Introduction Consider a married couple who owns a home for five years, and one of the spouses is indebted to a judgment creditor. The other spouse is not a debtor and desires to keep their property away from the creditor’s reach. The state recognizes tenancy by the entirety, so the two spouses own the property … Continued

Today’s commercial real estate market is in distress and has been, across a variety of asset classes, for several years. The reasons are well-known. The options for the loan in distress are somewhat well known. They are becoming less mysterious day by day. These more traditional options will be described in the first part of … Continued

The worries and promises of work and investment in real estate continue to abound. The worries are coming from both manmade sources – our courts, political institutions and ever-changing markets – and from natural sources – climate change as it continues to wreak havoc and bring about technological and philosophical changes to how we live. … Continued

Law Students, St. John’s University School of Law Seth A. Fischer received his J.D. from Syracuse University School of Law. He founded Hill & Fischer, P.C., where he has been at the helm since 1985. Seth’s practice areas include commercial and entity transactions, commercial real estate, entity law, estate planning, residential real estate, residential and … Continued

Nancy Connery (left) and the author on a boat at Lake George during the RPLS 2006 Summer Meeting. Photo Credit: Karl Holtzschue It is with profound sadness that I record the passing of a much beloved and admired friend and colleague, Nancy Connery. If you knew Nancy professionally, you admired her keen intellect, her uncompromising … Continued

In 2022, the New York State Legislature enacted the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA), thereby amending several interrelated provisions of the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL), and the General Obligations Law (GOL), which affect how and when the statute of limitations may be invoked by defaulting … Continued

Transaction Avoidance Statutes Experienced finance attorneys are aware that a loan guaranty given by a sister company of the borrower (a “cross-stream guaranty”) or by a subsidiary of the borrower (an “upstream guaranty”), in which the guarantor has no ownership interest in the borrower, differs from a traditional guaranty given by a borrower’s owner or … Continued

In New York City, no matter what type of work you’re performing on your property, construction work almost always requires protection of adjacent properties, which necessarily involves access to such adjacent properties. While access to adjacent properties is typically worked out in license agreements between the party performing the construction work and their neighbor, what … Continued

Although cooperatives and condominiums have been colorfully described as “quasi-government[s] . . . little democratic sub societ[ies] of necessity,”1 their most basic function can be described in much more prosaic terms: make sure the building does not fall apart. There is obviously a vital, and incredibly complex, social function that co-ops and condos play in providing homes and communities … Continued

A new case1 reminds that the doctrine of law of the case is often of meaningful service to foreclosing lenders. As a general proposition, if an issue has previously been determined between the parties (and, of course, here we are thinking between lender and borrower), there may be preclusion as to its being argued anew. To the … Continued