RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS

Once you go under contract to purchase property in North Carolina, you will require a closing attorney. If you are working with a realtor, then that is typically the person who will contact a closing attorney that they like to work with (me, hopefully). If you are refinancing or taking out an equity line, then you simply tell your lender which attorney you want to work with in order to close your loan (again -me, hopefully). As a closing attorney, I perform two primary functions. First, I search the 'title' of the the property - which means I go through the various public records to make sure that the Seller rightfully owns the property and has the ability to transfer it such that it is being conveyed to you 'free and clear'  of liens and other claims - then I certify the results of that title search to a title insurance company in order to obtain title insurance acceptable to a lender. And Second, I make sure that all the documents are in order and the requirements of the lender are met. Basically, the process involves a great deal of information gathering, attention to detail, and document herding. Feel free to call me, or email me - I am happy to talk about the process and how it works.

To state the obvious, the break up of a marriage is difficult - and painful - and usually, as an added bonus, also expensive, both emotionally and financially. Sorry, it just is. If you are unfathomably mature and agree on everything, you may not need a lawyer, (but then one wonders to oneself, "self" why would two such unfathomably mature persons want to be apart?). If you do need my services, hopefully we won't have to spend much time in court. That's the goal, to get you as fair a shake as possible while going to court as little as possible. If you and your ex-spouse-to-be are able to divide property fairly, agree on issues of post-separation support or alimony, cooperate on issues of child custody and the child support that goes with it, then I become a facilitator; I help you explore possibilities and negotiate outcomes. More importantly, I help reduce it all to writing. You will need something in writing, unless you trust that both you and your estranged spouse understand things in exactly the same way now (not likely), and that with the passage of years, you will continue to see things in the same way (even less likely). And, if you have to go to court in order to achieve a reasonable outcome, then you will need a tenacious advocate like me in your corner. My family law practice is limited to Orange and Chatham Counties.