Articles & Blogs
Can the Government or an HOA Restrict My Home as a Short-Term Rental?
Many people buy investment homes in Arizona wanting to utilize them as a long-term and even short-term vacation rental and offer them for rent through AIRBNB, Tripping.com, FlipkKey, HomeToGo and many other websites. However, before one buys a home to be utilized as a short-term vacation rental, one should investigate to see what restrictions may exist that could prevent them from utilizing the home as a vacation short-term rental.
Maintaining the Corporate Veil and Avoiding Personal Liability
Often owners of real estate park their holdings, especially commercial and investment real estate, in limited liability companies. One of the main reasons people form LLCs is to avoid personal liability for contracts and contractual debts related to their business.
Ways to Protect My Property From Going to Probate
Frequently, realtors contact me because they have a property under contract and are set to close escrow but one of the owners or the owner passed away. The realtor may be in panic mode as they do not want to lose the deal and they ask me what can be done.
Websites: Profits and Pitfalls
Because of the ubiquity of the internet, websites have become an increasingly important marketing tool for any businessperson. The website can advise a potential customer of the goods or services offered and even serve as the means for the customer to buy those goods and services. But the digital nature of the internet facilitates copying and unauthorized use by competitors.
Will You Still Be My Valentine – In Litigation?
Valentine’s Day is approaching and it’s easy to get caught up in the romance of a relationship. However, one of the most dangerous things an unmarried couple can do is buy a home together without any type of written agreement for its disposition if the relationship sours.
Web Browsing: Keeping Your Data Safe
The pervasive use of the internet for business and personal matters and the proliferation of hacking, emphasizes the importance for everyone to be careful in protecting their business and personal data. You may not give your search history much thought, but by practicing good browser hygiene, you can help maintain your privacy online.
Increased Protection for Homesteads?
Your home is a valuable asset. You most likely invested a great deal of money into your home. For most people, their homes are in fact their biggest investments. But did you know that if you became in trouble financially and judgment creditors record a judgment that it operates as a lien on your home? Arizona does offer some protection in your home through what is called a homestead exemption.
Website Accessibility Lawsuits: A Real Threat
Most business owners are familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, and the requirements that Act imposes. The ADA ensures that goods, services or other activities provided by places of “public accommodation” are equally accessible to persons with disabilities.
Marijuana Laws and Gun Ownership
Many people celebrated the recent passing of the voter proposition that made recreational marijuana legal in Arizona. However, if you are a gun owner, you may want to hold off on taking that first drag. Federal law still prohibits gun ownership if you are a marijuana user.
One of the Best Gifts – Peace of Mind
In this season of gift-giving, one of the best gifts a person can give to their family isn’t found under a tree or subject to physical transfer of a tangible item. Typically it is not wrapped in shiny, fancy packaging or tied up with a pretty ribbon.
Happy Thanksgiving
Here we are in 2020, the year of a worldwide pandemic, living life in a “new normal”. This year’s Thanksgiving will still have delicious food, and hopefully football, but will be shared with just our immediate family and perhaps a limited number of guests. Celebrating Thanksgiving in the “new normal” will not prevent us for being thankful for all the things that are important to us.
COVID-19: Fresh Start Through Bankruptcy
In financial distress due to COVID-19? Fortunately, there is still hope and a chance for a fresh start through bankruptcy protection proceedings.
COVID-19: Legalities of Reopening Businesses
After a few months, the governors of various states have relaxed their stay-at-home orders in the wake of perceived hopeful trends in the numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to the coronavirus. In Arizona Governor Ducey’s order was rescinded effective May 16, 2020, and businesses have begun to reopen subject to certain guidelines. But the risk of infection still remains, and as businesses restart their operations they face several legal challenges.
I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts
Not sure if you’ve heard but there is a new Ghostbusters movie coming out this summer. In the film, ghosts haunt a rural house. “Why don’t they just sell the house and move,” you may ask? Well, believe it or not, in Arizona they could and would not have to disclose the issue. Arizona has the stigmatized home protection law, A.R.S. Section 32-2156
Goal Setting and The Bucket List
More than seven and a half years ago I set a goal to complete a cycle of study of the 2,711 double-sided pages of the Babylonian Talmud, a compendium of Jewish law and lore capturing a tradition dating back to Moses at Sinai. Written in terse Hebrew and Aramaic, it is best not studied alone, even with the help of English translations. So I joined fellow learners in the Daf Yomi program (Daf = page; Yomi – daily).
Fantasy Football: Life Lessons
I, like many of you I am sure, participate in Fantasy Football. I look forward to the draft every year where I get to see old friends (25 year league) and catch up on life as we talk passionately about one of our favorite pastimes……….Football!
Avoiding Issues With Contractors
I recently read a news article about a woman who paid a $400 cash deposit to a handyman for some work to be done on her house. The handyman took the money but never did any work. She had no written contract with him and no way to make him pay, except to try to get a news station to pick up the story to shame the handyman into paying. He still didn’t pay her.
New USPTO Rules for Federal Trademark Filings
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced several new rules that change the process for trademark registrations. The first applies to foreign trademark applicants, registrants or parties to trademark proceedings. The second requires all trademark applications, submissions and relevant documents to be filed electronically through the USPTO’s online Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).
Litigation and the Dangers of Social Media
These days social media use is an integral part of everyday life for so many people. We connect and interact with others in the cyber world by sharing our ideas, discussing our interests, and posting photos revealing where we are and what we are doing several times throughout each day. But, how many social media users actually pause to consider the consequences of disclosing so much information on-line?
No Estate Plan or Will – A Horror Beyond Prince
Many of us are familiar with the ongoing battles over the estate of the late pop singer Prince, who died without an estate plan. People came out of the woodwork claiming to be a relative or child. The matter will be tied up in the courts for years draining the estate of much of its worth.
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