Mortgage lenders pursue homeow…
By · CommentsMortgage lenders pursue homeowners even after foreclosure(http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mortgage-lenders-pursue-cnnm-3107909798.html?x=0)
Senior Citizens Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program
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Nevada offers a Senior Citizen Tax Assistance/Rental Rebate program to persons 62 years of age or older whose annual household income was $26,677 or less. This applies to anyone who meets the age, residency and income requirements regardless of whether you own your home, live in a manufactured home, or rent your home.
The requirements are:
- 62 years+ by June 30 of the year of application;
- 2009 total household income must be less than $28,677 (including social security income);
- Must reside in Clark County for 6 months of the previous year;
- Applicant cannot have liquid assets that exceed $150,000;
- Applicant cannot own property (other than the residence) with value in excess of $85,700; and
- Homeowner’s assessed value may not exceed $571,000.
The application period runs from February 1 until April 30 of each year. There are also other types of rebates and benefits available to veterans, surviving spouses, disabled veterans, and legally blind individuals.
Tiffany N. Ballenger, Esq.
An Introduction to Elder Law
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Many people either do not know what elder law attorneys do or just assume they sue nursing homes and write $100 wills. On the contrary, elder law covers a wide array of legal areas dealing with progressive life changes.
Traditional estate planning attorneys help clients plan for their estate which is necessary, but still insufficient for their needs. Very quickly, clients start dealing with issues including a developing disability, ongoing struggles with a spouse, and deaths of loved ones’. Considering the recent financial crisis, these issues add heavily to the stress of where best to spend money. Folks spend their retirement savings in less than a year for nursing home care. Families agonize over whether to send their kids to college or pay for a parent’s care in a skilled nursing facility.
Therefore, elder law should help people plan for their lives, not just their deaths. A great deal of elder law includes planning for payment of long-term care such as self pay, LTC insurance, Medicaid, or VA benefits. Clients can determine what options for long-term care work best for their family such as assisted living, home health care, or a nursing home.
Other areas of Elder Law practice include:
- Guardianship over a person, their estate, and many times, both;
- Not-so-traditional estate planning;
- Estate settlement;
- Advanced Health Care Directives & compliance with HIPAA laws;
- Access to benefits including Medicare, Medicaid, and VA benefits; and
- Financial and retirement planning.
As more baby boomers enter retirement, these areas of law will grow in demand as the need for advanced planning and long-term care increases.
Tiffany N. Ballenger, Esq.
Reading: “Extra staff to fight…
By · CommentsReading: “Extra staff to fight foreclosures”( http://twitthis.com/mercsq )
Four Questions To Ask A Bankruptcy Lawyer Before Signing
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Should I file for bankruptcy or do I have other options?
While this question might be broad, it allows your lawyer to discuss all of your options. Your lawyer can discuss the benefits of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, as well as options other than bankruptcy that you may not have considered yourself. This overview may provide you with a clearer understanding of the pros and cons of filing bankruptcy.
Who will actually be handling my case?
In some cases, the lawyer you consult with will not actually be handling your case. It is important to know who will handle your case and also whether this person is a lawyer. In many consumer bankruptcy “mill” practices, a non-lawyer performs the majority of the work on your case.
How much of your time is devoted to bankruptcy cases?
Though some lawyers have 20 years of experience, they may only work on two or three bankruptcy cases a year. Therefore, they will not be as experienced as lawyers who work bankruptcy exclusively for much shorter periods of time. Bankruptcy laws have recently changed so it is important to know that your lawyer is familiar with these new laws.
How much do you charge for your services?
This might seem like an obvious question to ask initially but there are benefits to waiting until the end of the consultation. First of all, you can evaluate all of the other services the lawyer plans to provide. Many of the consumer bankruptcy “mills” advertise a low price but their services are very limited and exclude many of the customary services. Thus, your fee will increase exponentially to file your case. Also, it is important to know if there are any other expenses that may be incurred during the process that may be charged to you. With a lawyer, as with so many other goods and services, you get what you pay for.
Randy M. Creighton, Esq.
Nevada Child Support Guidelines
By · CommentsBy law, a parent who does not have custody of a child (the “non-custodial” parent) must pay the parent who has custody of the child (the “custodial” parent) child support. The amount of child support that a non-custodial parent must pay per month is determined by gross monthly income, which is monthly income before taxes are deducted. In Nevada, a non-custodial parent obligated to pay child support must pay 18% of gross monthly income for one child, 21% for two children, 23% for three children, and 25% for four children, with an additional 2% for each child thereafter. Furthermore, Nevada statutes contain guidelines for both a maximum and minimum monthly child support amount. The maximum amount varies depending on the obligated parent’s gross monthly income and the number of children while the minimum amount is $100 per child.
Once a child support order is in place, there are two ways that either parent can change the amount or modify the order. First, after three years have passed, either parent can request a review of the child support amount to determine whether it is still appropriate based on the parent’s current financial circumstances. Second, and most common, either parent can request a review of the amount if the obligor’s gross monthly income decreases or increases by 20%.
In today’s economy, problems arise when a parent gets laid off but must still pay child support. Ultimately, a parent may request a decrease in the monthly amount of child support owed based on a decrease in income by the requisite 20%. Inversely, if the non-obligated party can demonstrate an increase in the parent’s gross monthly income by 20%, the court may also increase the monthly amount that is owed.
