Speak With a Lawyer Before Entering Into a Real Estate Contract

As local lawyers, we often work with clients that are purchasing or selling real estate.  Whether you are purchasing or selling a home for your family, buying or selling an investment property, or leasing an office for your business, we can help to ensure that your rights are protected.  Real estate law can be complex and we believe that it is far easier to avoid disputes down the road by crafting the right contract ahead of time.  Here are some things you should keep in mind when entering a real estate transaction:

Who will own the property?

This is far more complicated than it sounds.  How you title the property will influence your ownership rights, have tax implications, and make a difference in your estate.  If, for example, you want to purchase the property in an LLC, that can help to protect you from personal liability, but your LLC documents need to be in place first.  The LLC documents will dictate the members’ respective rights, such as what happens if one member wants to sell, etc.  As such, your ownership documents must be in proper form before completing your purchase.  Simultaneously, if you are considering estate planning, you may want to hold the property in a trust, which also must be set up ahead of time.  We can go over your options with you, so that you can make an informed decision regarding who should actually own the property.

What do you want to do with the property?

Your immediate and long-term plans for the property are also relevant. For example, if you are purchasing a home and want to permanently make it into commercial office space, the zoning laws, etc. should be reviewed.  Similarly, if you are buying a property and want to subdivide it or build on it, there are other considerations that need to be reviewed to ensure that you are legally allowed to do so.  Take the time to check everything as part of your due diligence process so that you don’t end up stuck with a property that you can’t use.

Who gets the property later on?

Is this going to be a flip or a long-term hold?  Your intentions with regard to the property are important. By understanding your goals, we can help you to plan ahead to make it easy from the beginning.

What if you want out of it?

Not every real estate deal works out.  You may find something in your due diligence that makes the property uninhabitable, defective, a bad deal, or simply not suited for your purposes.  The contract needs to address the circumstances that will allow you to not follow through with the purchase of the purchase and, if so, what happens, such as whether you forgo any down payment or earnest money.  As your lawyers, we can draft your purchase and sale agreement to ensure that your rights are protected.

Insurance Attorney in Rapid City Explains How New Black Boxes Work

As insurance attorneys in Rapid City families trust, we help those injured in a car accident to receive the compensation they deserve for their injuries and damages.  We typically get involved after an accident has taken place and can make sure that the insurance companies do not force you to accept a “lowball” settlement offer that does not compensate you for your damages.  By working with you, reviewing your medical bills and wage loss documents, and working with the necessary accident reconstruction and/or medical experts, we can help to determine what amount will be required to address your injuries and damages both now and in the future.  

Can an Event Data Recorder – sometimes referred to as a “black box” – influence my insurance claim?

While working on accident cases we deal with Event Data Recorders (“EDRs”, or “black boxes”). If you are unfamiliar with what these are, generally, they monitor and record certain information and data in a vehicle, similar to the black boxes found in airplanes. Beginning in 2014, new cars, light trucks, SUVs and vans less than 8,500 pounds are required to have one built in.  EDRs often record what happens leading up to a car accident, such as throttle position, speed, velocity change, and brake application in the moments leading up to and during an accident.  The data can then be accessed/downloaded after the collision in order to get an idea of what actually took place during the collision.  

As insurance attorneys in Rapid City, we want to know what year your car was manufactured so that we can determine if an EDR was in your vehicle or the other party’s vehicle and whether information from the EDR can be retrieved. As with anything, the information may not tell the entire story, you still need an attorney to represent you. 

EDRs often give a moment by moment account of various vehicle data in the moments leading up to and during the crash.  Not only can such information often provide reliable information about the collision such as whether a person was speeding or not, but, sometimes, it can even tell if someone else was also in the car.  This is an incredible level of information. 

As insurance attorneys in Rapid City, we always recommend that you consider hiring an attorney instead of negotiating directly with the insurance company on your own.  When it comes to cars with these “black boxes” or EDRs, the assistance of an attorney that is familiar with them becomes even more important.  Data without context is still open for interpretation, and could be used by the other party or his/her insurance company to attempt to paint a different version of events than what you know occurred in the moments leading up to and during the accident. Ultimately, the complicated issues that can arise due to EDRs and “black boxes” in vehicles is simply another reason why it is a good idea to consult with an accident or injury attorney in Rapid City after you have been injured in a wreck.