I wish it was as simple as stating "yes" or "no". Unfortunately, there have been so many lawsuits across the country between buyers and sellers regarding the "proper" disclosure, that there is now (for the most part) no excuse for Sellers' not knowing the proper standard.

The standard is a reasonable common sense standard. If the buyer can see the defect when they are inspecting your home, then you do not need to "tell them" (disclose) about the defect since it is readily observable. This, however, is not what results in lawsuits by the buyers. It’s the defects that the buyers can’t see,and later find out 6 months after moving into the home, that starts the lawsuit

What does this mean? As the seller, you are required to tell the buyers of defects that exist within your home, but that the buyers cannot see when they walk through your home. Prime examples are leaky roof, termites, or foundational cracks. As a seller if you know you have these problems or similar problems then you are required by law to tell the buyer so the buyer can make an informed decision on whether he/she wishes to still purchase the home.

Well, I know what you are asking now. What if I didn’t know? As mentioned before, this is a common sense standard so you are not required by law to disclose defects that you didn’t know about either. I still know what you are thinking now. As seller, I can probably identify 100 small little defects, i.e, chipped plaster in a small corner of my bedroom, stains along my floors in the kitchen or maybe a kitchen cabinet doesn’t properly close all the way. Remember, this is a common sense standard so only huge defects (material) that are not readily observable need to be disclosed. If the buyers would change their mind and not buy your home over the "defect", chances are the defect is material.

What this all boils down to is that as sellers you should put every known defect in your home on your seller disclosure to avoid any future liability.

So to conclude, just remember, when in doubt disclose in writing and you will be protected.

For more information on this and other real estate matters, contact one of our West Palm Beach lawyers at LaBovick Law Group.

It was recently announced that Zimmerman will be charged in the Trayvon Martin case. The State Attorney Angela Corey is going to have an announcement at 6 p.m. Wednesday to announce more details of the case.

George Zimmerman is rightfully being prosecuted for murdering Trayvon Martin. It shouldn't take a Grand Jury to figure out that a representative of our community needs to decide whether his excuse for shooting a child in cold blood is acceptable. That is what a jury is for.

The parents of Trayvon Martin are going through a grieving cycle that often times leads to animosity and hard feelings between the parents. When a child is hurt or dies at the hands of another, parents will search for reasons or excuses why it happened.

Sometimes they start to blame each other. Sometimes, like in this case, there are no rational explanations or reasons other than some crazy wacko had it out for a person that he didn't think belonged in his neighborhood.

Zimmerman's attitude belies an underpinning of discriminatory beliefs against someone because of their skin color. In Zimmerman's mind, Trayvon didn't belong and that gave Zimmerman license to question and kill.

Shame on The Media in The Trayvon Martin Case

As the parents go through the anguish of all of the press and publicity surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, please keep in mind that they need their privacy in order to grieve. Perhaps the media should back off and leave them alone for a while. The Trayvon Martin case is not going to trial for months, and the media doesn't need soundbites or video clips of the parents to increase their ratings.

Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act over 20 years ago, it is no longer uncommon to see persons with disabilities in all facets of society. But what about children with disabilities? Are children covered by the ADA law? Absolutely.

Child ADA Law Compliant Example

A recent complaint by the parent of a visually disabled child was recently settled with a requirement that the football league allow the child to a wear a tinted visor instead of forcing him to wear sunglasses that would fog up and fall off. Given the league’s only opposition to the request for an accommodation was that paramedics might have to remove the helmet to check the child's pupils in the event of an injury, the United States Department of Justice office in charge of enforcing private complaints had no trouble pointing to the dozens of professional football players who wear similar visors.

This case is a good example of parents being advocates for their children with disabilities. In situations where parents have done all they can do, and they are still not satisfied with the accommodation, an ADA law attorney with strong knowledge of the ADA laws and these types of settlements is absolutely necessary.

Contact an ADA Law Attorney

LaBovick Law Group has a division devoted to the rights of those with disabilities. Call the LaBovick Law Group at 888.777.3884 for a free consultation to discuss the ada guidelines and your options. The attorney team at the LaBovick Law Group help clients from our Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, and Boca Raton offices. We represent ada disability clients throughout Florida, including Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Boynton Beach, North Palm Beach, Stuart, Deerfield Beach, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Lake Worth, Tequesta, Ft. Pierce, Lake Park, Riviera Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Delray Beach, Greenacres and Wellington.

Ever since the complete housing market debacle, and subsequent economic turmoil including huge layoffs, the word bankruptcy has become a much more common term. It is a real concern for many consumers that are drowning in credit card debt, back taxes and delinquent mortgage payments.

Even the rich and famous are not immune. Warren Sapp, the famous NFL football player and Dancing With The Stars contestant, filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy a week ago here in South Florida. It was reported in court documents that he owes more than $6.7 million to creditors, back child support and alimony.

I get many questions emailed to me about bankruptcy issues, so I thought I would invest the time to answer a bankruptcy question I received recently.

Bankruptcy Question of The Day

A woman recently wrote asking "Can I declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and still be able to keep ownership of my car?" She asked this because she stated "I am concerned because I need my car to take my children to school and also for my commute to work."

The short answer is that, more often than not, you can find a way to keep it under Florida bankruptcy laws. If you have a car which is financed, and is worth less than what you currently owe, then you may ask the bankruptcy court to let you hold onto the automobile and keep making payments toward the debt. If the car is worth more than what you owe, you are still entitled to exemptions that protect some of the equity that you have in the car and you may be able to negotiate a deal with the bankruptcy court so that you can retain ownership.

