A bill approved by the Maryland General Assembly would raise the maximum threshold amount of money that an indemnity deed of trust (IDOT) may secure on a loan and still benefit from recordation tax exemptions. House Bill...more
Legislation to impose a tax on the creation of mezzanine debt and preferred equity was reintroduced on Jan. 4, 2023, in the last two sessions of the New York state legislature, by the same state senators who proposed it...more
The closure of the Studebaker-Packard Corporation car manufacturing plant in 1963 was a major catalyst leading into the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Savings Act of 1974 (“ERISA.”) ...more
Companion bills in the New York State Legislature, Assembly Bill No. A3139 and Senate Bill No. S3074, if enacted, would subject mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments to the same recording and taxation requirements...more
When you consider the rapidly expanding residential and commercial real estate markets in Salt Lake City and its surrounding suburbs, it brings to mind the highly anticipated 26-minute commute from Cleveland to Chicago via...more
The development of real estate projects, including hotels and master planned communities in Los Cabos and other places in Mexico, commonly requires financing by banks and other institutional lenders. This article presents an...more
A federal district court in the District of Columbia dismissed ERISA fiduciary-breach claims by participants in Georgetown’s 403(b) retirement plans that were predicated on allegations that the trustees invested in funds that...more
For several years, we have been describing the (increasingly successful) efforts by California state and local government agencies to increase their tax take through new and expanded fees and taxes on real estate...more
South Carolina assesses a recording fee on deeds to real property. The South Carolina deed recording fee is imposed for “the privilege of recording a deed,” and is based on the transfer of real property from one person or...more
On August 28, 2017 the South Carolina Department of Revenue published Rev Rule #17-5, which updated Rev Rule #15-3 (the “Rev Rul”). The Rev Rul deals with the application of the deed recording fee on real estate...more
In this post, which is the third and final segment of a three-part series, we look at real property recording and related fees, which have increased significantly in Nassau and Suffolk Counties in recent years. Like illegal...more
On July 25, 2016, Goodwin filed a certiorari-stage amicus brief on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, and several other mortgage industry groups. The case involves a Connecticut law that...more
In a recently issued opinion, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a recording statute specifically targeted by the Connecticut legislature to impose higher recording fees on residential mortgage...more
States have long imposed fees for recording land records documents, and until recently they have generally done so uniformly, without regard to who the parties to the document might be. The Connecticut Supreme Court has,...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that Pennsylvania’s recording statute does not require the recording of all conveyances. As a result, the Third Circuit reversed the district court’s refusal to enter...more
Since the mortgage crisis began several years ago, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”) has faced numerous legal attacks relating to foreclosures, assignments and what interest MERS holds in a deed of trust or...more
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action filed against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), its parent company, and 15 financial...more