Real Property•
on December 14th, 2012•
Congratulations! You finally found your dream house (or, if you already own your dream house, a great interest rate on a refinance of your mortgage), and now, all that stands between you and home ownership (or a lower monthly payment) is a series of complicated phone calls and meetings with real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, your attorney, and a TON of paperwork. It may be tempting to try to simplify the process by allowing your bank and title insurance company to handle your closing in house, or using an attorney selected by your bank, and many banks will try to tell you that this is the easiest way to handle your closing. However, what banks will not tell you is that, in North Carolina, an independent North Carolina-licensed attorney MUST conduct your closing and YOU have the right to select an independent attorney of your choosing.
North Carolina title laws are designed to protect you. It is illegal for a closing in North Carolina to be handled by a title insurance company, a bank (which will hold its own interests over yours), or even a paralegal (without supervision by an independent North Carolina-licensed attorney). Under North Carolina law, an attorney (licensed in North Carolina) must conduct the closing, which includes, but is not limited to, title abstracting (searching), title review, applying for and obtaining title insurance, advising on and overseeing the execution of closing documents, and disbursing closing funds.
If your bank tries to tell you that they can handle your closing in house, tell them that to do so would be breaking North Carolina law and may subject them to criminal (Class I misdemeanor) and civil penalties. Furthermore, insist that you have the right to select an independent attorney of your choosing.
Your bank may try to tell you that hiring your own attorney to conduct the closing will cost more than if the purchase/loan is closed in house. This is not true. Attorney fees for a residential closing in North Carolina are very reasonable, and an independent attorney will be more likely to protect your interests. Your experienced attorney will be diligent in reviewing title, finding any title issues, and notifying you of any title issues found. You can then work together in resolving the title issues or, if necessary, terminate your contract for purchase.
Scott K. Burger has experience with residential real estate transactions and has closed many residential purchases and refinances. If you are buying or refinancing residential (or commercial) real property in North Carolina, Scott can help you in all phases.
Over the past decade, the prevalence of “self-help legal services” has increased exponentially on the Internet through websites such as Legal Zoom, Rocket Lawyer, and NOLO. These websites offer a number of legal documents, including wills and trusts, documents to incorporate, and real estate documents, which are filled in by the purchaser through a series of basic questions. None of these documents, after being prepared automatically based on the consumer’s answers to basic questions, is ever reviewed or approved by an attorney. The consumer is simply filling in the blanks of a form document.
The problem with this scenario in the arena of estate planning is that every estate plan is going to be unique. Self-help fill-able forms will not take into account any of the unique circumstances of a given estate plan, nor does any self-help offer any legal advice as to what may be in the consumer’s best interest. If the consumer is dead set on using a self-help legal service website, he or she should take the time to read the fine print on these websites. For instance, Legal Zoom’s disclaimer contains the following: “We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. We cannot provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.” Yet, despite the fine print, many consumers believe that any document purchased from a website such as Legal Zoom will be legally sufficient and fulfill all of that consumer’s goals and plans. Many would be surprised to find out that their legal documents, albeit cheaper than hiring an actual attorney, may fail to achieve anything that the consumer purchased those legal documents for. A consumer will find a similar outcome using these websites for other purposes, such as preparing deeds, incorporating a business, and filing trademark registrations.
Recently, Consumer Reports used each of the three self-help legal services websites above to create four legal forms: a will, a car bill of sale for a seller, a home lease for a small landlord, and a promissory note. Each of these forms was then evaluated by three law professors in a blind test. The verdict from the law professors:
Using any of the three services is generally better than drafting the documents yourself without legal training or not having them at all. But unless your needs are simple — say, you want to leave your entire estate to your spouse — none of the will-writing products is likely to entirely meet your needs. And in some cases, the other documents aren’t specific enough or contain language that could lead to “an unintended result.”
In short, if a consumer truly wants to be certain that his or her legal documents are legally sufficient to achieve all of that consumer’s goals, the consumer should consult an attorney, who will be able to ask all of the questions necessary to fully understand that consumer’s unique circumstances.
For more information on the Consumer Reports study, please visit: http://www.lawsitesblog.com/2012/09/self-help-legal-sites-no-match-for-real-lawyer-consumer-reports-says.html
Burger Legal, PLLC is prepared to assist clients with their unique circumstances and to make recommendations based on those unique circumstances. If you need a will or trust, to incorporate a business, or to prepare a deed, lease or promissory note, please contact Burger Legal, PLLC at 336.705.1016 or info@burgerlegal.com, and the firm will be happy to assist you in achieving all of your unique goals.
