Real Estate Law

Real estate law governs the legal issues arising from the ownership, purchase, transfer, rental, titling, development, zoning, and loans related to real property. "Real property," which is used interchangeably with "real estate" and "realty" refer to the land and structures, including other tangible aspects of the two, such as permanent fixtures in the land and structures. Real estate law is comprised of numerous, and often conflicting, rules and regulations enacted by states and other local governments. Real estate attorneys thus are versed in different aspects of the law and often concentrate on specific areas.

One of the common issues arising from real estate law would be the sale and purchase of real property. It is customary for sellers to engage the services of real estate brokers to seek out buyers for their property. Typically, the seller and the real estate broker enter into a listing agreement under which the broker agrees to list the property so that buyers may find it. In exchange, the seller agrees to pay the agent a commission, which is based on the proceeds from the sale of the property. The brokering business is governed by law and are subject to certain requirements, including licenses to operate, the requirements of which vary from state to state. As part of their required professional conduct, real estate brokers, under the Federal Fair Housing Act, are prohibited from discriminating against prospective buyers based on race, color sex, among others.

The sale of real property is governed by another set of laws, which, again, vary from state to state. Because the seller and the buyer come to a meeting of the minds in the purchase of the property, the sale of property is generally governed by contract law. Under contract law, a sale agreement is required to be put into writing for documentary evidence in case there is fraud in either of the parties.

Of the requirements in the sale of real property is that the property must have an appropriate title and the title to such property must be marketable. This means that the title must be clean in that there are liens attached to the property. It is in this stage of the sale process that buyers often require the help of real estate attorneys to look into whether the title of the property is marketable. Following an attorney's assurance that the title is marketable, a deed of the land must be executed. Some states require that deeds must be placed on official record so that the whole world will be notified that there has been change of ownership. The deed requires a detailed description of the land, in terms of metes and bounds, which description must be filled up by land surveyors. To finance the purchase of a real property, the prospective purchaser often obtains a mortgage because the cost of purchasing the property may be too steep and the prospective buyer might not have on hand the cash required to make such a purchase. Mortgage is governed by another set of laws.



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Employment Law - Legal Information and Resources

Employment

Employment laws in the United States were rooted as counter measures against labor practices during the industrial revolution. Employment law is a constantly evolving set of laws promulgated to address issues relating to labor and employment. Both the employer and the employee are given rights and obligations under employment laws to ensure that workers are treated fairly, not discriminated upon, and receives benefits and wages that are legally due them. Employment laws are based on a combination of federal and state legislation and rules and court precedents. Federal employment laws are enforced by the Department of Labor.

Many cases involving employment disputes involve "wage and hour" violations. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires standard wages and overtime pay for private and public employees. States are, however, free to enact other laws to provide additional protections to employees. Under federal law, employers are required to pay a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for workers with health insurance coverage or $8.25 per hour for workers who do not have health insurance coverage. States can approve higher minimum wage and employers in those states must comply with those requirements.

The FLSA also requires employers to pay workers who render services beyond their required number of work hours. The FLSA does not limit the number of hours an employee can work per week, but does require that after 40 hours of work rendered, the employee should be compensated one-and-one-half times his regular pay. In "wage and hour" suits, the plaintiff may allege that he or she was paid below the required minimum wage or that he or she was not paid the overtime pay that was due him or her. The difficult part, on the side of the plaintiff, in suits claiming unpaid overtime pay would be defining what constitutes "overtime" work. Overtime is any work done beyond the regular 40-work hours per week. Numerous cases, however, have been filed seeking court determination of whether specific activities are considered "work" or not, and whether the performance of these activities would entitle workers to overtime pay. Research on case precedent regarding this issue is difficult as rulings vary from state to state. It is thus imperative to require an expert employment law attorney to conduct this extensive research.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against their current employees, former employees, or possible employees based on ethnicity, gender, race, religious, among others. Despite this prohibition, cases arising from employment discrimination remain prevalent. An employment discrimination lawsuit is highly procedural, requiring the plaintiff to fill-up forms and obtain assessment from certain agencies prior to being given the go-signal to pursue an employment discrimination case.

Moreover, another issue arising from employment law would be the interpretation of employment contracts. Most states presume that the relationship between the employer and worker is at will. There are numerous instances, however, when both employer and worker ask a court to interpret their contract. These instances often involve employers terminating their workers following the workers' filing of a compensation claim or filing a whistleblower suit. These illegal terminations are prohibited under the law, but employers are ready to defend their action, thus a plaintiff should hire an employment law attorney to counter employers' arguments.

Areas of Law