We are thankful for YOU! Barristers is very happy to announce that because of you we were able to donate $10,441.94 to Earlier.org, a portion of every order we received in October! We were able to beat our donation amount from last year AND we’ve sent nearly $40,000 to Earlier.org since beginning this partnership. Wow!
So Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! The business that came through our door last month went to something so much bigger than us and we could not have done it without your support!
We are truly honored to have such amazing and generous clients!
I want to encourage all of you to list the marital status of Grantors and Grantees on your Deeds. Oftentimes, we are asked to insure over an unknown marital status that relates to a Grantor on a Deed. And while it is a simple question of risk for us, it could mean an expenditure of time for you.
If a title carrier or another closing attorney asks for proof that the Grantor was not married at the time of your closing, you may have to pull your file out of storage and look for whatever Affidavit you had the seller sign at closing indicating his or her marital status. That takes time and I will remind you of the advice a much wiser attorney gave me years ago, “Anytime you open your file post-closing, it is costing you money.” (Thank you Chris Burti. You are as wise today as you were 15 years ago.)
By simply putting “Unmarried” on that deed you will save yourself (and us insurers) time and money. And that’s assuming you don’t get a call from your client who says, “I can’t sell my house because the closing attorney is telling me she can’t get it insured because of a marital status issue!” We all love those post-closing phone calls, don’t we?
Additionally, listing the marital status of the Grantee can also be very helpful. If a couple that is actually married obtains title jointly, the default tenancy that is created is a Tenancy by the Entireties. Listing them as spouses will eliminate any analysis later down the road, especially if one of them subsequently passes. And I will point out that we live in a day and age where we cannot make any reasonable deductions based on the names on the Deed. Put this one piece of information on your Deeds and you avoid confusion, angry phone calls, and inefficiencies. . .and you save yourself $$$ in the process.
sb
We love a good holiday disaster story so we thought we’d share a few of ours with you! Enjoy!
“Before Zoe and I got married, so… sometime around 2004 or 2005, I took her and my sister to New Jersey to visit my Mom for Thanksgiving. My Mom is so sweet and an amazing cook, so I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner. When it came time to eat, my Mom brought out a traditional Italian antipasto dish… meats, cheeses, olives…the whole nine yards. After that, she brought out a pasta dish. So, I am thinking, “Oh! We’re going to do an Italian Thanksgiving”, which I was totally fine with. After the pasta, came out a salad dish followed by one of my Mom’s staples, chicken cutlet. This sealed it for me, we were definitely doing an Italian Thanksgiving. Which again…I was totally fine with. After I was good and satiated (stuffed really!) – much to my dismay – came out the turkey, with stuffing and cranberry, etc. That was when I realized it…OMG – she’s going to do both. It was so good and so bad all at the same time. I was so sick afterwards I don’t think I ate anything the rest of the trip.” ~ Sal Balsamo
“You know the little packet that is stuffed inside the turkey that has the neck and all the “good stuff”? Well, the very first Thanksgiving dinner I ever cooked, I didn’t take it out of the turkey. I didn’t even know it was in there! My Dad was kind enough to point it out to everyone when he carved the turkey!” ~ Maria Houghton
We know it’s early but we just couldn’t help ourselves! We polled our staff about their favorite Christmas songs and this is what we heard:
“I love any of Kenny G’s Christmas albums! So 1990’s of me – but it’s true. When I hear his Christmas music it takes me back!” ~ Christine Bruns
“Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree!”~ Candice Mott
“Mine is the Christmas Song, as long as it’s Nat King Cole’s version. I am also a bit ashamed to admit that All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey is also VERY high on the list.” ~ Sal Balsamo
“Where Are You Christmas by Faith Hill from The Grinch is definitely my favorite – song and movie!” ~ Summer Hogan
“My all-time favorite Christmas Song is O Holy Night, and my all-time favorite Christmas Album (showing my age here) is The Carpenters “Christmas Portrait”. It’s so good!” ~ Maria Houghton
“White Christmas is my favorite!” ~ Jennifer Conrad