Now for your iPad: Contracts on tap
The reliability of verbal agreements depends upon several factors: state law, circumstances, and overall agreeability of the parties involved. They can also be tricky to enforce.
Written contracts tend to be more ironclad, but usually involve hiring a lawyer. But now, a company called Re-Evolve LLC has developed a new iPhone and iPad application that allows users to create their own contracts. The app provides users with thirteen templates –from non-disclosure, non-competition, model releases, bills of sale, property and rental leases, and photo permissions to resignation notifications. Promissory notes and letters of intent are in the works. Marriage contract? Don't hold your breath.
“In most cases, the other party holds up to their end of the deal, but sometimes they develop selective memory or an exact detail was heard wrong,” says Preston Tucker, business development manager of Re-Evolve, which also creates tools for Android, Blackberry and the web.
After drafting an arrangement, information can be securely saved in a user's profile and sent to the user's e-mail inbox, or to a third party. In case a conflict arises, both signers must agree that local laws will govern their contract.
ContractsApp is available for purchase at the App Store, which charges $9.99. To learn more, visit http://contractsapp.com/.
InfoStreet offers e-mail archiving, employee directory
For anyone who has ever run into a compliance issue because of a long-deleted email, InfoStreet Inc.'s StreetSmart software suite offers a free, and setup-free, archiving service. The cloud-based Email Archiving addendum restores deleted e-mails, whether accidental or intentional. Only office administrators can delete the archive.
The second application allows staff members to update their own profile in the company's employee directory, allowing them to decide what information to share with co-workers and what to share with their employers. Administrators oversee the profiles and can further trim unnecessary information. The directory is also cloud-based – that is, stored and maintained online.
To get the new applications, visit http://www.infostreet.com
TRO helps firms tap into local markets
National Trust Advisors, a nationally chartered federal savings bank and independent trust company, is offering a TRO, or Trust Representative Office, to help RIA firms grow their wealth management businesses by targeting prospects within their local markets.
This is a large pool of potential clients. According to Ronald G. Ferguson, CEO of National Advisors Trust, over 70% of families with net worth exceeding $1 million use trusts in their estate plans.
The Trust Marketing Office program expands the TRO offering to provide RIAs with a customizable marketing program and branding services, along with a trust officer to manage the program.
The pre-designed marketing materials carry the National Advisors Trust look, modified to include individual firm information and news. In exchange, the RIA becomes a National Advisors Trust Representative Office.
A private label branding option is also available that enables companies to create their own marketing name, as long as it incorporates “Trust Services” or “Private Trust” into the logo. The service mix also includes lists of targeted estate planning attorneys, as well as brochures, invitations and presentation support (including webinars, seminars and CLE level education programs), newsletter templates and more.
There is even a “TRO” conference-call study group, which meets in person several times per year to share best practices and provide feedback to NAT.
For more information, and to read some TRO success stories, visit www.nationaladvisorstrust.com
