Stock Legal Blog

Stock Legal highlights the essential need for formal legal planning when a family farm is inherited by multiple heirs. The critical challenge arises when heirs hold the property as tenants in common, leading to three main points of instability: Liability Exposure, Management Gridlock and a Difficult Exit Strategy. The key benefits of using an LLC include: Asset and Liability Protection, which shields both the farm's assets from an heir's personal debts and the heirs' personal assets from farm-related liabilities; Clear Management and Governance, established through a mandatory Operating Agreement that defines decision-making, profit distribution, and formal buy-sell provisions; and Simplified Estate Transfer, as LLC membership interests are easier to transfer than fractional real estate ownership.

Stock Legal founder and Legal Back Office co-founder Sara Stock has acquired the historic 4709 Delmar Blvd building in St. Louis, formerly the Mavrakos Candy Company headquarters, to transform it into a dynamic new mixed-use hub.

Serving as a Trustee is a serious legal commitment. This post breaks down the four cornerstone fiduciary duties a Trustee owes to beneficiaries: the Duty of Loyalty, the Duty of Prudence and Care, the Duty of Impartiality, and the Duty to Inform and Account. Learn precisely what these obligations entail, from avoiding self-dealing to investing wisely and maintaining transparency. Crucially, we explain what constitutes a Breach of Fiduciary Duty and the legal recourse beneficiaries have to protect their rights.

The OBBBA changed one facet of estate planning. Now is the perfect time to review your existing plan.

Bob Craddick is a seasoned corporate attorney who assists businesses with operations, growth, and transactions, drawing on a diverse legal career that includes 20 years as a prosecutor and experience as an in-house corporate counsel. He leverages his extensive background in both trial and corporate law to help clients achieve their business goals while proactively preventing potential issues.

Lucky for me, my Stock Legal workday starts at 10 in the morning rather than 9 like the other interns. Still, my day begins at around 7:30 when I wake up, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day

Welcome to a Day in the Life of a summer associate at Stock Legal! This is my third summer at Stock Legal, but every year and every day is different. There is no better place to be!

My typical weekdays start at 7:45 AM. I wake up and groggily silence my alarm as I contemplate if I can sleep for another 5 minutes. After losing that battle, I get out of bed and get ready for the day. I brush my teeth, throw on my clothes, and pack my lunch. I get into my car a little after 8 AM and drive to the office.

I start each morning by waking up at 6:45 am. I usually eat some fruit and cereal for breakfast while I complete the day’s wordle, connections, and crossword puzzle from New York Times.

Hi! My name is Olivia Syrup and I am so excited to join Stock Legal as a summer associate! I was born and raised in St. Louis and just completed my 2L year at Saint Louis University School of Law. Before law school, I earned my bachelor’s in political science and sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Hello! My name is Josh Schmidt, and I am excited to begin my role at Stock Legal as a 2025 Summer Associate. I cannot wait to contribute to the valuable, personalized work the firm provides to both the community and its clients.

Hello! I am Elliana Garrett, and I am so excited to begin my role as an administrative assistant at Stock Legal! Although I grew up in the St. Louis area, I took on the great adventure of moving to Irvine, California, for my undergraduate education.

Those familiar with estate administration wrongly assume notice publication only bars creditors in probate estates. In Missouri, notice publication is also a powerful and often overlooked way to prevent creditors from accessing a trust’s assets upon the death of the trust’s grantor.

Most dental practices are unaware of the many, and often unthought of, items that need to be continually addressed for maintenance of the dental entity.

In this post, we’ll delve into some of the most critical provisions of the APA: representations and warranties, covenants, and indemnifications.

The sale of a business is referred to as “taking one’s chips off of the table” because, the completion of the sale transaction, if carried off properly, pays the seller out and ends his or her risk in connection with the company.

At this point in the transaction, we’ve negotiated and signed a Letter of Intent (“LOI”). After the LOI is signed, the buyer and seller will begin the due diligence process.

A lot of M&A ego and marketing talk focus on a transaction’s purchase price - that top line number of what the buyer is paying the seller for the assets or equity being purchased.

As we’re mapping out a M&A deal, one thing that often comes as a surprise to clients is the number of agreements required to make up a transaction.

I have a strong gratitude practice, and near the top of the list every day are the amazing women in my life. I could write a novel about this, but for the purpose of this blog, I’ll focus on my annual girl’s trip to Dauphin Island, Alabama.

I’m excited to introduce myself at the new Administrative Support Specialist at Stock Legal.

Over the course of three blogs, we will walk through the major steps and issues encountered, from a legal perspective, in buying or selling a dental practice. Much of what we will write about is applicable across the dental spectrum, so keep reading if you are a general practitioner, an orthodontist, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, or anything in between.

A common question I encounter is, "Why do you keep telling me the other side of this transaction needs counsel?" This concern typically arises in two scenarios: either the parties believe they have negotiated most of the deal and want a single lawyer to finalize it, or one party has engaged me while the other has decided to proceed without representation.

