Recent Blog Posts
Getting Through Probate Painlessly
No one wants a messy probate case, but chances are that you will not have to deal with one. Almost anyone who is wealthy enough that their estate would have to pay taxes can afford to appoint a lawyer as personal representative of their estate; you don’t stay wealthy until you die unless you… Read More »
Are Pet Trusts Necessary?
Your estate plan shows how much you care, even if you do not have a lot of property to leave to the beneficiaries of your estate. Simply by writing a medical advance directive indicating your wishes about medical treatment during your final illness, you are saving your family untold amounts of stress. If you… Read More »
Positive Rent Reporting
Resentment can quickly form between landlords and tenants, but it does not have to be that way. In many rental properties, especially those owned by small-time landlords, there simply isn’t enough money to go around, and each party blames the other. Even when the rent is more than a third of the tenant’s income,… Read More »
Why Do Sellers Back Out of Real Estate Deals?
Trying to sell a real estate property is as stressful as trying to buy one. Only a small percentage of deals that make it to the stage where the buyer makes an offer result in a final sale, with the property changing hands. In most cases, the buyer is the one who backs out… Read More »
Don’t Let Chatbots Draft Legally Binding Agreements
Math teachers are acutely aware of how math phobic the majority of the population is, and most former math students will freely admit this. Meanwhile, writing teachers lament that people who do not write professionally or as a hobby do not realize how difficult it is to write a text that communicates the ideas… Read More »
Taking a House Off the Market Can Be a Strategic Move
Browsing real estate listings can be fun when you are just daydreaming about buying a house or when you are confident that you will be able to finalize a real estate deal. One of the pieces of information that most real estate listings include is how many days the house has been on the… Read More »
Disclaiming an Inheritance
Filmmakers can depict a disconnect between a character’s surroundings and his or her emotions by superimposing a soundtrack that doesn’t match the scene’s visuals. For example, if the protagonist is lonely at a dance party, the film can show the room full of partygoers dancing to energetic music and then focus on the protagonist… Read More »
The Housing Assistance Apocalypse
Rental assistance programs in their current state are a nightmare for everyone who deals with them, landlords and tenants alike. Once you are approved for benefits, it is an uphill battle to get them. More than a quarter of tenants approved for rental assistance never get to use it because they cannot find a… Read More »
In Terrorem Clauses in Maryland Wills
Except for what goes on in criminal courts, legal proceedings do not generally make good television or good plot-driven fiction. Unless you are exceptionally long in the tooth and longer in the attention span, you have probably not read Bleak House by Charles Dickens; it is the only fictional representation of a probate court… Read More »
The Senior Mortgage Borrower
By now, the word has gotten around that young people cannot afford to qualify for a home mortgage and buy a home. Their only hope for doing this is their parents, who can leverage their cash savings or, if necessary, their home equity, to provide money for a down payment, or else leverage their… Read More »
