Archive: September 2017

For many who are contemplating a divorce, the thought of what might happen to your retirement savings as a result is beyond harrowing. What’s going to happen to our home, expenses, medical insurance? While these details can sometimes be overwhelming, an experienced divorce attorney who regularly works on family law cases can help advise you on how to plan for the division of retirement assets and properly plan for retiring post-divorce.

Any property acquired during the marriage is generally considered marital property and subject to equitable division. Property acquired prior to marriage as well as property inherited, acquired after separation, and/or divided via a prenuptial agreement is considered to be non-marital property. However, it is important to be careful about non-marital property that may have been commingled with marital property, as this could also be subject to equitable division.

With Hurricane Irma quickly approaching Florida, Wind and storm damage will likely occur.  If you become the victim of storm and flood damage, you will need to file a claim with your insurance company to start the recovery process.  You pay a lot of money for your insurance so it makes sense that if your home suffers damage, you will want to make a claim.  Depending on the cause of the damages and the type of damages your home suffers, your insurance company will be able to provide coverage based on the kind of policy you have. It is important that you take photographs of your personal belongings and home to document the condition of your home and the presence/existence of those belongings.

Your Claims Process May Be Different Depending On The Type Of Claim

Was it flood, wind, rain, loss of use, emergency mitigation? Or maybe temporary repairs?  Hopefully in all of these cases, especially if your home suffered catastrophic damages, by using these steps you will be ready to get your claim settled quickly and get the help you deserve from your insurance company.  Here are the 5 basic steps in filing an insurance claim.

Nothing is perhaps more effective in ensuring that there is a smooth relationship between landlords and tenants than carefully drafting and negotiating the contract that governs that relationship and the rights that each party has.

One of those terms includes the terms of “enjoyment” covenant, also known as a covenant of quiet enjoyment. This aspect of the lease refers to what extent the tenant and/or landlord is able to possess the premises in peace without disturbance by others. In other words, it’s the right to undisturbed use, and if it isn’t expressly spelled out with the specifics in the lease, it is automatically implied by the courts. This means that if the landlord “interferes” with this quiet enjoyment in any way, this can provide the tenant with the right to withhold rent and, in some circumstances, even terminate the lease itself.

One thing you will notice is that, even though this covenant is implied, it is usually written into every lease. This is because both parties (landlord and tenant) always retain the right to modify the condition and enforcement of this covenant by the tenant. Thus, when it does appear in a lease, its purpose is typically to restrict the conditions of the tenant’s rights. While this typically looks like language referring to a tenant’s requirement to pay rent and perform all of their lease operations before they enjoy quiet enjoyment against the landlord, contract law actually allows for two parties to contract to pretty much anything as long as it’s legal; thus, a landlord has a significant amount of leeway in building flexibility into this provision in the lease if need be.