I had a law school professor that would often proffer the following two theories to rationalize court decisions (especially ones he seemingly did not understand): 1) the justices did not “get any”…. breakfast that morning; and 2) the government always wins. I...
Watch Your Language. As established in other “Watch Your Language” articles for this Blog, as a general rule, courts will uphold language in commercial agreements, unless it is contrary to statutory law or public policy. They traditionally presume that commercial...
By: Stephen D. Richman Becoming the “owner” of real estate is not quite as difficult as acquiring a wicked witch’s broom, but it is somewhat of a labored journey. The seemingly simple answer to the question of when one becomes the owner of real estate is: when title...
By Stephen D. Richman This… is …. Jeopardy. Our single category today is Obsolete Ways of Doing Business. Here is the clue: On and after April 6, 2017, this form of doing business (in residential real estate transactions in Ohio) will join the Dictaphone, pay phone,...
If you are married and go to transfer real property or mortgage real property, your spouse will be asked to sign a release of his or her ‘dower rights.’ Dower rights are the interest that a person has in real property owned by his or her spouse. If one person owns...
The purchase/sale agreement is probably the most misunderstood, but most important document utilized in a real estate transaction. Some of the unwary mistakenly refer to the agreement as merely an “offer”, not understanding that if signed by (accepted by) the...