Policy Deadline Reminder, Moratorium Questions & RPPTL Update

Dear Members,

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving…whatever it looked like this year!  As we tick off the days until the end of 2020, there are a few things to mention this week.

Deadline to Submit Policies for 2020.  Here is the annual reminder of the year-end deadlines for policy submission.

Send to:
Attorneys' Title Fund Services
Attn:  Revenue Operations
PO Box 628601
Orlando, FL  32862-8601

All policies and payments must be received at the P. O. BOX in Orlando no later than Tuesday, December 29, 2020.

For E-Closing DT, DoubleTime and ePolicyManager customers using eSolutions, the deadline to submit electronically is Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 6:00 pm.

Note:  we discourage sending policies and premium checks via overnight delivery to the headquarters building and cannot promise that those will be processed by year end.

CDC Eviction Moratorium.  There is a lot in the press (and in discussions among Florida attorneys) about the impact of the CDC Eviction Moratorium.  Who is covered?  Whose obligation is it to bring possible application of the moratorium to the attention of the Court?  Can a landlord initiate eviction proceedings before December 31, 2020?  What happens after December 31, 2020?  I suspect many of you are getting questions from your clients about the moratorium so I have provided a link to some recently issued FAQs from the CDC.  It makes for interesting reading and I think you would find it to be helpful to fill in the gaps of your knowledge about the moratorium.  http://www.thefund.com/information-center/pdf/cdc-2020-eviction-moratoria-order-faqs.pdf

RPPTL Update.  The Fund is continuing to be involved in the work of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar.  The December meeting of the Executive Council (this week!) includes a number of real property related topics that are of interest:

• Proposed changes to the FR/BAR standard contract (an ongoing process to be sure but there are a lot of changes on the suggestion table this round)
• Legislation on Remote Online Notarization, Assignments of Rent, Transfer on Death deeds…..to name a few.
• Amicus filed in the Hayslip case before the Florida Supreme Court, in which the issue is whether certain covenants in a deed "run with the land"……. or not.

We will keep you posted on all important decisions that come out of these meetings!

Cyber Fraud Reminder.  Here's an easy way to refresh your memory about how to report a cyber fraud incident.  Watch this ALTA video while you sip your coffee, tea or other beverage: https://www.alta.org/news/news.cfm?20201013-Video-How-to-Report-Wire-Fraud-to-FBI

That's all for this week. 
Stay safe - not just from the virus but from cyber-fraud, too!

Let me know how we can help you.

Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
General Counsel and Secretary