General Counsel Blog

06/03/2025

Summer Updates: Advocacy Efforts, FinCEN Rule Challenges, New Estoppel Form and an Honoree

Hello Members! OK. It’s officially summer. My daughter bought this contraption for their backyard to distract their boys from their addiction to screens (they don’t have a pool.) https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/Images/0625-gc-blog-01.png. How can a kid resist? I give up on my small yard until the fall and just hope that there will be enough rain to sustain the plants that are already there because it is too hot to get out there and mess with it. How do you manage the heat? Anyway, on to the real stuff.

05/19/2025

Assembly, Loss of a Friend, and More

Hello Members! We wrapped up the 2025 Fund Assembly at 10:30 Saturday morning and it was an eventful one! Great program. Great conversations between Members. The gala was a fantastic event. Who knew we could all dress up and look so nice?? The best part was the private by-invitation-only pajama party held in the lobby Saturday morning at 1 am. And if you attended Fund Assembly, please fill out the survey you will receive and let us know your thoughts. Later this summer, all Members will get a survey about Fund Assembly in general as we begin our planning process for the future. Thanks.

04/18/2025

Gators, Rory, Resources & More!

Hello Members! So much to celebrate. Gators are National Champions! Rory got the green jacket! It's been a great month for me and my favorite athletic events. And many of your emails have included something about the Gator victory. It's been great to know that I have so many fellow Gators out there!

04/01/2025

Gators & More: Bills, DoubleTime & BOI Reporting

Hello Members! Whew! Can you believe it???? Gators made it into the Final Four! Whoo hoo. Stressful games for Gator fans but exciting nonetheless. Duke made a definite statement against Alabama (much to my nephew’s dismay). Auburn is our next challenge. Go Gators! I found a few interesting bills to talk about that have zero to do with real estate, but that's the privilege of being the editor of these blogs: I get to pick! There's other stuff, too, that I think you will find of interest.

03/19/2025

Fraud Scheme, Minimum Standards & Fund Assembly

Hello Members! Finally! March Madness is here! I am so psyched to see if the SEC stomps all over everyone in the tournament this year. Of course, I am rooting for the Gators but as long as the SEC prevails in the end, I will be pretty satisfied. (Unless it's "that" SEC team, which I will not mention by name in order to avoid email ire from those of you who support "that" team.) Despite March Madness, there is a lot going on………. so let's get to it.

03/03/2025

Bill of the Week & More

Hello Members! It's Legislative Session time. I learned today (February 28, 2025) that over 1500 bills have been filed pre-session. That's a lot of bills to look through and make sure there aren't any surprises! Several things to point out today.

02/18/2025

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Hello Members! January through June is my favorite time of year for so many reasons! I could, of course, start with March Madness and could mention the announcement over the weekend of the tournament #1 seeds……but I will save that for another day! Plenty of time to fill your inbox in March with that topic…. Here are two other things going on to chat about.

02/03/2025

Beyond Tater Tots: Regs, Rules & Resources

Hello Members, Welcome to February. The month of love (Valentine's Day) but lots more. February 1 was National Tater Tot Day. Who knew? February 9 is National Pizza Day, February 12 is National Hug Day and we wrap up the month on February 27 with National Chili Day. Am I scraping the barrel for things to say? Fear not. I have two pretty substantive things to relay.

01/14/2025

New Forms, Revisions & Resource

Dear Members, It's been a month since my last blog! I'm back with several things I think are of interest. First, how about those Gators (meaning the men's basketball team)!!! They are fun to watch and root for and I hope they have a great rest of the season. And March Madness is coming……so prepare yourself to block my emails for those 3 or 4 weeks if you don't want to hear my rants and raves about the tournament….. More important stuff now.

12/26/2024

Update: FinCEN Now Requiring Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting

Dear Members, Sorry to bother you in the middle of the holidays but FinCEN has changed its position on compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act. I indicated a week or so ago that compliance was on hold in light of a Texas court ruling that the law was unconstitutional.