Dean K Ryan Attorney at Law

Dean K Ryan Attorney at Law Dean Ryan is a Garden City KS Lawyer offering friendly and helpful legal services in the SW Kansas a Need helpful and friendly legal advice?

Then call Dean Ryan in Garden City KS. He can help you with traffic violations, bankruptcy, DUI, friendly divorce and other general legal matters. Check out http://www.gardencityksattorney.com for more information on all our legal services.

12/23/2025

I have more and more people come to my office and tell me they have set up their own LLC and thus their personal assets are safe if they get involved in a lawsuit. They've usually used an online company to help them set it up or just got a "google education" and they believe everything is "safe."

Here's the problem. Google law isn't law school. I've yet to find one of these self-filed companies that actually shield the owner from liability. There is a whole area of law dedicated to "piercing the corporate veil." In this process an attorney tries to show that your LLC is a sham and is actually just you personally using a different name. Sadly, most LLC's are just that. How do you avoid personal liability when your company is attacked in this way?

1. Your company has an operating agreement. I've never seen one in a self-filed LLC.

2. Your company has annual member meetings as set out in your operating agreement. Since you don't have an operating agreement, you obviously aren't having the meetings it requires.

3. Your company secretary keeps minutes of what happens in the annual meeting and other meetings that may take place and they are kept in your records.

4. Your equipment, vehicles, accounts, etc. that are used in the business are in the name of your LLC.

5. The assets you are trying to protect, home, bank and retirement accounts, personal vehicles that are not used in the business are all titled in your own name.

This sounds like a great big company that operates like a large corporation. That's the idea. If it isn't run that way, its just you doing business under a different name and if you get sued, a good lawyer is going to pierce the corporate veil and your personal assets will be subject to attachment for a judgment you thought would only be the liability of your LLC.

Google law doesn't replace a law degree and years of legal experience.

01/04/2022

Can you travel with your firearm? There is a federal law that allows safe passage through states that don't allow you to possess a firearm. If you are traveling in the Northeast almost anywhere on the West coast or in Illinois you will have problems if you are found carrying a firearm even if you are only driving through those states. The federal law 18 U.S.C. 926A that creates a safe passage through these anti-gun states is very annoying to law enforcement in these states and they will try to convict you under state law. To defend yourself under the federal law you have to meet three strict rules.

One: the state where you start and the state where you end must both be states where you can legally possess the firearm. You can't go from Kansas to Illinois as Illinois does not allow possession of a firearm except in VERY limited settings.

Two: The firearm you are transporting MUST be unloaded, stored in a hard sided case and be inaccessible to you. It specifically CANNOT be in a center console or glovebox.

Three: You must not "cease" traveling. If you are traveling through Illinois on the way to a state where you can possess the firearm you cannot stop in Illinois to sleep, nap or take a break. Only necessary stops for gas and a quick rest stop are going to be within the law. Just keep driving even if you are tired and hungry. Make a plan and carry food snacks before you enter that state.

There are so many laws in so many states that you really must check the law before traveling with your firearm. Whether you can legally possess a firearm in your destination state should be looked at carefully. Don't assume all states in the fly-over states are safe. Each state has specific and confusing laws about possessing a firearm (check Colorado firearm possession to see what I mean). If you are going to carry your firearm from Kansas to almost anywhere else, you will not enjoy the unfettered freedom Kansas allows firearm owners. Be informed, which is easy with the internet, and don't assume you can "sneak" through while you illegally carry your "car gun" through Illinois, New York or any number of anti gun states. A traffic stop, car accident or snitch will likely result in your being convicted of a felony.

Let me know in comments if you have had an experience with law enforcement while traveling with your firearm. I'm curious as there are so many ways to get messed up with every state maintaining different standards and laws.

12/04/2020

With transfer on death deeds, Pay on Death bank accounts, transfer on death car titles, retirement account beneficiary designations and other mechanisms you can totally avoid estate planning that requires the expense and headache of probate proceedings or trying to put your assets in a trust. Give me a call to discuss this type of estate planning the doesn't put your heirs/children through that turmoil of a lot of legal proceedings.

08/20/2020

DRONES or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)--- Here is a difficult topic to try to advise anyone about because there are a lot of conflicting laws. Rule number one, if you shoot a UAS down or destroy it in some way, you are in trouble. I don't even know how much trouble, but the FAA and other agencies just issued and advisory regarding the laws you will break if you interfere with a drone, see it at https://www.justice.gov/file/1304841/download to try to determine why this is all so confusing. The problem is that the FAA has classified drones as aircraft. That means whatever you do to the neighbors' drone is the same as if you did it to a passenger airplane. You can't shoot it down or capture it, you can't send a signal to interfere with the operators control of it, you certainly can't catch it and smash it.

This all raises the question of what can I do to the drone being operated illegally. To be on the safe side, nothing until you can verify it is illegally operated. There are a ton of regulations about operating a drone and you have to assume the operator is properly licensed and operating within the limits of that license. FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is saying if you think a drone is spying on you, or irritating you by operating near your home or business, you can file a complaint with the FAA. By then the drone is gone and you don't know who was operating it.

Like I said, this is impossible to advise you about because FAA is taking a stand for now that any drone is entitled to use the airspace just like all aircraft and you can't interfere with it. I'm sure more will come, but this advisory certainly doesn't look good for someone that doesn't want a drone flying around the neighborhood trying to photo what most of us think is privately done on our own property.

Note the advisory only addresses FEDERAL laws regarding interfering with or destroying a UAS. Kansas hasn't specifically addressed drone intrusions yet. Of cases filed around the state most relate to criminal destruction of property and discharging a firearm in the city limits when someone shoots a drone down with the shotgun.

