Weekly Round-Up
Each week we answer 100s of legal questions. These are some of the questions.
Week Of September 24, 2022
QUESTION NO. 1: "I have to get an apartment before closing. Can you suggest some language to add in the contract?"
QUESTION NO. 2: "My apartment complex removed everyone's balconies mid-lease. They claim that the city made them do it. What can we do?"
QUESTION NO. 3: "When a property is in foreclosure, does a tenant have to pay rent? If so, to who?"
Week Of September 19, 2022
QUESTION NO. 1: "Could knowledge of a lawsuit be considered "actual service" of the lawsuit?"
A: No, one must be personally served by a process server to be properly served, however, if, for some reason, you cannot be served personally, then the plaintiff can serve you through a court ordered publication in the legal news, regular mail or even a posting on the property. In the case of property tax forfeiture, posting and publication can be considered adequate notice.
QUESTION NO. 2: "My tenant's daughter has epilepsy/ autism. Her doctor prescribed her a service dog. My lease does not allow pets but according to the tenant, this dog is a psychiatric dog not just a pet. Can I legally say "No" to my tenant?"
A: No. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, landlords and housing facilities must allow service dogs and emotional support animals, if necessary, for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. To fall under this provision, a person must have a disability and must have a disability-related need for the animal. In other words, the animal must work, perform tasks or services, or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability in order to qualify. A doctor’s prescription is sufficient evidence of the disability.
QUESTION NO. 3: "I have a former business partner trying to sue me on an old promissory note that I haven't paid on in over 12 years. How can he sue me now? So much time has passed?"
Week Of September 12, 2022
QUESTION NO. 1: "My brother refuses to turn over my mother's original will to prevent my other siblings and I from probating her estate. Can he do that? What do I do?"
A: No, he cannot legally do that. Michigan probate judges have the authority to compel your brother to produce the original will if it does exist. Among other things, he can be held in contempt of court.
There are also alternatives to have the estate probated even without your brother’s cooperation. It just makes for an even longer legal process.
QUESTION NO. 2: "I received a deed titled "Warranty Deed", but when I went to secure title insurance for my property, the title agent refused coverage because he says the deed is really a quit claim deed. What can I do now?"
A: A warranty deed is the best type of conveyance deed a buyer or grantee can receive from a seller. It contains 6 implied legal promises; among the most important warranty is the grantor’s guarantee to defend the grantee against all third party claims to the property.
A Quit Claim deed doesn’t contain any warranties. It is basically a document that conveys any interest that the grantor MAY have in the property; which could be no property rights at all. That is why the title insurance agent will not insure over a quit claim deed.
It does not matter how a deed is titled. The substance of the legal language contained within the deed controls.
QUESTION NO. 3: "A distant family member became a care giver to my sick father moving into the home to provide care two months before his death. After he passed away she filed a deed to this home naming her as the grantee. But in In his earlier will he had left his home to me. This is so sudden. What can I do?"
If you suspect that your relative “overreached,” then you have the right to challenge this late and surprising conveyance. There is a “rebuttable presumption” of undue influence when a “substantial beneficiary” of a proposed will had a “confidential relationship” with the decedent and used that relationship to “actively procure” the will or in this case, the deed. In simple terms, if someone abused their trust to manipulate your father into leaving them the bulk of their estate, a judge will assume there was undue influence unless this family member can prove otherwise. So, the only way to challenge your relative is to bring an action against them in court.
