You may remember hearing stories about the old days in the Wild West when people could take control of someone else’s empty land and have it become theirs. In modern times, possession can still lead to ownership, which means that even the most expensive of San Diego real estate can still fall into the hands of another, and all without paying a penny to the owner on title. The beginnings of adverse possession actually started long before the American Old West even existed, and traces back to old English law during feudal times, when starving peasants cultivated and lived on portions of property that wealthy landowners had left unexploited. In part, adverse possession law survives throughout the country (including California) because of its underlying principle that land should be put to use, and if its owner seems to have abandoned the property, then someone else should develop it. Read the rest of this entry »
Free Land in San Diego? When Can California’s “Adverse Possession” Laws Lead to Ownership without Purchase?
February 9th, 2010
President Obama Proposes Small Business Tax Incentives for Hiring: The Legal Issues You Can’t Ignore if Your San Diego Business Hires New Employees
February 9th, 2010In his first State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a temporary tax credit that can fuel job growth through small business hiring, and this may prove to be a great incentive for local San Diego businesses that have been thinking about bringing on another employee. The Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Williamson reports on more of the details of the President’s plan, as revealed a few days after delivering the State of the Union address. As things stand now, the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut, one of the White House’s main small business proposals, will provide businesses a $5,000 tax credit for each net new employees hired in 2010, and start-up businesses can receive half the tax credit, all subject to a cap of $500,000 as a way to make sure that most of this tax credit is used by small businesses. Read the rest of this entry »
San Diego Business Alliances: Protect Yourself and Your Investment with a Joint Venture Agreement
January 7th, 2010In seeking out opportunities to further your business goals and grow your profits, you may be considering a joint venture with another San Diego business, or with businesses in markets elsewhere in California or beyond. A “joint venture” can be created when two or more persons or businesses join together for a single project or for a series of transactions. This forms a short term business that operates separately from your already existing independent business. In most ways, a joint venture is like a partnership, but the main difference is that a joint venture is meant to last for only a limited period of time to carry out a specific business project, while a partnership is usually meant to be an ongoing business. Often, businesses or entrepreneurs decide to join together because their products or services complement each other. Through a joint venture, you may want to combine products, unite manufacturing, create joint marketing or cross-endorsement plans, share technology or research and development efforts, expand product distribution, or combine resources and expertise in real estate development and investment. Whatever the plan, the objective is always to create a vehicle for greater mutual gain through the joint pursuit. Read the rest of this entry »
Eminent Domain: Your Rights When the Government Wants Your San Diego Property
January 7th, 2010The government doesn’t always need a for-sale sign to be posted in front of your San Diego property. Not only that, you may have to give up your property despite the fact that you’ve outright rejected the government’s unsolicited offers to buy your home or other property. Why? Because our property rights are limited by the federal, state, and local government’s sovereign right to take property through “eminent domain” (also known as condemnation). The power of eminent domain comes from the government’s right under the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and under our California Constitution to take private property for a “public use” in exchange for “just compensation,” e.g. the fair market value of the property. Both willing and unwilling sellers who find themselves in this situation have to act quickly to challenge the government’s actions or unfair offers of compensation. This often starts by recognizing that there are limits to the government’s right to condemn property through eminent domain, and you have your own property rights that you must be ready to immediately act upon. Read the rest of this entry »
Should You Be In the Business of Keeping Secrets? How a Non Disclosure Agreement Can Protect San Diego Entrepreneurs
December 10th, 2009A non disclosure agreement (NDA), often called a confidentiality agreement, protects your business’s information when it isn’t generally known to the public. Time and time again in the business world, there’s financial incentive to make sure you keep your secrets well…secret. For example, well before Sarah Palin’s book was released, it was widely known that San Diegan Lynn Vincent was Palin’s ghostwriter, so why didn’t the press manage to get any information from her before the book’s release? Not surprisingly, Vincent’s lips were sealed by a non disclosure agreement, reported San Diego Union Tribune columnist Diane Bell. Just as Palin’s publisher uses all tools available to protect its own interests, your business likely has confidential information that gives you a competitive advantage over others, such as: Read the rest of this entry »