06/30/2020

Jaywalking, does it still exist? Actually, just got a question from someone cited for jaywalking. This law sort of disappeared due to lack of enforcement, but it's still with us, just evolved some. Basically, you can cross in the middle of the street between intersections unless both intersections have stop lights. You also can't cross an intersection diagonally. If you are in a crosswalk, painted or not, (even if the path between curbs at an intersection isn't painted, its still a crosswalk) you have the right of way to traffic, but don't expect traffic to stop. If you are not in a crosswalk you don't have the right of way to traffic. Be careful out there, you can't hear electric cars, and most drivers are not attentive to what is happening outside the car because of portable or imbedded electronic devices inside the car.

03/24/2020

What's that underinsured and uninsured coverage the insurance company is always trying to sell you? In the event you are in a crash with someone and they don't have insurance, or they have minimum coverages of insurance you will discover they don't have enough insurance to cover your losses either for your damaged vehicle or your medical bills. If that is the case the insurance on your car makes up the difference if you bought the uninsured coverage. This is actually important in our area because 1 OUT OF EVERY 4 VEHICLES ON THE ROAD HERE IS NOT INSURED. You can sue the other driver for your damages, but there is nothing to get. If they can't afford insurance, they can't pay any judgment you might get against them. Uninsured and underinsured coverage isn't horribly expensive so I strongly recommend you carry as much as you can afford. If you are in a wreck with one of the people without insurance, your only hope of paying for your car and medical bills is that coverage.

12/06/2019

People ask what a bankruptcy will do to their credit score. I respond with "How long have you had a bad credit rating?" By the time bankruptcy is needed people have had a bad credit score for years. If they don't file a bankruptcy, the bad credit score will never change unless they pay off all their debt and then they start rebuilding credit. If they just file the bankruptcy, they start immediately rebuilding credit. If you have bad credit, continuing to struggle paying old debts won't change anything. If you have bad credit and file a bankruptcy, you immediately start building credit with no debt and it happens pretty quickly. Don't fight a loosing battle with creditors for years thinking you are preserving your credit rating by not taking a hit filing a bankruptcy, just file it and get a fresh start. That's the reason for the bankruptcy law, a fresh start. My bankruptcy clients are usually surprised by how quickly they are eligible for a car loan or even home mortgage after completing the bankruptcy process.

08/28/2019

With financial problems comes so many emotions that it is difficult to make good decisions. After 38 years of helping people with bankruptcies, I see so much grief, fear and dread in my clients. I'm often asked to help with the decision whether or not to file the bankruptcy by my clients. I think the emotions get in the way of this decision more in this kind of case than most others. The answer is "If you can't pay your bills, you are bankrupt." Usually people have been struggling with debt for years before seeing me hoping beyond hope that somehow things will change and they will magically have less debt or more income. Sadly, people cash in retirements, sell homes and refinance or get a second mortgage on their home trying to pay a massive debt that isn't going away. Don't hesitate to call and have me help you take an unemotional look at your situation. Bankruptcy actually is simply a math problem. I can help you look at it that way so you can make the best decision possible in the face of debt that is depressing due to its never going away.

05/16/2019

DEEP LUNG AIR... When we breathe normally we don't take deep breaths, but only use about the top half of our lungs to exchange air. So the air in the lower part of our lungs doesn't get expelled very often. Who cares you say? Interesting case just the other day. Client was stopped for a DUI, arrested and taken to the "station" for a full breath test. Now, the intoxilyzer only needs a certain amount of air to test for alcohol level. It even has a chime on it as one blows into it to tell you when you have a full sample and you can stop blowing. BUT, the officer administering the test always tells you to blow until you are completely out of breath even after the machine chimes saying to stop. The officer is trying to get you to blow deep lung air into the machine. The deep lung air that you have not been exhaling still has the most alcohol molecules in it and the machine will read a much higher alcohol content from that deep lung air. Prior to taking a breath test the officer has to observe you for 20 minutes. During that time, normal breathing expels a lot of alcohol in your upper lungs and reduces the level of alcohol in the test... UNLESS you let the officer talk you into putting your higher alcohol air from your deep lungs into the test. Just blow until the machine signals a full sample and stop.

04/16/2019

Likely this post doesn't apply to you, but it is still interesting. Kansas has a law that says if you have more than 25 grams of ma*****na in your possession you are planning to distribute it i.e. you are a drug dealer. That is a felony and bad news if you get charged with it. The problem is that as people go to Colorado to legally buy their "stash" they buy more than 25 grams to hoard it rather than sell it. It's just easier to get a large amount one time than take a number of trips to purchase smaller amounts. Now, ANY possession of ma*****na in Kansas is a crime and you will be charged if caught. But I can more easily minimize your damages if you possess a small amount rather than a large bag of more than 25 grams. With the legalization of recreational pot just a few miles West of here sometimes a line drawn on a map doesn't seem to make any sense between a high and a felony, but it does. Be aware of the illegality of ma*****na and the hard rule felony for having more than 25 grams.

12/06/2018

Just had a consultation with another client that tried some credit repair, credit consolidation, debt forgiveness program they saw on TV that promised to avoid the terrible results of filing a bankruptcy. It was a total failure and the client had paid over $3000 to get relief and instead, was being sued by two of the creditors that the company was charging a fee to get relief from. When client called the debt relief company they said they had to keep all her payments for at least three months to first pay their fees. They claimed they couldn't really get any negotiations going with the creditors until her accounts were at least three months behind. There is only one debt relief entity that I have found that is legitimate and can get some results. If you are having a financial problem, meet with me and we can explore any options you have, including a debt relief agency that can actually help if you are in that position.

Address

117 W Grant Avenue
Garden City, KS
67846

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Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

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+16202759614

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