The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid : How to Protect Yourself, Your Children and Your Assets (Capital Ideas) [Paperback]

Marilyn Barrett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000 | Series: Capital Ideas

Women are amazingly adept at multi-tasking, balancing home and work and relationships, managing finances, and generally learning whatever is needed to get the job done or to take care of things. Why then do we get ourselves into avoidable legal messes? During Marilyn Barrett s more than twenty years of practicing law, she has found that women of all socioeconomic and educational levels consistently make certain mistakes that land them in an attorney s office. These legal messes can devastate them economically and emotionally, and make them desperate. This book describes - in plain, non-legalese language - the basic preventative measures women can take to avoid the following legal pitfalls when they fail to protect themselves and their children in - Legal title to property - Prenuptial agreements -Marriage and divorce - Starting and running a business -Paying taxes - Estate planning, and - Hiring attorneys. A comprehensive appendix of sample documents provides added protection. By using plain English and focusing on the general information women need to know, and telling women s stories that show how easy it is to get into a bad situation, Ms. Barrett becomes a pocket attorney for all women. The book has been endorsed by Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Barrett's most important message is this: Take charge of your financial life." -- The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 11, 2001

"[In the Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes] Barrett did a great job of speaking in English about sensitive and scary topics. " -- The Los Angeles Daily Journal, 1/29/01

From the Author

"I wrote The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid to alert women to the devastation that can befall them if they do not take responsibility for taking care of their legal matters. Both they and their children can be put in financial peril if they don't do so. The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid is based on my more than 20 years of legal experience during which I have represented a number of women who suffered devastating financial distress and months or years of anguish, depression and fear‹several to the brink of suicide‹because they were not vigilant about protecting their legal matters.

Too often, women trust their spouses, other family members and business partners to treat them fairly, only to find out too late that their trust was misplaced. In other cases, women may not take the time to protect themselves legally because they are too busy with other things, they are intimidated by legal matters, or they don't think it is particularly important to them. In my book, I use a number of stories about women who did not protect themselves legally and women who did to illustrate the type of problems that can be encountered and to encourage women to take care of themselves and to take steps to minimize their legal risk. By protecting themselves legally, not only will women reduce the risk of financial disaster, but they will empower themselves as well."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Capital Books; 1st edition (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892123290
• ISBN-13: 978-1892123299
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #868,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly informative and helpful book, February 14, 2001

By 

"kim4555" (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid : How to Protect Yourself, Your Children and Your Assets (Capital Ideas) (Paperback)

This is a great book! Being a young, modern and relatively "hip" married woman (one who now co-ownes a business with her husband), I decided it was time to educate myself about all the legal stuff I'd been ignoring for years. I was especially intrigued by the author's approach to the legal aspects of marriage/children, property and taxes. These were topics I would not typically view in a "legal" light (hey, my husband handles the legal stuff), and I would certainly never have considered myself at legal risk. Reading this book really opened my eyes about where I stand as far as the law is concerned - Whaddyaknow, I'm considered a responsible, accountable adult! While this may seem like a no-brainer, the stories and information in this book really brought it home that I had better step up and take responsibility for myself. Thanks to this book I now have a clear understanding of the potential legal and financial hazards to which I may be exposed, and I also have the tools to avoid those dangers and make sound decisions that will protect my family from legal and/or financial peril. This is a truly informative and helpful book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really smart woman, February 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid : How to Protect Yourself, Your Children and Your Assets (Capital Ideas) (Paperback)

is Marilyn Barrett. She has so much valuable information to give, and she does it in such an easy way to understand.

Legalistics, to me, always had sort of a frightening tinge, because I thought I wouldn't be able to absorb everything, and therefore I'd get screwed somewhere. But Marilyn has made the most complicated problems easy, and then she gives you examples that are also simple to identify with -- so I was quite able to follow all her practical suggestions.

This book is for all women -- because all of us will find ourselves in at least one of the situations in her book before too long. I'm a small business owner, plus married for a second time, plus I took care of my mother during a long-term illness until she died recently. Marilyn's book brings up all of these aspects of living, offers solutions to problems I didn't even know I'd encounter, and is a book I'll keep on my shelf as a reference every time I have a legal-type question.

Thanks for writing it, it was great. Jennie

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For women from all walks of life, February 2, 2001

By 

Kathi Renman (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ten Biggest Legal Mistakes Women Can Avoid : How to Protect Yourself, Your Children and Your Assets (Capital Ideas) (Paperback)

Marilyn Barrett has written a book that covers all the major legal areas for today's women. To function in today's world we must educate ourselves and we must know how to get the appropriate help. In a well written, easy to understand book, Ms. Barrett covers areas of interest for women from all walks of life: setting up your own business, choosing appropriate lawyers, understanding legal documents, prenuptial agreements, protecting your children, and divorce. I was delighted by the precision and focus of this book and would highly recommend it.