» Real Estate Law

Land Contract Default and Abandonment - is forfeiture or foreclosure required?

Does the seller of real estate on a land contract have to go through a district court forfeiture or circuit court foreclosure to obtain possession if the purchaser is not in possession of the real estate and has abandoned the real estate? The Michiga… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Termination of Oil or Gas Interests in Land/Dormant Minerals Act

(1) Any interest in oil or gas in any land owned by any person other than the owner of the surface, which has not been sold, leased, mortgaged, or transferred by instrument recorded in the register of deeds office for the county where that interest i… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Common Forms of Ownership of Real Estate

There are three common forms of ownership of real estate by more than one person – tenants in common, joint tenants with full rights of survivorship and tenancy by the entireties. There are some other less common forms also. The type of ownership i… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Partition

My sister and I own a house in Mt Pleasant, as tenant in common, and we have a disagreement over who should pay the real estate taxes and expenses. Can I force my sister to join me in selling the house? The remedy required is a law suit for partition… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Dower – is this really still the law in Michigan?

By Michigan statute, the widow of every deceased person, shall be entitled to dower, or the use during her natural life, of 1/3 part of all the lands whereof her husband was seized of an estate of inheritance, at any time during the marriage, unless… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Counterparts; Facsimile Signatures - Example Provision

This Agreement may be executed in multiple counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original instrument, and all of which shall constitute a single agreement. The signature of a party to any counterpart shall be sufficient to legally bind such… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Adverse Possession

Client: Are you telling me that my neighbor gets part or whole of my property, just because I did not care about it during a time when he maintained my property by doing the landscaping and by placing a fence around it. Lawyer: Absolutely yes. Michig… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Steps Required for an Assignment of Rents

Michigan law permits borrowers to assign rents from their commercial and industrial properties (other apartments with less than six units and family residences) to their lenders as security for their loan. The lender, however, may only collect the re… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

Affidavit of Allodial Title Clouds Title

We don’t normally follow criminal cases, but People v. Johnson-El, a published Michigan Court of Appeals opinion, caught our attention. In this case, Johnson-El is a member of the Washitaw Nation. The Washitaw Moors, a group that asserts that t… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law

CitiMortgage's Equitable Subrogation ruling applies retroactively

In an unpublished opinion dated July 31, 2012, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in National City Mortgage v Mercantile Bank that the equitable subrogation ruling in CitiMortgage Inc v Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc, 295 Mich App 72,… Read More
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Categories: Real Estate Law