There are many common reasons to hire a lawyer, and perhaps you need to determine if you really need one. A qualified attorney can help you navigate difficult issues in your family, business, estate, and in many other cases, like accidents and injuries. With proper guidance and representation, a lawyer could save you lots of stress, pain, and money, as well as make your life easier.

Here are the most common reasons to hire a lawyer:

1. Business Related Matters
2. Estate Planning
3. Family Related Matters
4. Crime Related Matters
5. Personal Injury Issues

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

1. Business Related Matters

One of the most common reasons to hire a lawyer is for business issues, like business formation. Due to the complexities of structure and legal necessities, a layer can help you navigate the business formation process to make sure you are properly established. They’ll help you cover taxation issues, growth issues, and ownership issues. They can also help you determine the type of business entity you should form, such as an LLC or a corporation.

A business lawyer can also help you with contract related issues. This includes writing new contracts and also contract dispute problems. Litigation and representation in court might also be needed. As your business grows, you may need to use a lawyer for mergers or the selling of the business, as well as copyright or trademark issues. 

2. Estate Planning

Next on the list of most common reasons to hire a lawyer is estate planning. Estate planning is simply the process of protecting your assets for the future. In the event that you pass away, proper estate planning will determine what happens to your assets. A lawyer will help you do this by working with you to set up trusts, wills, and family limited partnerships, which can be used to eliminate estate taxes. Without proper estate planning, your assets will pass through intestacy, the default state process for dissolving an estate. In this event, your estate will be divided among inheritors based on the state’s determination, and also subject to estate taxes. 

This is one of the best reasons to hire a lawyer because it could save your family lots of stress and heartache and keep courts out of your estate. 

3. Family Related Matters

The third of the most common reasons to hire a lawyer is for family issues. Perhaps the most common family law issue is divorce. Divorce can be messy. A lawyer can help you with establishing clear visitation rights, child custody, child support collection, spousal support, or division of property. Of all these divorce issues, child custody can be the most difficult to navigate. 

On the topic of children, a lawyer is also necessary when determining guardianship of a child. Foster care is a great example of this. A court can give you the rights to make decisions concerning the child that their parents should or could not make. Adoption is another family related matter that a lawyer can help with as well. 

4. Crime Related Matters

Criminal law issues are the next most common reasons to hire a lawyer. If you are charged with a crime, you will need to get a lawyer to represent you in court. If you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, the government will provide you with one, which they will pay for. This type of lawyer is called a public defender, and they likely have lots of experience with criminal issues and have worked with the judges and other attorneys in the area. 

For those who can afford a lawyer, they will hire a private criminal defense attorney. This might be a better route as this attorney may not be as bogged down with case volume and can devote more time to your case. 

5. Personal Injury Issues

Last on the list of common reasons to hire an attorney is personal injury matters. When one person hurts another person, whether on purpose or not, a personal injury attorney might be needed. This is not the same as a criminal defense attorney, as in these cases no crime has been committed. This is usually the case with accidents or negligence issues. 

Car accidents are a great example of this. A personal injury lawyer can help you in the event you need recompense due to injuries or losses from an accident. The injured party has the right to be made whole by the person responsible for the accident.  A personal injury attorney helps their client receive a sufficient settlement to meet their needs. This might include paying medical bills, repairing or replacing a vehicle or other damaged property, and/or compensation for lost wages or lost capacity to function in normal, everyday activities.

If you believe you need to hire an attorney after reading these common reasons to hire a lawyer, check out this list of best attorneys near The Woodlands, TX.

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