On August 29, 2024, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (“DHSS”) announced it will begin taking steps to “embargo and condemn” products containing traceable amounts of intoxicating cannabinoids, such as popular “gas station weed” from hemp-derived delta-8 THC.

In our previous discussion about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ban on the enforcement of non-compete provisions, we outlined the potential impact of this sweeping regulation. Since then, significant developments have occurred, and we’re here to update you on the latest in this unfolding legal saga.

When you’re on the sell side of a M&A transaction, your biggest role in the between LOI and closing is to gather and provide information requested for buyer diligence.

This is your friendly reminder to make it a weekly task to stay in touch with your network.

I have joined the corporate legal department at Stock Legal and I am thrilled to help Stock Legal continue to build its dental practice as well as build the firm’s General Counsel as a Service.

There is often confusion between the functions of “diligence” and “disclosure” in a mergers and acquisitions transaction. Diligence and disclosure have a lot of conceptual and substantive crossover, but serve very different roles in a transaction, and both deserve the full attention of parties and counsel. In fact, disclosure (on the behalf of a seller), and understanding the seller’s disclosures (on the behalf of a buyer) are arguably one of the most important parts of any M&A transaction.

Why are we talking about style in a blog about professionalism?

You may have recently seen articles and advisory opinions from agencies such as Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (“DHSS”) regarding the concerns over Delta-8 and Delta-9 products entering the Missouri market. Specifically, there is concern over the lack of regulatory oversight and safety testing standards for these products.

My weekday mornings typically start around 6 am when the sun starts shining! I love to let the light in and wake up slowly. After that, I head downstairs for coffee. While I get ready, I sip coffee and listen to some music. Around 8:45 I head out the door and make my way to the office.

I begin my day usually around 7:30 am... or at whatever hour of the morning my one-year-old tuxedo cat decides to wake me up. I first must attend to her needs, including her breakfast and opening up the sunny window, as otherwise she will meow incessantly until I do.

Welcome to a day in the life of one of Stock Legals summer associates. As part of this amazing team, my role is to help make the attorneys life’s as easy as possible. Whether it is doing research, organizing data, or filing documents for the busy attorneys. Join me as I take you through my typical day at Stock Legal!

My day usually starts around 6:30 am, when I muster up the courage to get out of bed and make my morning coffee. My go-to is a vanilla cinnamon sugar cappuccino (although my frothed milk designs are still a work in progress).

Control the things you can is my mantra when things get busy, start to feel overwhelming, and I get that tight feeling in my head and chest.

That slack in the rope is an opportunity cost, and every day that it persists, there’s a dollar value associated with that opportunity cost.

My name is James Carr, and I am currently a second semester senior getting my bachelor’s in finance at East Carolina University.

Hi everyone! I’m excited to introduce myself as the Marketing Intern at Stock Legal for the summer!

Hi y’all! My name is Danielle Bryden, and I am a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis.

Warm greetings to all! I am thrilled to introduce myself as Fizza Fatima, the newest member of the vibrant Stock Legal team.

Life is full of actions that are simple but not easy. Want to lose weight? Consume less calories than you burn. Want to save money? Spend less than you earn. Want to accomplish a goal? Build out a plan with a timeline and stick to it.

When it comes to buying or selling a business, the stakes are incredibly high—not just in terms of financial investment, but also in how these moments can redefine your professional trajectory.

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted to issue its final rule prohibiting almost all forms of non-competes with employees, both those entered in the past and those to be entered into in the future.

Yes, we talked about communication last week, but it’s worth writing a bit more on this topic, because so much is gained and lost in what’s said, not said, missaid, misunderstood, and not conveyed reassuringly, etc.

I’m going to try and bring humor to this blog series, because, let’s face it, some of what we do as professionals is funny (especially when you look at it from the outside). That said, I’m going to start this blog series out on a more serious and philosophical note.

I was in law school and gunning for that perfect big firm summer associate position. What no one told me is that the interviewing process would involve lunch. At a fancy restaurant. With fancy food. And more silverware than I’d ever seen having grown up in a small Illinois town where a big night out was Red Lobster.

On Friday, March 1, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) is unconstitutional.

FLSA, Employee, Independent Contractor

Money is money, and if your goal, like most sellers, is to maximize the financial gain you’ll see when the deal closes, then the purchase price is far and away the most important deal term.

You have one child who really wants your home, and you’ve heard it’s easy and cheap to simply put their name on the deed, so they get it when you die.

You’ve just been served with a lawsuit and discovery requests for all of your company’s financials, internal correspondence, and confidential trade secrets, what do you do?

In our previous blog post on the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), we introduced the CTA and gave some key takeaways for businesses and business owners to understand what is to come as it relates to complying with this new law that has been and continues to be seldom discussed.

Estate planning is an important and often complex process that involves making arrangements for the distribution of your assets after your death and planning for various aspects of your financial and personal affairs.

Litigation attorneys often represent businesses in lawsuits that could have been avoided. Overlooking legal steps or trying to avoid legal expenses in the early stages of forming a business can easily lead to future litigation expenses.