A common estate planning technique which attorneys use is the creation of an irrevocable life insurance trust, or “ILIT”. The purpose of an ILIT is to minimize the impact which life insurance proceeds can have in terms of estate tax. …
Estate Planning with Life Insurance Policies: Are Your Policies Worth Keeping? Read more »
These past five weeks, I’ve written about several real estate laws – both Federal and Minnesota – that, in my opinion, do not make sense any longer. I’ve done this to show that good intentions sometimes produce unintended adverse results. …
Top Five Silliest Real Estate Laws: No. 1: Minnesota’s Torrens Law Read more »
Deciding between the No. 1 silliest real estate law and the runner-up was a not an easy decision. However, when I post about No. 1, you’ll see why this law ended up in the No. 2 slot, even though it …
Top Five Silliest Real Estate Laws: No. 2: Extended Rescission Rights Under TILA Read more »
One of the things that I’ve learned as a real estate attorney from the housing market downturn is the effect that seemingly minor laws can have on the free flow of transactions in residential real estate. Almost daily I field …
Top Five Silliest Real Estate Laws: No. 3: The FHA’s “Seasoning” Rule Read more »
Continuing with our theme of real estate laws whose time has come…and gone…No. 4 on our list is the abandoned property provisions of Minnesota’s landlord-tenant statutes, Minnesota Statutes Chapter 504B. I work with a lot of real estate investors who …
Frederic Bastiat once wrote that “property does not exist because there are laws, but laws exist because there is property.” There is possibly no segment of our economy which has spawned more laws than the real estate market. Legislation, whether …
Top Five Silliest Real Estate Laws: No. 5 – Minnesota’s Foreclosure Reconveyance Statute Read more »
A few years ago, with the housing market at its peak, many developers created housing developments known as “planned communities.” These neighborhoods were cities within cities, and they came complete with their own form of quasi-government, i.e., the homeowners association. …
Paradise Lost: What to Do With the Homeowners Association When the Developer Goes Down Read more »
Saturday’s St. Paul Pioneer Press has an outstanding opinion piece which discusses the important role which entrepreneurs play in spurring on an economic recovery. The article, written by Arnold Kling, a member of the Mercatus Center’s Financial Markets Working Group …
Minnesota’s Torrens system of land registration can be a confusing one for those not familiar with it. This system, enacted in 1901 and based upon a 19th century Australian system of registering ships established by Sir Robert Torrens, requires interests …
Minnesota’s Torrens System: Clarity or Confusion? Read more »
This morning was our annual viewing of the classic movie, Holiday Inn. This film is, of course, best known for the debut of Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas”, and was the prequel to the Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye film named after …