The Buy-Sell Agreement: The Key to Protecting Yourself and Your San Diego Business
December 9th, 2009If you own a San Diego business with more than one owner, do you know what will happen to the business if one of your business partners wants to sell his or her share, or decides that it’s time to retire - should anyone be allowed to take that co-owner’s place? What if instead a co-owner divorces, becomes disabled, or dies - will that business partner’s spouse or other family members suddenly become new owners, and how can that affect the business? A buy-sell agreement (also called a buyout agreement) answers these and other important questions by detailing how ownership will be restructured once certain events occur. For each business partner, the potential benefits of creating a buy-sell agreement are seen from two perspectives: if your partner leaves, the buyout agreement can promote business continuity and protection for you during this transition; on the other hand, if you decide to leave, the agreement can plan for your own exit or retirement, and can help protect your family in the event of death or disability. Read the rest of this entry »
Mere Homebuyer’s Remorse or Did the Seller Fail to Disclose Defects? California Homebuyer Protections & Problems After Closing
December 9th, 2009“Let the buyer beware” - before California and other states set up certain homebuyer protections, these words haunted many purchasers who discovered major defects with their home after moving in, and were left without recourse against the seller. Under the harsh legal principle of buyer beware, a seller has no legal obligation to disclose defects to the buyer. That’s not to say that sellers are protected when they actively cover up hidden defects or make false representations, but if, for example, the seller simply failed to mention that the home is prone to flooding or landslides, then the burden is on the buyer to discover defects. While this is still the law in some jurisdictions, California and many others have abandoned this principle and now impose legal obligations on the seller in order to protect homebuyers. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Your Property, But What Can Be Done If San Diego’s Zoning Laws Stand In the Way of Your Plans?
November 18th, 2009After meeting in the same location for more than two decades, a local San Diego County church was told by the county that its members could no longer meet in its usual church building, reports Anne Krueger of the San Diego Union Tribune. It’s also reported by a San Diego Union Tribune AP article that several hundred miles north of San Diego, nine Fresno area medical marijuana dispensaries have been ordered to shut down. Elsewhere, in the affluent coastal city of Palos Verdes Estates in Los Angeles County, a homeowner currently faces misdemeanor charges for allegedly running her home as a “party palace,” as detailed by Jeff Gottlieb in the Los Angeles Times. What do these stories have in common? Accusations of zoning violations. Read the rest of this entry »
Is It Time to Close Your Business? What San Diego Business Owners Should Know to Prevent Post-Exit Perils
November 18th, 2009As some San Diego businesses have withstood the recession well, others have seen profits drop or may even be struggling to keep their doors open. If your business falls into the second category, you probably haven’t been able to escape the question: Should you close your business? It may be possible to ride things out until the business becomes profitable again or try to turn things around by changing your business model, e.g. promote a new marketing strategy or introduce new products/services. But financially, these options may not be available to you, and it might be time for you to move on to another investment or career. Read the rest of this entry »
My Neighbor, My Problem: Handling a Next-Door Nuisance
October 7th, 2009As a homeowner, you have many property rights, including the right to enjoy your home. Not everything your neighbor does that you don’t like can legally be considered a nuisance, but when your neighbor’s activities or the conditions on their property significantly and unreasonably interfere with your own right to use and enjoy your land, there’s a “private nuisance.” A nuisance occurs even though your neighbor hasn’t stepped foot on your property. If there has been a physical entry by someone or something onto your land, then there may be a trespass. When actions interfere with the health, safety or property rights of the community, then there may be a “public nuisance.” Common examples of nuisances caused by neighbors or nearby businesses can range from excessive noise, offensive odors, air and water pollution, or excessive lighting that seems to replicate that daytime feel in the middle of the night. Read the rest of this entry »
