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12 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 1, 2008 ADVERTORIAL www.oakvillebeaver.com Did you know... that if you own a business and you go bankrupt or are sued, you can lose not only your business assets but also your family assets? The question is what can you do to prevent such an occurrence. Some businesses are relatively benign when it comes to the exposure to Lawsuit but others have a high degree of risk. If your business is in the latter category, here are some of the steps you can take to minimize your exposure: Step 1 Incorporate your business; in this way, any lawsuits would be limited to the assets of the Corporation; the foregoing would also apply to any claims your creditors might have in the event of a bankruptcy. Step 2 If your business is capital intensive, incorporate a separate company to hold all the major assets of the business; again, should a lawsuit be filed against the Company or your business fail, there will be no assets for your creditors to attach. Step 3 If your business is made up of more than one distinct business, it may be wise to incorporate separate companies for each business as, if one business fails, you will not lose the other businesses. Step 4 Only one spouse should be a Director of the Corporation as well as being all The statutorily required (President, Chairman Of The Board, Secretary-Treasurer) officers. All family assets including the house, bank accounts, mutual funds, investments, etc. should be transferred into the name of the remaining spouse. In this manner, should certain liabilities survive the corporate umbrella, once again, there will be no assets in the hands of the Director for the creditors to attach. You cannot do this after legal proceedings have begun Step 5 Transfer all your investments and RRSP's to funds that are administered by life insurance companies as creditors cannot attach any funds held under the life insurance `umbrella'. In addition, some life insurance companies will guarantee your capital even if the life insurance company itself goes bankrupt. Written By E. L. Foster, President of The Incorporators / The Tax Advisory / The Business Advisory Inc., Oakville Beaver Readers' Selection First Place Diamond Award winners in the categories of Incorporation Services, Tax Preparation Services and Business Advisory Services for the last six years. Contact Ed at 905-469-8777 or visit www.theincorporators.ca Festival fun IN BRONTE: At left, Michaela Forst gets her face painted during AutumnFest in Bronte Village last Saturday. The event featured horse-drawn wagon rides, live music, inflatable bouncing castle and slide, a sidewalk sale and pancake breakfast. Above, Noam Markus, a mime extraordinaire and street performer entertains the crowd while, below, Andrew 'Winger' Gariepy of 4-Gig Band performs on stage.