rouge is an historic city that has developed a unique culture for the last several centuries. People from all walks of life live and work in Baton Rouge, which means that they all have varied legal needs. If you’re an individual residing or a business operating in Louisiana’s capital city you probably already know the advantage of having seasoned legal representation. From estate planning to elder law, business and tax law, and even aviation law and veterans’ benefits, let Kallio Law Firm guide you with the professionalism and counsel you deserve.

Estate Planning

When it comes to preparing for your and your family’s future, including creating a legacy for after you are gone, it is imperative that you develop a personalized estate plan. Like the rest of Louisiana, Baton Rouge holds to the unique system of civil law that makes it imperative to retain a firm with local knowledge. Kallio Law Firm can help you with the following estate planning instruments:

  • Last will and testament: A fundamental component of estate planning, a will identifies your beneficiaries, names the executor of your estate, designates guardians for your minor children, and provides instructions for distributing assets to your heirs.
  • Trusts: Trusts serve various purposes such as minimizing the need for costly and expensive probate procedures, shielding assets from creditors, limiting tax consequences, and distributing funds to beneficiaries in a managed way according to trust instructions and the guidance of a trustee.
  • Financial mandate: Also known as a power of attorney, this document names someone to manage a person’s financial and legal affairs in the event the person becomes incapacitated. This flexible instrument can be written in a way to go into effect immediately or upon the occurrence of specific conditions.
  • Medical mandate: This instrument is also known as a medical power of attorney and, similar to the financial mandate, it allows someone to designate a person who can make healthcare decisions on their behalf in the event they are unable to do so.
  • Living will: One can declare their wishes concerning end-of-life care (e.g. the decision to continue life support under certain conditions) using a living will. In the absence of this document, the decision to take someone off life support would be made by the medical agent or the individual’s family if no medical mandate exists. But this can cause deep and avoidable conflict.

Elder Law

A related practice area is elder law, which broadly concerns assisting individuals as they age. Anyone who resides in Baton Rouge should begin thinking about their elder law concerns long before they need to implement any plans. Common topics that arise in this field, and with which we assist our clients, include:

  • Asset protection: Our goal is to protect as much of your hard-earned money as possible from probate, taxes, creditors, unwanted beneficiaries, lawsuits, and financial scams.
  • Healthcare planning: This involves a medical mandate (medical power of attorney), a living will, and a financial mandate (power of attorney).
  • Long-term care planning: The purpose of such planning is to prepare the individual for either assisted living or home-based health care.
  • Maintaining eligibility for Medicaid: By using tools such as irrevocable trusts and annuities, you can potentially maintain your Medicaid eligibility without having to liquidate assets.
  • Special trusts: You may wish to establish trusts for children or grandchildren who have special needs, beneficiaries who are reckless with money (spendthrift trusts), and even for pets.
  • Conservatorships and guardianships: These may be necessary to manage the financial and personal affairs of an incapacitated or disabled individual who is unable to do so on their own.

Business Law

Baton Rouge is home to businesses of all sizes and in all industries, from start-ups and entrepreneurs to family owned companies and large corporations. Our team helps with the following matters, among others:

  • Establishing your business: We can advise which legal entity (e.g. limited liability company, or LLC) is right for your business and help formally establish your business by filing all necessary paperwork and obtaining any required licenses or permits.
  • Governing documents: As part of creating your business, you need governing documents such as articles of incorporation, operating agreements, partnership agreements, and policies and procedures.
  • Contracts: You cannot successfully run a business without well-drafted, comprehensive contracts that define your respective rights and obligations in relation to parties inside and outside your business.
  • Business negotiations and transactions: As your business grows, you will want to negotiate new deals and transactions with everyone from third-party companies (e.g. manufacturers and service providers) to real property owners.

Tax Law

Taxes are complicated, but compliance with all applicable rules and regulations is absolutely necessary to protect your rights and avoid legal problems. We work with individuals and businesses concerning:

  • Resolving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies
  • Negotiating tax settlements and compromises
  • Using various legal strategies to minimize your future tax liabilities
  • Protecting your rights in tax enforcement actions, including but not limited to collections
  • Advocating for you in wage garnishment actions, including by asserting defenses and modifying the amount garnished
  • Initiating and conducting tax appeals
  • Penalty abatement to reduce or remove tax penalties
  • Tax planning and compliance for businesses

Aviation Law

Pilots and others in the aviation industry often need assistance with different legal matters, so our firm can work with you on such issues as:

  • FAA enforcement action defenses
  • FAA emergency orders
  • Aircraft purchases and sales agreement review
  • Litigation defense
  • Civil fines

Aviation law continues to develop with the advent and evolution of drone technology, and our firm prides itself on staying on top of this emerging and growing practice area. We can help you or your organization learn the laws and regulations that will enable the successful use of these innovative devices.

Veterans’ Benefits

Finally, our firm understands that Baton Rouge is where many veterans from all branches of the armed services make their home. Nearly 300,000 veterans live throughout the state of Louisiana. Kallio Law Firm strives to honor their immense service and sacrifice by representing clients who need help with:

  • Qualifying for benefits: A veteran must show they have a service-related disability that began during or was aggravated because of military service. There are multiple injuries, diseases, and mental health issues that qualify.
  • Disability ratings: A veteran’s percentage of disability ranges from 0% to 100%, a figure which affects the amount of benefits they receive. We help veterans argue for the highest possible percentage connected with their disability.
  • VA claim denials and appeals: If your veterans’ benefits were denied, or your disability rating is lower than expected, we can assist with an appeal. Our goal is to fight for the benefits that you truly need.
  • VA services: The VA offers an immense array of services designed to help veterans financially, personally, and vocationally. These include education, job training and career services, adapted housing grants, automobile allowances, and much more.

Contact Our Baton Rouge Office Today

You deserve a law firm that not only has the necessary substantive experience to advocate for your rights and interests, but which also has the local ties that enhance the quality of legal services. That firm is Kallio Law Firm. Let us leverage our personal knowledge of Baton Rouge courts, lawyers, mediators, laws, and rules to provide the exceptional legal representation you want and expect. Call us today to schedule your initial consultation.