While tax consequences may be the last thing on the mind of homeowners facing a real estate foreclosure, they play a role in the bigger picture and should be part of the decision process. What follows is a simple discussion of three aspects of personal income tax factors that should…
I have noted in two prior blogs that Arbitrators have nearly unlimited discretion to make mistakes and not follow the law, and their mistakes are protected by the courts. In a recent California case, buyers bought a house and learned that the pool and fence encroached on neighboring property. Claiming…
What happens to unpaid property tax when a mortgage lender forecloses? The payment of ad valorem real property taxes is secured by a lien on the assessed property. The tax lien is senior to other state tax liens and federal tax liens that take their priority from the date of…
California law provides a convenient way for parties in a lawsuit who reach a settlement to allow the court to enforce the settlement agreement, even if the settlement will take years to perform. Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6 provides that if parties to pending litigation agree in a signed…
California anti-deficiency laws provide that on foreclosure the lender only gets the home- they can not get the balance of the loan from the homeowner. The purpose is to place the risk of inadequate security on the lender, whether due to overvaluation or market decline. It is intended to discourage…
California law provides a scheme for pre-lawsuit resolution of construction defect claims from new home buyers (Civil Code section 895+). It requires the builder to provide documentation of the law, and also give the buyer a name and address upon whom to make claims. If the builder follows these rules,…
It is common for people to hold their investment properties in their revocable family trust. In a Southern California decision, two trustees, Tepper & Presta, entered several partnership agreements to invest in real estate. The partnership agreement provided “upon the death of a Partner, the Partnership shall purchase the interest…
In a recent California decision, the trustee was holding a sale of a Sacramento property. The auctioneer read from a script which had all the correct information, including the legal description of the property, but gave an Arcola Avenue street address, which was not the same property. The Arcola sale…
Under California law, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act allows defrauded creditors to reach property in the hands of a third party, if a debtor transfers an asset with the intent to prevent a creditor from reaching that interest to satisfy its claim.” In a recent California decision, Gordon owed his…
Robbins was licensed both as a real estate broker and as an attorney. On January 23, 2001, he pled nolo contendere (no contest) and was convicted of three misdemeanor building code violations. The DRE filed an action to revoke his license, based on this conviction plus a history of conviction…