Month: March 2017

Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law

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“Bringing a peace of mind to all your real estate transactions”
Our real estate attorneys, paralegals, title examiners, and staff are involved in every aspect of our real estate law practice. We utilize the latest technology to further our clients needs, protect their interests, and perform quality work in the most cost-efficient and effective manner possible. Kerrick Stivers Coyle, PLC provides a full range of legal services to real estate clients in the Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Louisville and the Central Kentucky region. Our real estate law services include the following:

Closing of purchase, sale and refinance of residential and commercial real estate which includes:
Conducting in-depth title search and examination.
Ordering payoffs of mortgages and liens, collect taxes and assessments, and seek out and obtain releases of prior liens.
Acting as closing agent pursuant to the instructions of the buyer, seller and lender.
Acting as fiduciary agent to prepare and record documents in accordance with contract, lender instructions and state & federal laws.
Conducting a smooth, prompt and professional closing.
Explaining closing documents and answer questions related to the closing.
Serving as escrow and disbursing agent for all funds and distribute funds at closing.
Preparation and negotiation of contracts and leases
Title examinations
Title insurance
Preparation of loan documents
Subdivision matters
Tax law
Zoning
Eminent domain
Mortgage foreclosures
Mechanics liens
1031 Exchange
Bankruptcy
Creditors Rights
KSC works with numerous real estate agents, auctioneers, financial institutions, land developers, construction companies and various buyers and sellers of residential, commercial and agricultural land. This vast experience with our clients ensure that your real estate law needs will be properly met.

Please contact our real estate attorneys, Greg N. Stivers, Frank Smith, Ted G. Hathaway, or Scott Lafuenberg through this website or by calling (270) 782-8160 for the Bowling Green, KY office or through this website or by calling (270) 737-9088 for the Elizabethtown, KY office.

Who does the closing Attorney represent in the closing?
The closing attorney handling the closing is doing so at the request of the lender and is there to protect the lender’s interest. The closing attorney will not provide legal advice to either the buyer or the seller. Each party should consult their respective attorney if either party believes legal advice is needed.

What do I need to bring to closing?
All parties must bring to closing a valid photo identification, i.e. a driver’s license or passport, or the closing will be delayed until such identification is produced.

Do you require the buyer or seller to bring certified funds to closing?
Please bring certified funds to your closing as we may not accept cash or personal checks over $500.00.

What is Title Insurance?
Title Insurance policies typically insure a homebuyer against any title-search errors or mistakes, and against loss due to disputes over property ownership. Title Insurance can additionally offer protection to the lender under similar circumstances. The cost of title insurance is usually a set value per thousand of dollars of the total loan amount.

Who is covered by title insurance?
The lender and the buyer. When you buy property, you are commonly required to buy title insurance. This covers the outstanding balance on the mortgage for the lender, but does not protect you. When acquiring property, it is a good idea to get your own title insurance policy. It will give you peace of mind and maximum protection in case there’s a claim against your home.

How can I purchase an Owner’s Title Insurance Policy?
The one-time premium for an owner’s title insurance policy will appear on the closing statement, if the transaction is a purchase, unless you declined the coverage at closing. The buyer always has the option of purchasing an owner’s title insurance policy either at or after closing, but the premium for the insurance will increase if the policy is not purchased at or within 30 days of closing.

Patents

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To Patent or Not to Patent – That is the Question

So you have a great idea for a new product. Are you confused about what your next step should be? One question that frequently surfaces for an entrepreneur is whether or not patent protection should be pursued on their new invention.

In making this decision, it is important to understand exactly what a patent can provide. A patent holder has the valuable right to exclude others from making, using, selling and even offering to sell the claimed invention in the United States. The term of the patent lasts for 20 years from the filing date of the patent application.

In order to be eligible for patent protection, the invention must be useful, novel and non-obvious. The usefulness requirement is usually met by most inventions. In order for an invention to be considered novel, it can not be known or used by others and can not be described in a printed publication. The non-obviousness requirement is often described in terms that the invention must not be obvious to an individual skilled in the field of the invention.

The following questions should be considered when making the decision as to whether to proceed with patent protection:

Is the invention valuable enough to competitors that they would pay a royalty to use the invention? If it is likely that royalties can be obtained from the invention, this favors filing for patent protection.

If someone else patented a similar invention, how would that affect your company? If another company filing for patent protection would harm your company, then filing for patent protection if favored.

How is the invention used? Will the invention only be used in one product or will it be used in multiple or future products as well. An invention that can be utilized for more than one product weighs in the favor of filing a patent application.

What is the expected life cycle of the invention? Typically patents don’t issue until 2 to 3 years from the filing date. Thus one should consider whether the product will provide a competitive advantage 5 or more years after the filing date. A longer life cycle favors filing for patent protection.

Other questions which are equally important can sometimes only be answered by conducting a patentability search. Such as, what is the degree of protection that can be obtained from a patent? Can someone easily design around any protection that can be obtained? Are there other non-infringing products available?

Typically a patent search is conducted through an attorney who is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent Office. A patent attorney can initiate the search, review the search results and provide you with his or her opinion as to whether your invention meets the patentability requirements of usefulness, novelty and non-obvious. A patent search can also help you determine exactly what aspect of your invention may be patentable, which helps you make the determination as the amount of protection that a patent may provide. A patent search will also provide you with valuable information on the availability of similar competing products and whether any patent you obtain could be easily designed around to produce a non-infringing product.

If an invention has many non-infringing competing products available or if the technology used in the invention can be easily replaced with similar technology, then these factors do not favor filing a patent application. However, if the invention has no competing products and it would be difficult to replicate the invention with similar technology, than filing a patent application is favored.

After a search is conducted and an opinion as to patentability is provided you can decide whether you wish to proceed with the filing of a patent application. In addition to answering these questions, a patent attorney can advise you about the different types of patent applications available and the one which best fits your needs.