For example, if you do not own a home or if you do not intend to keep the home you reside in as part of the bankruptcy, then an additional exempt $6000 of homestead protection may be attainable to protect that amount of equity in the automobile if needed.

Call the LaBovick Law Group at 888.777.3884 for a free consultation to discuss the bankruptcy process and your options. The Florida bankruptcy team at the LaBovick Law Group help clients from our Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, and Boca Raton offices. We represent bankruptcy clients throughout Florida, including Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Boynton Beach, North Palm Beach, Stuart, Deerfield Beach, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Lake Worth, Tequesta, Ft. Pierce, Lake Park, Riviera Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Delray Beach, Greenacres and Wellington.

Foreclosure vs. Short Sale

Since 2007, the amount of people threatened by foreclosure has risen dramatically. I don’t think anyone could imagine the magnitude of the housing market meltdown and its aftermath. I often get questions about Florida bankruptcy laws. Below is a question that was recently posted asking about foreclosure vs. short sale.

Question: I’ve been without employment for over a year and cannot meet my mortgage obligations. The bank has threatened with foreclosure on our home. At this point, what are the available options for us, or is there none? Additionally, could you explain what the differences are between a foreclosure vs. short sale?

These are two very good questions that I am sure many wonder about here in South Florida and across the nation. Let me address the second question before discussing the best options.

Differences - Foreclosure vs. Short Sale

A short sale is when a homeowner gets the opportunity to sell their home for less than what is owed. A homeowner must negotiate with the bank and must have them agreed to lower the payment amount. The trick is to not get stuck paying out a large sum of cash to get the short sale to close. The advantage of a short sale is that, in 2012, you have no tax consequences on any money that is forgiven by the bank.

A foreclosure, on the other hand, is when the bank forces the sale of a home, because the homeowner hasn’t paid the mortgage and note. In foreclosure, homes sell for much less than what is owed. The borrower is not off the hook, as the lender usually places a judgment against the borrower for money still owed.

As far as what your available options are, my suggestion is to try to prevent a foreclosure, as this is not a good option. If you or anyone is threatened with foreclosure, look for a qualified foreclosure attorney so you may receive the best legal advice regarding your financial situation.

Did you recently have home renovations done by a contractor or subcontractor to improve the quality of your home? Was more harm than good done by that contractor? If so, you are just another homeowner victim in South Florida to be taken advantage of by shoddy contractors and Florida’s construction lien laws.

Here’s a typical scenario: the renovations are not completed on time or done properly so you the homeowner refuse to pay the remaining balance, contractor refuses to do any more work until he is paid the outstanding balance, a standoff ensues which ultimately leads to the contractor placing a lien on your home. At this point, most homeowners feel helpless since they have no recourse to prevent these contractors from filing liens on the homeowners’ property.

Florida’s construction lien laws are very favorable to anyone who performs work on one’s home. In theory, Florida’s homestead laws prevent just about any creditors from coming after your home which is why the lien laws are so tough against homeowners when they hire people to perform work for them.

Florida’s lien laws also have a prevailing party attorney’s fee provision which means whoever wins also recovers all of their attorney’s fees. This means that most naive homeowners choose to pay to remove the lien even though nothing was done in accordance with the original proposal or contract for fear of paying attorney’s fees.

Prior to paying off the bad contractor and hiring a new contractor to fix and finalize the home repairs, a few very important things need to be done to ensure that you preserve your claim against the contractor. After all, if the work wasn’t performed or done properly and a lien was filed, then the homeowners have protections against “frivolous liens”. There are ways to remove the liens and recover attorney fees from the contractors.

As many as 100,000 foreclosure cases in the state of Florida have been put in a state of flux with the undoing of the David J. Stern law practice. March 31, 2012 was the end of the road for Stern’s involvement in more than 100,000 foreclosure cases in which he is listed as the attorney of record. Some have speculated that many thousands of cases could be dismissed, unless lenders quickly hire another lawyer.

The David J. Stern law firm, founded in 1994, became one of the largest in the state of Florida by 2009. Most of its business was handed out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in which the Stern Florida Attorneys handled many thousands of foreclosures. By its peak, the South Florida lawyers were handling one out of every five foreclosure suits in the state of Florida.

But for much of his legal career, Stern has always been associated with allegations of unethical conduct. He had trouble in 1999, when he agreed to pay $2.1 million to borrowers who were overcharged for legal expenses and the subsequent cover-up by the firm via fraudulent documents. The straw that broke the camel’s back was in 2010, when allegations of illegal shortcuts, including robo-signing, became the center of attention across the nation. Stern’s firm was associated with these allegations, and as a result, the firm was fired by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Stern, in a letter back in the beginning of March, wrote the firm is basically out of business. What is left is a mess in the Florida court system.

Over the last few weeks, progress has been made in cleaning up matters after the collapse of the Stern law firm. The Florida court system is paying more attention to these fraud allegations. But it’s a long road ahead.

Frank Albear, a West Palm Beach foreclosure lawyer for LaBovick Law Group, stated that repairs to the Stern files, where necessary, leave stronger legal claims that could protect future home buyers from having to defend title to their home.

Only time will tell how this legal mess will play out. Do you have an opinion? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts .