Banks Law Firm P.C.

Practice Areas

Divided Into Civil Litigation, and Estate Planning & Probate

The role of the civil litigation attorney is challenging and diverse. Since civil litigation is an adversarial process, litigation attorneys must be willing to assume an oppositional position and embrace conflict and controversy. Civil litigation attorneys often work long hours, especially during trial, and commonly travel state-wide

Civil litigation in and of itself is a certain lifestyle and can be divided into seven stages: investigation, pleadings, discovery, pre-trial, trial, settlement and appeal. Not every lawsuit passes through each stage of litigation; most lawsuits are settled prior to trial and many cases that reach a trial verdict are not appealed.

Civil Litigation Practice Areas

Family Law

Family Law involves dissolution of marriage, issues of custody and support as well as adoption, paternity and parental rights

Personal Injury

Personal Injury involves legal disputes that arise when one person suffers harm from an accident or injury, and someone else might be legally responsible

Workers' Compensation

The Workers' Compensation Act is a part of the Iowa Code designed to provide certain benefits to employees who receive injury during the course of their employment

Real Estate

Real Estate is law relating to anything involving land, property, leasing, boundaries, and the purchase, appraisal, or sale of land or property

Business Law

This can range from writing your company by-laws, setting up an LLC, and creating an Employee Manual to helping you draft a Buy/Sell agreement

Contract Disputes

We review contracts and the facts to determine how each party should proceed and will also review contracts to ensure they are fair and protect your interests

Estate planning involves the will, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of appointment, property ownership (joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, tenancy in common, tenancy by the entirety), gift, and powers of attorney, specifically the durable financial power of attorney and the durable medical power of attorney. After widespread litigation and media coverage surrounding the Terri Schiavo case, estate planning attorneys now often advise clients to also create a living will. Specific final arrangements, such as whether to be buried or cremated, are also often part of the documents. More sophisticated estate plans may even cover deferring or decreasing estate taxes or winding up a business.

Wills, Estate Planning & Probate Practice Areas

Wills & Estate Planning

The process of arranging for the disposal of an estate during a person's life. Estate planning typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties of probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and expenses.

Probate

This is the term for the legal process of transferring and finalizing assets and property someone who has passed on leaves to their beneficiaries in their will.