By Jason McGrath

You’ve just inherited the family home, where you’ve not lived for many years, after the unfortunate but inevitable passing of your last living parent. You know there is a mortgage loan for the property. You have many questions, which may generally be summarized “What are my options, how does this work, and what happens now?” The primary focus of this article is to explore the legal and practical factors which play key roles when heirs attempt to deal with the mortgage loan and the mortgage loan servicer.

A Commonplace Scenario
Dad passed years ago, and Mom inherited his...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/10/congrats-youve-inherited-mess.html

In this video attorney Jason McGrath discusses some options when....

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/08/legal-judgments-can-they-be-negotiated.html

The attorneys in my Law Firm represent clients against banks and other creditors on a regular basis. Whether it’s in a civil lawsuit, a foreclosure case, a situation which has not yet reached the litigation stage, or a post-judgment matter, negotiations just about always take place. In most all of these cases, we have a conversation with our client like the one below when the time comes to discuss the settlement offer I’m going to make on behalf of the client.

ME: In order to consider a settlement offer, the bank is requiring you to...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/06/negotiating-with-bank-why-do-i-have-to.html

As attorneys who provide a variety of real estate and mortgage related services, including foreclosures and post-foreclosure disputes, we know that many (most?) borrowers really don’t understand private mortgage insurance. Known as PMI, private mortgage insurance is to benefit the lender, not the borrower – even though the borrower is paying for it.

What makes it worse from the borrower’s perspective is that, in addition to being foreclosed on, a borrower can end up being sued by the mortgage insurance company in relation to the very same policy the borrower paid for. The highly technical terms we use to describe this include:

We’ve advised and defended borrowers in these cases. The most common fact scenario is this one:

• a foreclosure takes place (or sometimes even a short sale or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure);
  
• the loan is not paid off in full;
• the creditor (lender / loan note holder) makes a claim...
  

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/05/being-sued-by-mortgage-insurance.html

Both Subchapter K and S of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) are pass-through tax structures in which the members of the entity are taxed for the entity's income, gains, losses, and expenses on their individual tax returns. That is where the similarities end. There are several differences discussed below that make Subchapter K seem more taxpayer friendly than Subchapter S. Much of the popularity of the LLC is attributable to the fact that LLCs offer limited liability to all investors combined with the more flexible partnership tax regime. In some situations, however, the goals of the business owners may be better achieved with an S corporation.

Subchapter S places very strict restrictions on...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/04/comparison-of-subchapter-k-v-subchapter.html

S-CORP TAX ELECTION: IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR LLC?
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As an attorney who happens to have an MBA and some specific tax law knowledge, and one who advises businesses on both day to day issues and tax matters, I know that if you’ve chosen (or will choose) an LLC as your business structure, it’s likely due to some combination of the liability protection an LLC offers, the operations and internal organization flexibility it allows, and the tax advantages which can accompany it. One of those tax advantages of an LLC can be the election to be taxed as an “S-corp.”

Keep in mind that, as we’ve previously discussed, one does not really “form an S-corp.” – this a tax classification, not a type of business organization. Once a corporation is formed, the...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2018/01/s-corp-tax-election-for-llc.html

Arbitration is sometimes referred to as ADR, which stands for alternative dispute resolution. Simply put, it is a legal procedure in which an unbiased third-party attempts to settle a dispute outside of court. In this two minute video, Attorney Jason A. McGrath of the McGrath & Spielberger law firm discusses the logistics of...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2017/11/arbitration-provisions-law-venue-video.html

As a business law attorney who handles business contract issues on the front end (business contract drafting, analyzing, etc.) and the back end (business law disputes), I’m always mindful how a legal agreement addresses the possibility of the “prevailing party” recovering attorneys’ fees and other legal type costs. This Part 2 addresses some of the factors and strategies which should be considered in deciding which option may be best for your situation. Part 1 addressed four (4) different ways to approach the costs and fees issue in a business to business contract.

1.    The “prevailing party” in the business to business contract dispute can recover legal costs and fees, including attorneys’ fees. Why might – or might not – you want this in your company’s contracts?

One perspective is that...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2017/10/business-contracts-what-should-yours.html

As a business law attorney who handles business contract issues on the front end (business contract drafting, analyzing, etc.) and the back end (business law disputes), I’m always mindful how a legal agreement addresses the possibility of the “prevailing party” recovering attorneys’ fees and other legal type costs. Below I list four (4) different options; the second part of this article will address some of the factors and strategies which should be considered in deciding which option may be best for your situation.

1.    The “prevailing party” in the business to business contract dispute can recover legal costs and fees, including attorneys’ fees. This concept is pretty straightforward. However, when put into actual practice, identifying the “prevailing party” can be complicated. Further, the costs and fees at...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2017/09/business-contracts-what-should-yours.html

Consumer Reports: Beware of Self-Help Legal Websites for Wills and Other Legal Documents originally published Friday, September 28, 2012, Updated.
The September 2012 issue of Consumer Reports reported that documents generated by certain self-help legal websites could lead to unintended consequences. Unfortunately, this still seems to be the case five years later in 2017.

Consumer Reports used the self-help legal websites to create a last will and testament, a residential lease, a promissory note and a bill of sale. These legal documents were then examined by three law professors in a blind test. The professors found, amongst other issues, that...

Find the full article at https://mcgrathspielberger.blogspot.com/2017/08/consumer-reports-beware-of-self-help.html