Jun
01

Reviewing Your Purchase & Sale Agreement

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The purchase of a new home is an exciting and stressful time for buyers. The buying of a new home may not only be the most significant and largest purchase most people will make, but it also involves the law of real property, which is unique and presents special problems. The legal issues that arise differ with each home purchase and, therefore, retaining the right attorney to protect your individual interests is crucial.

As the median sales price of a Massachusetts home approaches $300,000, it is crucial that buyers have the Purchase & Sale Agreement (“P&S”) reviewed by an attorney. The P&S is a legal document that creates binding obligations between the seller and buyer. There are countless issues to be addressed in the P&S: the closing date, condition of the property, arranging for inspection, what personal property is included in the sale and potential title issues, to mention just a few.

Just as every home is unique, so is each real estate transaction. The use of a standard P&S form may not fully address the buyer’s desires or protect their interests. For example, the minor difference in a P&S stating the seller “may” complete a repair, rather than “shall” can prevent unnecessary stress at the closing table. Would you purchase a home without an inspection? Of course not, and you should not sign a P&S without consulting an attorney either.

If you are buying or selling your home, please contact us for a consultation.

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May
31

A Gallery is Selling Your Artwork: What to Know to Protect Your Rights

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As a practicing artist, I know how exciting it is to find and secure gallery representation. As an attorney, I have represented artists whose consignment agreements with a gallery went sour, and so I am well aware of the possible pitfalls that may arise once this relationship has commenced.

In Massachusetts, the artist is protected in her relationship with a gallery by Massachusetts General Law Ch. 104A, which creates a specific type of legal relationship, known as a “trust relationship,” between art owners and art dealers. The statute provides that an art dealer has a fiduciary duty to protect the trust assets of the art owner (i.e., their works of art and sales fees) as trust property. An art dealer cannot use or claim an art owner’s fine art as property of the gallery.  Consequently, when money from the sale of a work comes to the art dealer, the law treats the money as property of the art owner, not the art dealer. The art dealer cannot collect his percentage from the sale of the artwork until the art owner’s share has been paid.

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May
31

Business Succession Planning: Be Prepared

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According to the Small Business Administration, approximately 90% of all businesses are closely held and family owned. However, of those, only 30% succeed into the next generation, and a mere 15% survive into a third generation. Why do 70% of family businesses fail to succeed into the next generation? The primary reason is that family business owners neglect to create a comprehensive succession plan or “exit-strategy” for themselves.

When business owners work hard over many years to create a business that generates wealth for them and their families, more often than not, the business is the owner’s most valuable asset. More importantly, however, the owner is also the business’ most important asset. That is, the value of a small business very often lies within the owner’s experience, contacts and specialized skills.

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Apr
19

Dad’s Law Part #4: Unmarked Police Cars

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Recently, I saw this black unmarked car, with flashing headlights and an inside flashing light going speeding by on the highway. It was broad daylight, but it looked like a futuristic car. I have since come to learn it is a new form of the State Police Cruisers. Quite frankly, it was rather disconcerting. I started to think: Would I have pulled over for this car, and would I ask my daughters to pull over?

Each year across the USA, reports surface of drivers being pulled over by people who are impersonating police and intending to rob or assault them. These concerns are at issue now as many law enforcement agencies step up their use of unmarked patrol cars to catch speeders and other traffic law violators.

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Mar
18

Theatre of the Deal Revisited

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Having recently attended the Exit Planning Exchange 2011 Summit at Babson College, I was delighted that several of the themes that I had espoused in my presentation of The Theatre of The Deal, during the inaugural Summit were emphasized.

  • “The First thing that we must do is To Be or Not to Be—Prepared:”
    Be prepared, be prepared, be prepared: the necessity of forming a collaborative group of advisors around the owner, or potential owner. This group is targeted to advise and prepare for the foreseeable consequences of several actions; the key concept is to be prepared thoroughly investigate each and every option that is available. Not to prepare is an exercise in potential failure;
  • “The importance of a face-to-face meeting, timing, location, and other logistics:”
    While the social media phenomenon is essential to greatly enhance your professional exposure, and to be able to keep in contact with several diverse people, when the time comes for an important decision, it should only be done in person. Email can transmit huge quantities of information, but it is still unable to deliver the passion and sincerity of the deliverer!

It is amazing how certain basic principles survive even as the landscape changes!

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Mar
15

How “Fine” is Your Art?

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17 USC section 106A is known as the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA). The statute provides as follows:
(a) Rights of Attribution and Integrity.- Subject to section 107 [Ed. Note: the fair use section] and independent of the exclusive rights provided in section 106, the author of a work of visual art-
(1) shall have the right-

  • (A) to claim authorship of that work, and
  • (B) to prevent the use of his or her name as the author of any work of visual art which he or she did not create;

What this means in layman’s terms is that an artist has the right to be known as the author of a work; and that his or her name cannot be used as the author of any work he or she did not create.

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Feb
24

New Homestead Law is Welcome Change to Homeowners

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On December 16, 2010, Senate Bill 2406, an Act Relative to the Estate of Homestead, was signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick. The new law which replaces the Commonwealth’s existing Homestead Law will take effect ninety days after it’s signing, March 16, 2011, and clarifies ambiguities present in the existing Homestead Law while taking into consideration today’s complex financial transactions and modern households. The hallmark of the new law is that it provides for an “automatic” Homestead or protection against unsecured creditor claims of up to $125,000 in a homeowner’s equity in their primary residence. The scope of the new law extends to the proceeds from insurance as well as from the sale of a home and safeguards homeowners of two to four family and mobile homes.

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Feb
24

Just Because You are a Guard, Does Not Mean You are a Point Guard!

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Recently, I had a long-standing client call me to say that he did not need legal advice, but rather “counseling advice.” His call made me realize that a good attorney’s true value lies in not just knowing the law—all lawyers should know the law—but rather in being a listener and a mentor.

How does an attorney become the client’s trusted advisor? The term “trusted advisor” is fiendishly hard to define, but it seems to boil down to one essential component: giving priority to the client’s best interests and being fully invested in business practices that put those interests first. It means having the business acumen, experience, training, knowledge and subject matter expertise to be trusted to advise the clients well, and taking the time a client needs to be able to do so. A trusted advisor has the ability to diagnose the client’s business problems and challenges and then to make the right recommendations to improve their situation; to act as a change agent to build the case for change and to manage the politics of change within the client’s organization; and to ensure the client achieves the outcomes that you have represented.

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Feb
24

Mistaking Your Attorney for Your Hairdresser!

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Please do not permit your attorney to cut your hair, and likewise, under no circumstances allow your hairdresser to be your attorney.

In keeping with my theme of the many costs of divorce, not listening to your attorney can be extremely hazardous to your wallet and your case. Anticipated outcomes grounded in the experience of another, will simply lead to frustration and unrealistic expectations. Contrary to divorce legend, no case is the same as any other. Emotional aspects, child related issues and habits systemic to the relationship should not be treated in a cookie cutter fashion and given short shrift. Read the rest of this entry »

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Feb
24

How to Know if You Have Been Constructively Terminated

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Constructive Termination occurs when an employer renders an employee’s working conditions so difficult and intolerable that a reasonable person would feel forced to resign. An employee that has been constructively terminated may be entitled to recover lost wages and other damages suffered as a result of the termination. In determining whether an employee has been constructively terminated, a number of important questions must be answered.

First, is the employee an employee-at-will or a contractual employee? While either type of employee may be constructively terminated, the standards for establishing constructive termination are very different.

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