Fund News and Alerts

By Maggie Thumberg, Senior Manager, Continuing Legal Education, The Fund

ARECS members have been hearing a lot about electronic closings and digital mortgages...

Recent federal tax legislation increases the FIRPTA general withholding rate from 10% to 15% effective for closings on or after February 16, 2016. Closing agents should adjust their procedures and forms to reflect this change. (If you want a reference, it is H. R. 2029, now known as Public Law 114-113. See Section 324 for text of changes).

If you have been a Fund member for more than 10 years you likely remember the Consumer Education Campaign sponsored by The Fund to promote the use of real estate attorneys on radio and television.

If you have spent any time on Florida ARECS consolidated REC website www.flarecs.com you have undoubtedly discovered it is full of useful tools and resources for the real estate practitioner.

The Attorneys’ Real Estate Councils of Florida has been a sponsor of the RPPTL Residential Real Estate & Industry Liaison (RREIL) Committee since 2018.  Under normal circumstances our Board would be attending their meetings in person and spreading the word about the RECs and the incredible work they are doing; bringing together real estate attorneys and providing opportunities to promote them to the Realtor® community.

On November 3rd Margy Grant, Vice President/General Counsel of Law and Policy for Florida Realtors® sent an email to all their local associations containing the following about Florida ARECS.

By now, you are probably aware that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved the 2021 ALTA Title Insurance Forms for use effective October 3, 2022.  Use of the new forms will be required after a short transition period and here are a few key resources that will help you prepare for that change.

On August 26th, the Florida Aviation Network empaneled a group of experts to discuss Unmanned Aircraft Systems...

If you have not read the Florida ARECS Blog recently, you need to check it out!  We discuss a variety of topics of interest to REC Member Attorneys, Realtors and consumers.  We encourage you to read our latest post, Whose Property Is It Anyway: Heirs Property and Its Impact on Underserved Communities, written by Brenda Ezell of the Ezell Law Firm in Jacksonville. 

On September 5^th, over 150 real estate attorneys and real estate agents from across Central Florida gathered at the Florida Hotel.  This day-long event addressed a wide range of topics including Probate, presented by Stephen Chong, Esq, Short Term & Vacation Rentals, presented by Nishad Khan, Esq., Seller’s Disclosure Statements, presented by Lew Oliver, Esq., and FREC Issues & Team Advertising, presented by Randy Schwartz, Esq., Commissioner with the Florida Real Estate Commission.  The Legal Summit offered Florida Bar CLE for attorneys, as well as 8 hours of Specialty CE credit for licensed real estate agents.