» Real Estate Law
Land Contract Default and Abandonment - is forfeiture or foreclosure required?
August 24th, 2020
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Termination of Oil or Gas Interests in Land/Dormant Minerals Act
November 30th, 2015
(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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Common Forms of Ownership of Real Estate
November 14th, 2015
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Partition
October 19th, 2015
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Dower – is this really still the law in Michigan?
September 26th, 2015
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Counterparts; Facsimile Signatures - Example Provision
August 31st, 2015
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Adverse Possession
February 21st, 2014
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Steps Required for an Assignment of Rents
April 19th, 2013
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
Affidavit of Allodial Title Clouds Title
March 8th, 2013
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…
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Categories: Real Estate Law
CitiMortgage's Equitable Subrogation ruling applies retroactively
August 13th, 2012
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,…
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Categories: Real Estate Law