Real Estate

Attorney for Buying or Selling Real Property

Serving all of Connecticut, New York State & New York City

Purchase, Sale or Refinance Closings

Glouzgal Law PLLC helps clients all across Connecticut and New York with real estate related legal services. We help our clients accomplish their goals while limiting their liability and meeting their financial needs. Whether buying, selling, or refinancing your home, a business location, or an investment property or fighting a foreclosure by your lender or a tax authority, you will need the help of a Danbury real estate lawyer.

We represent both buyers and sellers in real estate closing transactions. While the exact steps are different in a sale or purchase of real estate, the services we provide are similar: We assist in negotiating and drafting the sales contract, compile information on mortgages and liens, handle the flow of money through escrow and the transfer of title via deed; all the while making sure our clients interests are protected from legal and financial liability.

If you own or are looking to buy property for a specific use, we can help you figure out if your use is allowed by local zoning regulations. We can also assist in filing special using permits with zoning, including town hall filings and zoning board meetings.

If you are looking to rent out real estate property but need a custom lease drafted, we can help you at a very reasonable cost. After a meeting with the client to discuss needs and goals of the rental arrangement we draft a custom lease that addresses those needs and goals. If things turn sour with your tenant, we help Landlords enforce their property rights through the eviction process.

Being foreclosed on by your bank, mortgage company, or a tax authority? There are a few options that you can choose from to meet your obligations. Being foreclosed on is not enjoyable, but our experienced foreclosure defense attorneys can help you limit the financial impact the foreclosure has on your life.

Make sure all your bases are covered by hiring a real estate attorney at Glouzgal Law PLLC to handle your real estate related legal matters. Contact us today by phone at 203-885-0500.

Estate Planning & Probate Settlement

Wills, Trusts & Probate Lawyer

Serving all of Connecticut, New York State & New York City

Custom Estate Plans

Your Estate Plan is a very personal matter. It is an opportunity to plan your legacy: to speak for yourself, one last time, after your death. Who will handle the financial affairs when you pass away? Who will make sure your family and close friends are provided for? Who will take care of your children? What will happen to your remains? Who will get your pets? Or perhaps your firearms? These are all of the questions that you can answer in your estate documents and Last Will and Testament, or provide for in your Trust Document.

Estate Plans can be complicated or simple. Like the clients we serve, no two estate plans are alike.

Estate plans vary from simple powers of attorney and directives allowing certain individuals to carry on your affairs in case of death or incapacity, to relatively basic wills that provide for last wishes and distribute remaining assets, to complex trust agreements that can allow you to do just about anything with your money.

For individuals and families with relatively few assets and relatively low risk of sudden life changing circumstances, a Will based plan may suffice. Will based plans also include any “ancillary” documents such as a health care directive (“living will”), financial power of attorney, medical power of attorney, HIPAA authorizations, and child protection plan. Will Based plans are:

If you are the type of person that does not want the details of your estate to become a public record, you might consider the option of setting up a trust to transfer your property upon death (or sooner). Unlike a will, a trust is a private document that will not be filed with the probate court. Depending on the complexity of your situation, the value of your estate, and what you are looking to accomplish, different documents will be needed.

All estate plans include unlimited revisions for 30 days after signing.

Probate Settlement

The services we will perform in connection with Probate Settlement include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Initial advice and assistance to you, as the Executor and/or Trustee, in reviewing and understanding the Will/Trust document and advising on the preliminary steps to fulfill your fiduciary duties;  continued education throughout the process as to how to meet your obligations as fiduciary.
• Open a Probate if necessary.  File the original Will with the probate court.
• Assist in filing death claims, if desired.
• Review the assets; Assist Financial Advisor in allocation of funds, if necessary.
• Prepare the Inventory for filing and/or internal purposes; Assist in Monitoring Investments; Prepare and file any necessary Administrative and/or Final Accountings.
• Obtain a Tax ID number for the Estate and/or Administrative Trust, and all subsequent Trusts as they are established.
• Coordinate with your tax preparer to ensure the proper tax returns are filed, and that the values most advantageous to the Estate are utilized.
• Oversee the opening of an Estate and/or Trust checking account, if needed.  Research, discuss and advise on the disposition of an existing checking account.
• Give notice to creditors, if any.  Assist in the examination of claims, paying those that are uncontested and denying those that are contested.
• Such other reasonably necessary legal work as is required depending on the unique nature of each Estate and/or Trust.

Commercial Real Estate Closings – Buy or Sell – Retail, Office, Industrial, Land

Commercial Real Estate Attorney

Buy or Sell Commercial Real Estate Closings

Retail, Office, Industrial & Land

At Glouzgal Law PLLC we are always happy to help our business clients buy or sell commercial real estate property to meet their business needs and goals. Our experienced real estate attorneys and business attorneys make sure that our clients are fully protected when buying commercial real estate property. We can handle all negotiation, drafting, lender requirements, transfer documents, and funds through escrow.

For Buyers, we make sure the property is suitable for our clients purpose, that they are getting clear and marketable title, that they meet all lender requirements, and that they are fully informed the whole way.

For Sellers, we make sure that they have the legal right to sell the property, that all transfer documents are properly drafted, and that they can and do meet all of their obligations as Seller.

For all of our commercial real estate clients, WE ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE MONEY IS RIGHT.

What is a commercial real estate closing?

