Need To Know

Family Law Issues in Real Estate: Part 3 of 3

Don 0 Comments

house-in-hands

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?!  What happens when a common law relationship breaks down and one party wants to sell the home and the other party is happy living in the house and often is not making much of a contribution to the upkeep?

 The party that wants to sell can sever a joint tenancy by registering a transfer to themselves.  Thus converting the property to tenants in common.  He or she can also force the sale of the property by commencing an “ Action for Partition”.  Parties are not locked into their properties.  The agent can advise the party to seek legal advice on a partition action.  Usually, a letter from the selling party’s lawyer will get the desired results of getting the property listed.  However, if an action is required agents must allow sufficient time to have the action heard.  Talk to the selling party’s lawyer, months are quite often required, but the courts will order the sale and even dispense with the signature of the non co-operating party if necessary.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at your convenience. If you have any suggestions for future topics please let us know.

Prepared by Don Travers, Solicitor with Paquette & Travers

Contact toll free: 1-877-744-2281

Online: www.paquettetravers.com

Family Law Issues in Real Estate: Part 2 of 3

Don 0 Comments

homesplitting

A common problem in Family Law Situations is when the client sells a matrimonial home and plans to use their share of the proceeds to buy another home.  This “Dream Client” can become a nightmare if the agent is not careful.  It is not uncommon for spouses to assume they will receive half (1/2) the equity of the house upon the sale.  It is important for agents to ensure their client has a separation agreement in place, dealing with the proceeds of the sale of the house or at least an irrevocable direction to the lawyer acting on the sale for what is required to complete the new purchase, before the spouse commits to a firm agreement of purchase and sale on a new house.

Spouses can get very vindictive, and on a sale, will often insist the proceeds of the sale be held in trust by their real estate lawyer until all Family Law issues are resolved.  If the proper caution is not taken as mentioned above, the spouse’s purchase can be thwarted and the purchasing spouse be exposed to damages for failure to close.

Always make your client aware of this, and do not let them firm up without clarification of who gets what of the sale proceeds.  Spouses can never count on their spouse continuing goodwill.  Be prepared and ready to advise!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at your convenience. If you have any suggestions for future topics please let us know.

Prepared by Don Travers, Solicitor with Paquette & Travers

Contact toll free: 1-877-744-2281

Online: www.paquettetravers.com

Family Law Issues in Real Estate:Part 1 of 3

Don 0 Comments

commonlawpicture

One of the most misunderstood aspects of family law issues in real estate is “What is a Common Law relationship.” A Common Law Relationship is legally defined as two people living together for three years, or a relationship which has a child from it. Many people will refer to themselves as common law without meeting these criteria.

It is important to note that even if the parties meet the legal definition of common law, this does not mean that they have any interest in the other persons property. A legal common law relationship can impose support obligations on each other. However, parties must legally be married, before any party acquires any interest in real property. Thus from an agent’s point of view in common law circumstances, the consent of the common law is never required to list or sell the property. This applies even in the case of the matrimonial. Only if both parties are on title-would both have to sign, which would be obvious in any circumstance.

Knowledge is Power, which results in more business!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at your convenience. If you have any suggestions for future topics please let us know.

Prepared by Don Travers, Solicitor with Paquette & Travers

Contact toll free: 1-877-744-2281

Online: www.paquettetravers.com

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow – The Risk of No Conditions!

Cheri 0 Comments

Sold

In this very hot market, we are seeing most deals without any conditions, and in particular, no financing condition.  However, this is not necessarily a blessing for the Seller. Sales not being completed because of the Buyer cannot get financing.  The Seller believes they have a firm Agreement of Purchase and Sale act upon that information to buy a new home. Unfortunately, the Seller finds out when they get close to the closing, that the Buyer cannot close because the price paid for the house is not justified by the bank’s appraisal.  The Seller is left in the inevitable position of not being able to complete their purchase.

To make matters worse, there was a multiple offer, and unfortunately the seller selected the perceived best offer, which turned out to be the wrong offer.  The offer had only the minimal deposit, so the seller does not have much to fall back on for their damages.

In order for Agents acting for the sellers to protect their clients, the Agents should be making sure that the accepted Agreement of Purchase and Sale have larger deposits.  If buyers can not come up with a larger deposit, they probably cannot make up any shortfall in the bank financing either.

If you sold your home in 2016, you will have to report it to the Canadian Revenue Agency in your tax form that deals with Capital Gains, even though any gains remain tax free if you have lived in the house as long as you owned it. The basic information related to the transaction must be filled out on the income tax form including the year of purchase, the proceeds of the sale, and the description of the property.  The penalty for not reporting the sale of a home and not having your tax return amended if necessary is up to $8000. This change in reporting will make it easier for the CRA to catch taxpayers who try to claim the principle residence exemption on more than one property for the same period.

Knowledge is Power, which results in more business!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.  If you have any suggestions for future topics please let us know.

Prepared by Don Travers, Solicitor with Paquette & Travers

Contact toll free: 1-877-744-2281    Online: www.paquettetravers.com

Watch for more Travers Tidbits to follow each month!