An article in the June issue of the Wisconsin Lawyer, “Revising the Residential Offer Form,” discusses the revisions. The author points out the improvements and also some potential flaws in the newly revised form. If you are dealing with Wisconsin residential real estate, be sure to read it.

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It all started yesterday on the way home. I caught a story on NPR about how the biggest obstacle to rebuilding in Haiti isn’t resources but questions over land ownership. You can read the full story here, but this is the more pertinent part:

[C]onstruction is being held back right now by questions over land ownership. Haiti had very poor land title records before the quake, and the disaster destroyed many of the documents that did exist. . . . [M]ost aid agencies won’t put a transitional shelter on a plot of land if it is unclear who actually owns the property.

Not only does this drive home the importance of law and having clear title, but also the immense benefit technology can provide to recordkeeping. Although many attorneys are still keeping paper files, those who have been through natural disasters (flooding, fires) are the early adopters and advocates for the “paperless office.”  Which brings me to current event number two: the rainstorm that is pouring nearly a foot of water on parts of southern Minnesota and has, as of this post, closed the Steele County Courthouse and led the governor to declare a state of emergency. Which, if you are still following me, raises some questions.

On a small scale: Do you have an emergency plan for your office? Not an “Exit through the side door if there’s a fire” kind of plan, but a plan for “If I can’t get to the office — or if there is no office anymore — how do I access my files?” You’ve probably heard plenty of talk about keeping a paperless office. If you didn’t know why it was a such a big deal, dealing with a disaster is a significant piece of the equation.

You also want to answer the question “If I die suddenly or am incapacitated, who and how will anyone take care of my clients?” Ethically, we should answer these questions. At our last Off the Clock, Karen Marty presented her instructions for closing office, which also works as emergency or vacation instructions.  We’ll be sharing her list on practicelaw in the near future.

On a big scale: We are lucky in Minnesota. To begin with, our title records have been clearer than what many have experienced on the east coast simply due to less overcrowding and more reliance on plats than metes and bounds descriptions.  We also have many talented real estate attorneys who have made electronic records a reality and the Electronic Real Estate Recording Commission is working toward e-recording. Though the primary goal has been to save time and paperwork by recording electronically, the benefit of having enduring records is really hit home by the devastation we see in Haiti.

In fact, a coworker just told me that the Great Chicago Fire was the main event prompting adoption of the Torrens registration system in Illinois.

It is often natural disasters that push the legal community to change or should at least make us appreciate what we have.

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Accordingly the Residential Real Estate Committee of the MSBA’s Real Property Section revised two of its forms that concern common interest community property:

• RPF Form 12 Addendum to Purchase Agreement: Common Interest Community Property
• RPF Form 16 Minnesota Common Interest Community Resale Disclosure Certificate

Both of the revised forms are now posted at practicelaw.org. The revisions to the forms track those required by the new legislation.

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Post tags: MCOIA, New Laws, practicelaw

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The Department of Commerce Order indicates exactly what changes were made to which forms. The more significant changes, however, include:

• space to include the Well Disclosure Certificate number if it is electronically filed
• revised hereditament language to promote language consistency across forms
• revised conveyance language to include “and quitclaims” on Series 10.4, .5, and .6 (Trustee’s Deeds, Deeds of Distributions, Deeds of Sale, Conservator’s Deeds)

These 2010 forms replace the 2006 versions and are now posted on practicelaw and on the Department of Commerce website.

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Practitioners, of course, benefit from uniform conveyancing forms; they essentially establish a “safe harbor.” If you fill them out correctly, they will be accepted for recording. In addition, the uniform forms reflect the combined thinking  and years of real property practice experience of the UCB Task Force members.

But one size does not fit all. Often a transaction calls for indivudually tailored forms. The dilemna: any alterations to the UCBs render them non-uniform.

The solution? Starting today, practicelaw is rolling out “ECBs” — Editable Conveyancing Blanks. These are Microsoft Word documents modeled after the UCBs, with some important distinctions:

• We have removed the Uniform Conveyancing Blank “label” and form number that normally appear in the upper right corner of a UCB.
• We have also replaced blank lines in the UCBs with bolded brackets and moved the instructions from the UCBs into the brackets.
• The new forms maintain a similar numbering system, although we have moved the form number to the lower left corner and have removed any decimal points A 2011 ECB form, for example, is modeled after UCB number 20.1.1.

These revisions make it easy for you to tailor the ECBs to your transaction. Also the different format makes it easy to distinguish betweeen the UCBs and the ECBs at a glance.

Compare the UCB style to the ECB Style

Like the UCBs, the ECBs are grouped into Series, and one Series will be rolled out every few weeks starting today. The first set, the 20 Series, is now posted on practicelaw. (Note: We did not start with the 10 Series, the Deeds, because the Uniform Conveyancing Blank Task Force is in the process of making some revisions to the Deed Series. We expect these revisions to be approved and the new documents posted within the next few weeks.)

We are excited about this new addition to practicelaw. Now users have a choice. The ECBs strike a nice balance by allowing individualization without compromising the uniformity of the UCBs. Let us know what you think.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ECBs, editable conveyancing blanks, UCB

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