ORLANDO, Florida — Shuffield, Lowman & Wilson, P.A. recently announced the addition of a Lake Nona office, under the leadership of attorney Maytel Sorondo Bonham. The office is located at 5950 Hazeltine National Drive, Suite 615, Orlando, Florida offering a full range of the firm’s legal services.
A longtime Lake Nona community member, Bonham is a seasoned attorney and Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator, fluent in Spanish, with more than 27 years of experience in the areas of estate planning, probate, trusts, and guardian advocacy.
Her activity in the Lake Nona area includes serving as the Co-Founder of the Nona Professional Ladies, part of the Lake Nona Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity Committee, where she also participates on the Legal Committee. She is also an active member of the Nona Leadership Network, Crema de Nona, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Metro Orlando.
She received her J.D., with honors, from the University of Florida Levin School of Law and her B.S.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Central Florida. She is a member of both the Orange County and Hispanic Bar Associations. Her pro bono work includes serving as a guardian ad litem and teen court advisor as well as volunteering with the Legal Aid Society.
ShuffieldLowman’s five offices are located in Orlando, Tavares, DeLand, Port Orange, and Lake Nona. The firm is a 50 attorney, full-service law firm, practicing in the areas of corporate law, estate planning, real estate, and litigation. Specific areas include tax law, securities, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, estate planning, and probate, planning for families with closely held businesses, guardianship and elder law, tax controversy – Federal and State, non-profit organization law, banking and finance, land use and government law, commercial and civil litigation, fiduciary litigation, construction law, association law, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, labor and employment, and mediation.
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We enter into contracts all the time, but what exactly creates a contract? Simply put, a contract is formed when one entity makes an offer to another, and that offer is accepted. Any time you exchange money for services you have likely signed a contract with the service provider. Have you ever hired a plumber? Did you receive a written estimate that you signed to accept the estimate and begin services? If so, you’ve entered into a contract.
The three essential elements are the offer, acceptance, and consideration. To begin a contract, an offer must first be extended. Details of the agreement, as well as its terms and conditions, should be included. Simply explained, an offer is an attempt by the offeror to enter into a contract with another party. Once the offer has been made, the offeree has the option of accepting or rejecting the proposal and its terms and conditions. Finally, to have a legitimate legal agreement, something of value must be exchanged such as money, merchandise, property, protection, or services. If the parties are not trading in money, they should ensure that whatever they are trading, commonly known as their consideration, is considered valuable by the court.
Dissecting a contract even further, there are 7 key ingredients that should be included in a contract: Who, What, Where, When, How Much, The Date, and Signatures. The “Who” in the case of contracts are the parties involved. Let’s say you call a plumber to fix a leak. In this case, you and the company the plumber works for is the “who.”
The “What” is the scope of work. The scope of work is the section of a contract or agreement where all expected activities and deliverables are detailed with the goal of harmonizing expectations between both parties is known as the “tasks and deliverables section.” You and the plumber are discussing the problem and they tell you the leak is part of a bigger problem and outline what work needs to be done to correct the issue. They write up a proposal explaining the scope of work. This is the “what.”
The ”Where” is the location of the work. In the case of the plumber, your home is likely the “where” with special attention to specific locations affected such as the front or back yard, the bathroom, the kitchen, etc.
The “When” is the timeline of work. The plumber, in their written estimate that will become a contract if you sign it, will lay out the timeline for completion of the project. It may take a week to get a special part, and then a day to do the work, and another day to follow up.
The “How Much” is the terms of payment. What will it cost for whatever merchandise, property, protection, or services you’d receive? Going back to our plumber example, the quote you will sign will tell you how much the services will cost and the payment timeline. Will you have to pay a deposit? Will you pay the balance upon completion?
The “Date” is simply the date the contract becomes effective. Usually, that is the date the contract is signed.
Finally, the “Signatures” close the deal and the contract is complete. The plumber has given you the scope of work, the location of the work, the timeline of the work, the expected payment terms, and has dated the estimate. Now you accept or decline. You’ve decided the plumber you’ve called is giving you a good deal, so you accept and sign the estimate.
