Have you ever been about to ride a horse, jump in a kayak or play hockey and someone sticks a clipboard in front of you at the last minute, asking you to sign a waiver?  

I have had the question many times - "Are these Waivers legit?  Do they work?" 

They can be if you are doing them right.  

Purpose of Waivers

If there is a particular risk in your business that you want the client or customer to be responsible for AND NOT THE BUSINESS, you can shift this responsibility in a waiver.

When to Get a Waiver Signed

One party - your customer - wants to participate in a risky activity (skiing, trampoline, zip line, etc.). and the other party - your business wants to protect itself from liabilities relating to this activity.

In exchange, the customer signs a waiver and release regarding liability claims in order to participate.  If they do not wish to sign, they can not participate.

This could be in a volunteer or business activity - it may be the...

No one wants to talk about death.  I totally get it.  But as Benjamin Franklin famously said "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

So for business owners, including online business owners, it is important to do some planning to protect both your business value and also your family members.

Why should I care - I'll be Dead!

One of the inspirations for writing this article now was the recent CBC article featuring my friend Dianne Taylor.   Dianne's grief was compounded when her spouse Tim died suddenly and had not been aware that his RRSP designation was still in favour of his mother, not his spouse.  The laws of Nova Scotia did not help her recover their retirement savings.

If you think that you don't need to worry about your estate planning because you will be dead, think about your family.  They will be the ones left to deal with the consequences.

So onto my top five estate planning tips for Canadian Online...

Having commercial insurance for your online business is an important part of your risk management strategies, along with having written contracts and considering your legal structure.

There are five important types of commercial insurance that you should consider for your online business:

Commercial General Liability Policy ("CGL")

A CGL policy is the basic liability policy that every business requires.  You may think of it as relating to having a physical space, but it also includes some important additional coverages. 

A CGL policy primarily covers two main risks  (1) Bodily Injury to third parties - think someone slipping and falling on your premises and (2) Property damage to third party property.  These could happen on your business premises, on public property or at a client’s premises and could result from your actions or inactions of you or your employees.

A CGL policy may also contain important extensions including a Non-Owned Automobile Liability...

You did the work.  Now your client is not paying.  What are you supposed to do?

You want to preserve the relationship and not be too confrontational but not getting paid is an issue for your cash flow and the financial stability of your business.

Here are some tips for collecting accounts receivable now outstanding, and improving the situation in the future:

Check the Contract

While legal contracts can help you to set clear expectations with your clients up front, they are also super helpful in a situation where your clients are not paying you.

Having a binding legal contract means that you can ENFORCE the terms of the contract.  So the first thing to check is to see what the contract says in regard to fees and payment terms.

Are the fees due clear in your client contract? Your client contract should state how fees will be calculated whether they are hourly, daily or fixed fees based on certain project stages.  Have you added on amounts for additional work beyond...

Many businesses in Canada are becoming more aware that they have privacy obligations, but are still confused about which laws apply to them.  

This post will break down the various pieces of privacy legislation and when they may apply to your business.

PIPEDA (The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) - this is Canadian federal legislation.  It applies to businesses who collect "personal information" in the course of their commercial activities.  "Personal information" includes any information that is linked to an identifiable individual.  This applies to all businesses in most of Canada (see below).

Province Specific Privacy Laws - Some provinces in Canada have made their own privacy laws that apply either in place of PIPEDA (Quebec, Alberta, BC) or in addition to PIPEDA (i.e. for health-related information - Ontario, NB, NL and NS).  To read further on these provincial laws - click here.  For some organizations, the...

This video gives you an overview of how your content is protected by copyright law and where to put your copyright notices.

For more information about copyright (as well as trademarks and trade secrets), you can check out this free download - Download Here.

And a reminder that this content is protected by copyright law :)

(c) Legal Essentials Inc. 2020.  All Rights Reserved

In this video, I talk about the three main types of business contracts to have in your business:

1.  Client Contracts

2.  Hiring Contracts

3.  Rental Contracts

If you have any questions about this topic, you can reach me at [email protected]

In this second part of the "Get it Writing 2020" series, you will learn whether emails back and forth can form a legal contract.  You will also learn things to look out for using e-mails to form agreements.

Contracts 101

When you operate a business, contracts are as common as the air that you breathe.

You enter contracts by clicking “I Agree” buttons on websites, and by selling products and services to your customers.

A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more persons for a particular purpose.

Contracts can be done verbally or in writing.  The problem for a business owner with a verbal contract is that if is more difficult to enforce because you may not remember or be able to prove all of the terms that were agreed to.

What if a supplier presents you with a “standard” contract that they routinely use with companies they deal with. Does this mean that you should just sign it?

At the very least, you should understand what you is agreeing to in the contract. At best, you can find a few important items in the contract and improve your business’ position through proper drafting and negotiation.

What to look for:

• Parties...

Has anyone ever told you that as a business owner that you NEED to have a shareholders’ agreement?  Did you wonder what it was?

This article sets out some of the basics.

Why?

• Without a SA, shareholders can have difficulty resolving disagreements.
• Unlike publicly traded shares, shares of a private company are difficult to sell or transfer.
• The founder and majority shareholder usually wants to maintain a certain degree of control over who can become a shareholder.
• A minority shareholder who does not have voting control of the company, will be concerned about having a mechanism to transfer his or her shares if he or she wants to.

Who?

• If a company has one shareholder only, a SA is not required.
• If a company is incorporated with more than one shareholder or where additional shareholders are added, a SA is recommended.
• If the business is a partnership, the equivalent of a SA is a partnership agreement.
• If current shareholders are considering transferring shares, they may...