Commercial real estate closings involve real estate property that is either bought for business purposes, such as retail, office, industrial or land properties, and any property that is bought by a business for investment purposes. Therefore, a doctor buying office space, a store buying retail space, a manufacturer buying a factory and a business buying a condo to rent out or a house to flip, are all considered commercial real estate closings.

Are commercial real estate closing different from residential real estate closings?

Commercial real estate closings are different in a few keys ways from residential real estate closings.

1. The level of paperwork is much greater – corporate documents will have to be drafted such as meeting minutes, corporate resolutions, corporate authorizations, and powers of attorney.
2. Business health – the business must be properly formed and in good standing with the State of Connecticut. State documents and an Attorney Opinion Letter will have to be provided to interesting parties certifying the legal existence of the business.
3. Zoning becomes much more important depending on the intended use of the property
4. Certain loan packages are not available to business and investors
5. Commercial real estate transactions are not covered by Consumer Protection Law, therefore the level of due diligence must be much greater.

What are the steps of a commercial real estate closing?

1. Hire a commercial real estate attorney so that they are around to give advice and review documents before you sign them.
2. Contact a real estate agent that specializes in commercial real estate and is familiar with the town in which you plan to buy property. The realtor will expect you to sign an Exclusive Right to Buy or Sell. This agreement between the realtor and the business should be the first document reviewed by a commercial real estate attorney.
3. Once you find a property or a buyer for your property, the Buyer will make an Offer to Purchase to the Seller. While the Offer is not the final Purchase and Sale Contract, it could be binding and create liability for the business, and must therefore be reviewed by the commercial real estate attorney.
4. The Purchase and Sale Contract must be negotiated and drafted. This contract will contain all of the terms of the transaction. This contract is binding and can created liability for the business and the individuals signing on its behalf. Certain contingencies must be negotiated, mostly to protect the Buyer. A Due Diligence period containing a mortgage contingency and an inspection contingency are the minimum requirements.
5. There will be a due diligence period during which the Buyer will investigate the property to make sure it is fit for their purpose, to perform an inspection, to get a title search and municipal departments search, and to try and get a loan to buy the property. A UCC Lien and judgment search should also be performed to make sure there are no encumbrances on the property. Flaws discovered during the due diligence period should void any obligations under the contract.
6. Documents must be compiled and drafted by Buyer’s Attorney to secure loans. Lenders have many documentation requirements for commercial real estate loans. The Buyer will need to establish legal existence for the business, prove that it is in good standing with the State, and draft internal documents such as corporate resolutions, authorizations, and certificates. there will also be title insurance policies that must be drafted and purchased.
7. Documents will have to be drafted by Seller’s Attorney to transfer title. At minimum these involve a Deed to transfer title, an Owner’s Affidavit for the Buyer’s title insurance company, and a Non-Foreign Persons Affidavit so that funds do not have to be held in escrow after closing.
8. The closing is conducted assuming all lender requirements are met and there are no title issues. The Buyer’s Attorney will compile purchase funds from the Lender (loan amount) and the Buyer (down payment, closing costs, hazard insurance, title insurance) and help the Buyer sign all of the Lender documents. The money is then exchanged for the Deed.
9. There is follow through with the documentation such as recording the deed and mortgage on the land records, along with any powers of attorney or notices of lease, and all liens and encumbrances from the previous owner must be paid off and released. Once the Deed is recorded on the land records, the property now belongs to the Buyer.

What if the commercial real estate property is part of the purchase and sale of a business?

This can get a little complicated. It depends on whether the property is owned by the same business as is being sold, or by a separate holdings company. It depends on whether the entire business entity is being purchased, or only it’s assets. The steps that are affected the most are the offer and contract steps because they may be completely covered by the business purchase and sale contract.

What if the commercial real estate property already has tenants?

Many times commercial properties are purchased specifically because they already have paying tenants. If there are already tenants in the property, the Buyer will have a few options. First, leases between the Seller and the Tenants must be reviewed to see if they are voided by sale of the property, if they are assumable by the Buyer, or if they MUST BE ASSUMED by the Buyer (this should be done before the property is purchased). In all cases, either a new lease or an assumption of lease must be drafted and signed. The Buyer or Tenant may also wish to record a notice of lease on the land records.

If there are non-paying tenants, hold-over tenants, or tenants who simply don’t want to return phone calls, those tenants will need to be noticed and evicted.

Business Succession

Attorneys for Buying or Selling a Business

Buy, Sell or Transfer Business Interest

Serving all of Connecticut, New York State & New York City

Businesses are bought and sold for many reasons. Merger, retirement, relocation, children, health, new ideas….the reasons are as diverse as the types of businesses and their owners.

Whether you are buying or selling a business one thing is universal: you want to limit your liability. If you are buying the business you want to make sure you are not on the hook for those things that came before you. If you are selling the business, you want to make sure you are not on the hook for things that happen after you are gone.

In either case, you will want the guidance and assistance of an experienced business attorney to help you get through the business succession process.

Here are just some of the tasks we perform for our business succession clients:

Negotiate and Draft Asset Purchase Agreement and Ancillary Agreements

Perform Due Diligence on Both Business Entities

Issue Attorney Opinion Letters

Manage Purchase Funds Through Escrow

Transfer Physical Assets

Transfer Intellectual property

Draft and Record State Documents

Fix Problems That Come Up