Delaware Business Lawyer Blog

There are a lot of terms that we talk about when you come in for a Will. Here are some of them.

“Guardian” - the guardian is the person you want to take care of your children if they’re under 18 years old and both you and your spouse are deceased. If you don’t have a Will, the guardian will be picked by the Court. Now think for a minute about which of your relatives might come forward and tell the Court that they want to be the guardian. The Court could pick somebody who you wouldn’t want. The easy way around this is to have a Will and name your first and second choices for the guardian of your children. The Court will always honor your request unless the Court feels that there’s a very good reason why it would be harmful to your children to appoint the person you chose.

gallon of gas - 31 cents
loaf of bread - 21 cents
dozen eggs - 53 cents
postage stamp - 5 cents
average cost of new car - $2,650

Unless you plan to move in the near future, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. If you live in Delaware and you’re interested in starting the process of refinancing, your first step is to pick a mortgage company. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your present mortgage company will give you the best deal. Believe me - it pays to shop around for rates.

You’ll need an attorney to handle your closing, and I always recommend contacting the attorney early on in the process to help with procedures and questions. Be sure to ask the attorney if there will be a fee charged if you don’t get approved for the mortgage.

This is the first in a series of articles about Wills. Let’s start with the basics and discuss what happens if you don’t have a Will.

Contrary to popular belief, if you die without a Will, everything you own will not go to the State. Instead, the question of who gets what is determined by the intestacy laws passed by our General Assembly. It’s not that our State Government wants to be involved, but if you choose not to specify in a Will how your assets get distributed upon your death, then the law controls who your heirs are.

So who gets everything if you die without a Will? If you're survived by your spouse, here are the rules that apply (it’s actually a little more complicated than this, but these are the basics).

A. If you have no children or parents who are living at the time of your death, your entire estate goes to your spouse.

B. If you have no children but you’re survived by one or both of your parents, then your spouse gets (1) the first $50,000 of your personal assets, (2) one-half of the balance your personal assets, and (3) a life estate in any real estate that you did not own as husband and wife.

C. If you are survived by children who are also the children of your spouse, then your spouse gets (1) the first $50,000 of your personal assets, (2) one-half of the balance your personal assets, and (3) a life estate in any real estate that you did not own as husband and wife.

D. If you are survived by children but one or more of these children are not also your spouse’s children, then your spouse gets (1) one-half of your personal assets, and (2) a life estate in any real estate that you did not own as husband and wife.

The part of your estate that doesn’t go to your spouse under A, B, C, or D, (or your entire state if you’re not survived by a spouse), goes as follows:

1. to your children

2. If you are not survived by children, to your parents

3. If there are no surviving children or parents, to your brothers and sisters and if a brother or sister is deceased, his or her children

Yusaf Acar, acting Chief Security Officer of the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer, and Sushil Bansal, former D.C. employee and current President and CEO of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp., have been charged for their roles in a bribery scheme and money laundering

Congressional Staffer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Fraud - Ann Copland admitted to being lobbied by Jack Abramoff and others on matters involving Native Americans and took a variety of official actions beneficial to them. She also admitted accepting items of value in exchange for her actions.

Viken Keuylian, owner of two Lamborghini dealerships, agreed to plead guilty to a scheme to bilk the finance company out of millions of dollars. In connection with the investigation, the FBI has taken into custody 13 Lamborghinis.

Former Hockey Team Owner Charged With Bankruptcy Fraud - Peter Hugh Pocklington, former owner of the Edmonton Oilers, was arrested on charges of bankruptcy fraud for allegedly concealing assets during bankruptcy proceedings.

West Point Graduate Indicted for Money Laundering and Theft of Government Property - Capt. Michael Dung Nguyen was charged with theft of government property, money laundering and structuring financial transactions. While deployed to Iraq, Nguyen stole more than $690,000 from the Commander’s Emergency Response Program

CPA Sentenced in Massive Fraud Against HSBC - Richard Po-Chun Wong was sentenced for defrauding HSBC Business Credit out of approximately $46 million through several elaborate schemes. Through his accounting practice, he prepared false financial documents for his clients, “redid” their books and helped them secure credit lines.

Here are just a few things you need to know.

Employers who are covered by the ADA law are required to make sure that individuals with a disbility have an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and to work in jobs that they're qualified for. Once an individual with a disability is hired, you have to make sure that they have an equal opportunity to be promoted. You also have to make sure that such person is given equal access to the same benefits offered to other employees. And you have to make sure that such persons are not harassed because of their disability. This last point about harassment has to be taken seriously. If you receive a complaint from one of your employees that he or she is being harassed because of their disability, you should conduct an immediate investigation and take whatever action is needed to fix the situation.