There are several other important things to consider regarding child support. First, every child support order must contain a statement regarding health insurance for each child. A Nevada court will not sign a child support order that does not denote which parent is to provide health insurance. Second, each party must declare whether he or she is on welfare or is receiving any type of public assistance. If a parent is on welfare, and he or she has accrued child support arrears, the court cannot modify the child support amount without first notifying the welfare division. Finally, it is important for any person paying child support to understand that interest can be accrued on any delinquent child support amount. In addition, child support arrears can be reduced to judgment against any non-paying parent and a lien can be recorded against any of his or her real property. Thus, it is very important for a parent to always understand his or her rights and obligations regarding child support.
Amy M. Friedlander, Esq.
Dennis G. Sartain of Hilliard, Ohio; and Bonnie Helt, of Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty on January 21, 2010, to conspiring to commit mortgage fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. In a press release, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that Sartain, the accountant for co-defendant Thomas Parenteau, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding and impairing the IRS, one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, and one count of conspiring to obstruct justice. Helt, a real estate agent for co-defendant Parenteau, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud and one count of conspiring to obstruct justice.
According to the indictment and statements made at the plea hearing, Sartain conspired with Parenteau and others to prepare a $4.5 million fictitious loan application to refinance to improve a 30,000 square foot home. As a result of the fraudulent loan documents, McCarty obtained nearly $4.5 million from one bank and an additional $1.5 million from a second bank, and she transferred the money to Parenteau. From March 2004 through September 2006, Parenteau and Sartain dispersed in excess of $1 million of the loan proceeds back to McCarty by disguising the payments as payroll checks from Your Home Source (YHS) and JSS Investments, rental payments and consulting payments from YHS and other miscellaneous payments. On Jan. 31, 2007, Parenteau and his wife refinanced the 30,000 square foot property and received a $12 million loan, which was used in part to pay off McCarty’s existing obligations at the two banks.
Helt admitted that from 2005 through 2007, she, Parenteau, and others negotiated and participated in real estate deals in which they sold luxury homes for a falsely inflated purchase price from the builder in exchange for undisclosed or disguised kickback. In many of the transactions, the buyers misrepresented their income and assets in order to obtain financing of the inflated purchase price. The buyers and sellers in the transactions attempted to justify the inflated purchase prices by creating false work change orders and addendums which created the appearance that the inflated price represented additional substantial work to be completed on the homes. No such agreement was actually intended by any party. Further, those documents were not disclosed to the lenders. The object of each transaction was to use the loan proceeds in excess of the actual purchase price in order to fund hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickback payments to the buyers. The loans associated with several of the real estate purchases have gone into default.
The U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson has not scheduled a sentencing date. Sartain faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million or twice the monetary loss or gain from the offense. Helt faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.25 million or twice the monetary loss or gain from the offense.
Carlos L. McDade, Esq.
Best Times to File
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Filing documents at the courthouse can be quite a nightmare due to long, frustrating lines. That wait time, however, can be cut significantly depending on your timing of when you go to court.
Attorney runner services are the culprit. If you coordinate your visit around their schedules, your wait time could be cut in half! Knowing where to go and what documents you will need beforehand can also save you time. Otherwise, you may be turned away after standing in line for a long time.
Family Court is very busy in the morning. Most cases are scheduled in the morning and runner services usually pile in during the A.M. hours. Therefore, try to file Family Court documents between 2 P.M. and 4 P.M. when the rush has passed.
Regional Justice Center usually brims with activity all day but most runner services avoid hitting the courthouse in the A.M. hours because of the longer-than-usual lines at security. Between 8 A.M. and 11 A.M. is when you should go for it! Once passed security, the longest lines are generally for Traffic Court. Justice Court, located on the 2nd floor, has a numbering system that helps with specific needs. In the morning, the wait in Justice Court should be about 20 to 30 minutes as opposed to 2 or more hours in the afternoon.
District Court, located on the 3rd floor, has a single file line that is usually between two to five people long in the morning. In the afternoon hours, however, the line can be 20 to 50 people plus the runner services which already occupy 2 or more windows. All these factors usually translate into at least an hour wait.
Lunch time is also a bad time to file. There may be less people in line but most clerks also take lunch from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. The fewer clerks available to process files can contribute to extended wait times.
Another tip is to make sure you have plenty of quarters for parking. Tickets for expired meters can range from $20 to $35! Most meters give you up to 4 hours which should be more than enough time to complete your business at the courthouse.
Jason D. Wilder – Management Support/Utility
Lawyer vs. FHA
By · CommentsNew Orleans residents are challenged often with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, making it quite difficult to establish ownership.
Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client that I thought was absolutely priceless. This is one lawyer you gotta love, and it’s too good not to share!
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted, if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply:
(Actual letter):
‘Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.’
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual letter):
‘Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S. from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.
For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella.
The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ‘ expedition.
Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana.
God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back, to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it AND the FHA.
I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?’
Avoiding Security Headaches at the Courthouse
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Every time you visit the Regional Justice Center or Family Court, it seems they have implemented new security measures to protect the general public. With the recent rash of courthouse shootings and security blunders, walking into the courthouse has become reminiscent of airport security procedures and it is only getting worse.
So, to avoid holdups in line, take a few steps to ensure you will breeze through without any issues.
- Read ALL posted signs at or around the security checkpoint;
- Try to put jackets, coats, belts, and shoes through the X-ray before being asked to do so;
- Make sure your pockets are empty because even the smallest piece of metal will set off the metal detectors and cause delay;
- Place all loose articles in the provided baskets before you get to the X-ray;
- Keep moving since even a short pause can back up the line;
- Save all questions for the information booth located past security as questioning security personnel only slows down the process for everyone else;
Following these simple steps will ensure quick entry every time.
Jason D. Wilder – Management Support/Utility