You now have a contract with the plumber’s company. You have been given an offer, you have accepted, and you have met the consideration standards. In doing so you have met all seven key ingredients for a contract. You know the who, what, where, when, how much, have the date, and have given your signature to confirm your intent to follow through with the agreement. Our commercial litigation, real estate, construction teams, and other attorneys within our practice areas are here to advise our clients on their options based on the specific terms outlined in their contracts. For more information and assistance with a contract, you can contact us here.
ORLANDO, FL — Six partners from the law firm of ShuffieldLowman were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© (2022), as published in dozens of city and regional publications in the U.S. including, U.S. News & World Report. In addition, Heidi W. Isenhart was named an Orlando Lawyer of the Year in Elder Law. The Lawyer of the Year distinction is awarded to individual lawyers with the highest overall peer feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region. Only one lawyer is recognized as the Lawyer of the Year for each specialty and location.
Honorees include Scott A. Cookson in Real Estate Law; Matt G. Firestone in Commercial Litigation; Heidi W. Isenhart in Elder Law; J. Stephen McDonald in Commercial Litigation, Gregory W. Meier in Corporate Law and Trusts and Estates and Lynne R. Wilson in Real Estate Law.
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which almost 50,000 leading attorneys cast nearly five million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
ShuffieldLowman’s five offices are located in Orlando, Tavares, DeLand, Port Orange and the newest location in Lake Nona. The firm is a 45 attorney, full-service law firm, practicing in the areas of corporate law, estate planning, real estate, and litigation. Specific areas include tax law, securities, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, estate planning, and probate, planning for families with closely held businesses, guardianship and elder law, tax controversy – Federal and State, non-profit organization law, banking and finance, land use and government law, commercial and civil litigation, fiduciary litigation, construction law, association law, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, labor and employment, and mediation.
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA – Two ShuffieldLowman partners were recently selected as 2021 Legal Elite attorneys by Florida Trend magazine. The “Legal Elite” designation represents fewer than 1.2% of the active Florida Bar members who practice in the state. The ShuffieldLowman partners honored are Alexander “Alex” S. Douglas II and Heidi W. Isenhart.
Florida Trend magazine collects ballots from Florida Bar members, asking lawyers to name attorneys whom they hold in the highest regard and would recommend to others. The results of the annual survey are published in Florida Trend magazine.
Douglas practices in the area of fiduciary litigation, with an emphasis in trust, probate and guardianship litigation. Isenhart practices in the areas of elder law, Medicaid planning, guardianship, probate and trust administration, estate planning and special needs trusts.
ShuffieldLowman’s five offices are located in Orlando, Tavares, DeLand, and Port Orange. The firm is a 45 attorney, full-service law firm, practicing in the areas of corporate law, estate planning, real estate and litigation. Specific areas include tax law, securities, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, estate planning and probate, planning for families with closely held businesses, guardianship and elder law, tax controversy – Federal and State, non-profit organization law, banking and finance, land use and government law, commercial and civil litigation, fiduciary litigation, construction law, association law, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, labor and employment, and mediation.
This week ShuffieldLowman Partner, Heidi Isenhart, was featured in a member spotlight for the Rotary Club of Orlando. In the article, they discuss Heidi’s role as past and incoming president of the RCO Foundation as well as her impressive achievements in law and in life. Read the article below and visit the Rotary Club of Orlando website here: https://www.rotarycluboforlando.org/.
ShuffieldLowman was recently named a 2021 Best Law Firm in Orlando by The Best Lawyers in America©. The firm’s areas of practice recognized in the report, include: Commercial Litigation, Elder Law, Real Estate Law, Trusts & Estates Law and Corporate Law.
Recognition as a 2021 Orlando Best Law Firm means ShuffiedLowman is highly ranked by clients, peers and other law firms for their professional excellence and legal expertise.