Entrepreneurs and Professionals should be careful not to overlook one potentially valuable market for sale of their business or practice: their employees. Many small business entrepreneurs poised to retire in the next several years are looking for potential purchasers of their enterprise, which often represents their life’s work (or at least a big part of …
PART 1 – Michigan Seller Disclosure Act The Coronavirus pandemic dominates the news right now, particularly as to health concerns far more critical than sale of a house. Nonetheless, the oncoming residential selling season will soon converge with the coronavirus pandemic to generate this question: must a house seller disclose an occupant’s coronavirus or infectious …
Many House Sellers believe that an “as is” clause will protect them from all legal liability if the Buyers subsequently discovery any undisclosed defects or faults in the purchased House. This belief is not unfounded; the “as is” clause does indeed transfer the risk of loss from a House defect to the Buyer in many …
When contracting parties confront the possibility of a commercial dispute, one of the fundamental questions they face is whether to arbitrate that dispute. This question can be answered by the contract, or the parties can simply choose to arbitrate at any point after the dispute has arisen. There are several frequently cited PROS and CONS …
The Michigan legislature amended the Marketable Title Act to clear titles. In the process, they may have created more room for error. At the end of 2018, the Michigan Legislature amended the Marketable Title Act. The intent was to clarify the meaning of the phrase “subject to easements and restrictions of record”, which appears in …
As many Michigan residents are by now aware, Michigan courts have been quite stingy allowing slip and fall cases to proceed to the jury when the property owner can claim that the danger was “open and obvious.” In Michigan, a danger is open and obvious if an average user with ordinary intelligence would be able …
One of my perennial favorites in contract interpretation law is the doctrine that parties can orally modify a “no oral modifications” clause. That’s right, Michigan courts will not allow contracting parties to irrevocably state in advance that their contract can never be modified except in writing. This seemingly nonsensical legal doctrine actually makes sense upon …
In a recent decision entitled Sams v Common Ground, a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals enforced a Michigan employment contract reducing the customary six years statute of limitations to just one year. The employee challenged that reduced time limit as being unconscionable and contrary to the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act. The …
Effective March 8, 2017, Michigan joined an increasing number of states that permit “Domestic Asset Protection Trusts,” aka DAPTs. These instruments enable the Grantors forming the Trusts to protect their property against future claims, as long as they follow the specified guidelines. DAPTs are irrevocable trusts. Unlike most irrevocable trusts, however, the Grantor who sets …
This is an all-too frequent occurrence. You took out a home equity loan years ago and paid it off. You are now selling your house but the mortgage company never removed the mortgage lien. The loans had been transferred by the mortgagee to another lender, or the records just don’t go back that far. What …