10 ESSENTIAL LEGAL TIPS FOR BUSINESS OWNERS IN A CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

You may die and so may your debtors, but your creditors will struggle on and aggressively pursue you for payment to maintain cash flow.

Here are ten legal tips to help you survive (financially):

1. Keep on good terms with your landlord.
2. Don’t panic and use your credit cards to pay your existing debts. You may need that credit for essential items as the situation gets worse.
3. A threat to be sued is not the same as being sued and sometimes suing or being sued can be a slow process. In these times, judges are prone to allow adjournments and defer decisions.
4. Check the mail at your registered office. Legal missiles can slip under the wire, such as a statutory demand on your company which can wind your company up.
5. Be first in. If people owe you money it is human nature to avoid confrontation. You will get over it. However, you cannot get blood out of a stone, show compassion to those who deserve it.
6. Get cash on account, people will be more understanding than you think.
7. Secure any debt with a mortgage or charge, if you can.
8. Have terms and conditions and be aware of the small print of the contracts you enter into. For instance, what happens if one party cannot honour its legal obligations.
9. Make a Will and have an Enduring Power of Attorney so that your business does not stop if you stop. 
10. Do not lend money

At least, make sure that anyone who could leave money to you makes a Will. Not only could this be your way out of the crisis; as Winston Churchill said, "Saving is a very fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you." But it could save your family imploding as the result of an untimely death and a disputed inheritance. 

Best of luck.

(c) Paul Brennan 2020. All rights Reserved.