Most employers know that they can't ask certain questions during a job interview. But what exactly are the questions that can't be asked? You can’t ask the job applicant about their physical or mental impairment. You can’t ask how they became disabled. You can’t ask the applicant about the medicines they take. And you can’t ask the applicant about their workers' compensation history.

This article is part of a series of articles I've written about refinancing in Delaware.

This right to choose your own attorney is so fundamental that if you are referred to an attorney by someone who works for your lender, that attorney is required to inform you, in writing, that you have the absolute right (regardless of any preference that the lender may have and regardless of who is to pay attorney's fees) to retain a lawyer of your own choice to represent you throughout the transaction, including the examination and certification of title, the preparation of documents, and the holding of settlement.

The attorney who you are referred to must also inform you of the identity of any other party having an interest in the transaction whom the lawyer may represent, including a statement that such other representation may be possibly conflicting and may adversely affect the exercise of the lawyer's professional judgment on your behalf in case of a dispute between the parties. In this connection, a lawyer is deemed to have a "possibly conflicting" representation if he represents the lender or has represented the lender on a continuing basis in the past.

Under federal law, it’s unlawful for someone to send to your fax machine an unsolicited advertisement without your express prior invitation or permission. On the other hand, it would not be a violation if the sender has an established business relationship with you. And even in those circumstances, if you tell them to stop, they're required by law to stop sending you these junk faxes no later than 30 days after you make your request. If they fail to honor your request, that’s another violation.

Every state has a law called the “statute of limitations” which says how many years you have to file a lawsuit. In Delaware, the statute of limitations for breach of contract cases is 3 years from the date the claim “accrued.” In most cases, the date the claim accrued is the date the contract was breached.

The reason why there’s a statute of limitations is to prevent stale claims from being brought to court so that a person doesn’t have to worry for the rest of his life about being sued for something that happened a long time ago. Imagine how difficult it might be to defend a case after a long period of time has gone by where witnesses die or move away, and documents get lost.

The day before the closing, and sometimes the same day, the mortgage company calls to let us know that they’re not ready, and that the closing has to be postponed for a few days or even a few weeks. This is especially frustrating for those clients who are expecting to get cash back from their refinancing so they can pay bills. It's also a little worisome if you're facing the expiration of your rate lock.

Under these circumstances, my recommendation is to keep in touch with your loan officer on a regular basis. Email is really the best way. Each time you write, ask if there are any conditions that have not yet been met, and if there’s anything you can do to move matters along.

Why was I not surprised?

A few days ago I stopped at the Office Max near Christiana Mall and was shocked to see a sign announcing that later this month the store would be closing its doors forever. On my way to Office Max, I drove through the intersection of Limestone Road and Kirkwood Highway. The Gulf station on the corner is now out of business, as is the Steak & Ale and the Century Buffet across the street.

Speaking of the mall, Circuit City is going out of business. Circuit City follows KB Toys and Linens ‘N Things. And don’t forget that Mitchell’s up on Concord Pike went out of business a few months ago.

And who would have thought that Chrysler would close its doors in Newark after 56 years?

The simple answer is that one billion equals 1,000 millions. But even that doesn't really help. To put the number 1 billion in perspective, take a look at these examples:

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago Jesus walked the earth.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the stone age.

In order to get the most of this article, you need to understand the difference between a Note and a Mortgage. The Note is your written promise to pay back the money you're borrowing from your lender. The Mortgage, on the other hand, is a lien against your home which gives your lender collateral backing up your promise in the Note.

The Note is signed by the individual who has to pay back the loan. The Mortgage is signed by whoever owns the home.

When you apply with the mortgage company, let’s say they tell you that your spouse can’t be on the mortgage due to credit issues. What they really mean is that your spouse can’t be one of the “borrowers” whose credit determines whether the loan will be approved. Again, that's the person who will sign the Note. When your mortgage company says your spouse can’t be on the mortgage due to credit issues, they don't really mean that your spouse can't be on the mortgage document that gives then collateral backing up your promise to pay.

Let's take a look at two scenarios.

#1. Husband is the sole owner of the house. He signs the Note promissing to repay the loan. As the owner, he signs the Mortgage as collateral for his promise. On top of that protection, the mortgage company is also given title insurance.

#2. Husband and wife are both owners of the house. Husband signs the Note promissing to repay the loan. As the owners, both husband and wide sign the Mortgage as collateral for husband's promise. On top of that protection, the mortgage company is also given title insurance.

In both scenarios, the mortgage company has the husband's promise to pay back the loan, and it also has the house as collateral.