As with any industry, the business of farming can produce some unsavory by-products. Odor, dust, noise, vermin, and other conditions can result from farming. Unlike other industries, farming operations are commonly carried out in the backyards of homeowners and other landowners who are not connected with agriculture. Many families enjoy the comfort and quiet that living in a rural area provides. However, some of those families are unwilling to accept some of the disadvantages of life in a farming area. (more…)
Real Estate Law Blog
A Hoosier’s Right to Farm – And Not Be Nuisanced!
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011Construction Risk – Spring Cleaning 2011
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Risk involves the unknown. Risk is the prospect that something may go wrong, and if it does, the consequences will cost your construction company money. All businesses assume risk, but in the construction industry, risk is higher. Risk lurks in the bidding process, contracts, billing and receivables, and construction performance. Structure and discipline at all levels of your business can help you better control and minimize risk. This article will address how contracts, insurance and solvency due diligence, can help you minimize risk in 2011and beyond. (more…)
Down on the Farm – Taking a Security Interest in Motor Vehicles
Thursday, March 24th, 2011When making an agricultural loan, questions often arise about how to properly take a security interest in collateral typically associated with such a loan. Commonly, questions arise when taking a security interest in motor vehicles owned by a farmer.
Indiana’s motor vehicle code draws a distinction between “motor vehicles” on the one hand, and “farm tractors,” “farm trucks, farm trailers, or farm semitrailers and tractors,” “farm vehicles loaded with a farm product,” and “farm wagons” on the other. A “motor vehicle” is one which is self-propelled upon a highway, excluding farm tractors and farm implements designed to be primarily operated in a farm field or farm premises, among other things. A “motor vehicle” is subject to a certificate of title issued by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
In order to take a security interest in a motor vehicle, the secured party must include a specific description of the motor vehicle in the security agreement, and the secured party’s lien should be noted on the certificate of title and the certificate of title is then held by the secured party. Where a vehicle is required to be registered (as opposed to titled), the item should be specifically listed on the security agreement and a financing statement should be filed. Included among these vehicles are farm implements, farm tractors, and certain other types of farm machinery.
Author: Laura A. Scott (bio)
Phone: 812.452.3557
email: lscott@bamberger.com
But we don’t have any unclaimed property!
Friday, March 18th, 2011That was the exclamation at many of the 3,500 Indiana businesses that recently received a notice of penalty from the Unclaimed Property Division of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office. These letters stated that “lack of response and participation in the Amnesty program has resulted in a late payment fine of $100 per day up to a maximum of $5,000…” These letters came as a surprise to Indiana businesses that do not hold any unclaimed property.
Indiana Code section 32-34-1-29 states that “A holder of property that is presumed abandoned…shall report in writing to the attorney general concerning the property.” The statute does not state that a business that is not a holder of unclaimed property must also report. Additionally, the Attorney General’s website states that “”Negative” or “Zero” annual reports reflecting that no unclaimed property is held by the holder or business enterprise are not statutorily required.”
A number of groups are currently working with the Attorney General’s office to resolve what seems to be a possible discrepancy between the statute and enforcement activity. We will keep you updated as we receive any additional information. In the meantime, if you received this notice, please consider contacting your legal counsel before paying the penalty. A few minutes with your advisor might save you some money.
Author: Lori Young (bio)
Phone: 812.452.3560
Email: lyoung@bamberger.com
Down on the Farm – Notice of Security Interest to Buyers of Farm Products
Thursday, March 17th, 2011Secured lenders need to be aware that they must provide a notice to buyers of farm products if the buyer is to take the farm products subject to the lender’s security interest. Failure of the secured lender to send such a notice to the buyer will not obligate the buyer to deliver proceeds of the sale to the secured lender and the secured lender could miss out on the opportunity to collect such proceeds before they are in the hands of the debtor. Of course, the secured lender would still have a security interest in such proceeds, but if they are in the hands of the debtor, they may no longer exist when the secured lender seeks to collect them. (more…)
Verbal Mortgage Release Not Enforceable
Thursday, March 10th, 2011An employer loaned his employee money to buy a house. As the employment relationship went on, the employee alleged that the employer agreed to release the mortgage on the house. However, no written document was ever signed releasing the mortgage. (more…)
A Caution About Deed Forms in Real Estate Purchases
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011Usual practice calls for a purchaser of real estate to get a warranty deed at closing. When a deed recites that the seller “conveys and warrants” the property to the buyer, if there is a problem with the title or right of possession after the closing, the seller has to make it good, except as to any problem or encumbrance identified in the deed and excluded from the operation of the warranties. This gives the buyer a claim against a seller for any problems with the title to the real estate that were not revealed by the title insurance commitment or other title search, or even if no title search or title insurance commitment was obtained (which is a bad idea for any purchaser, but that is another article). (more…)
Bamberger Seminar – A Practical Approach to Managing Environmental Issues in Manufacturing
Monday, February 28th, 2011Join the attorneys at Bamberger on March 16, 2011 from 7:30 to 9:00 am for a complimentary seminar covering environmental issues facing manufacturers and other businesses today.
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Why Should I Buy a Survey?
Friday, February 18th, 2011A survey should be considered for all purchases of real estate and when lenders are making significant mortgage loans. A survey will locate boundaries, encroachments, overlaps and access to the real estate. The survey will reveal whether improvements have been built in the proper location. The survey will also confirm the accuracy of a legal description to be used in a deed or mortgage. Finally, a survey will determine the acreage amounts contained within a tract of land. (more…)
A Few Years Ago We Thought Receiverships Were Dead
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011Over the past few years, a number of amendments to the Bankruptcy Code have made bankruptcy a less flexible tool for debtors dealing with real estate related debt problems. As a result, state law receiverships are on the rise. Where before we rarely, if ever, saw receivership action initiated by a lender, they are now quite common. (more…)