Long story short, my in-laws fell victim to wire fraud when placing a down payment on their new home. They received a fake email that was identical to their brokers except for one letter. Everything matched up, including the signature and dollar amount. One big issue is that the agent sent the real wiring instructions to the wrong email address, so my father-in-law never received the actual instructions. My mother-in-law did receive both email’s, but she is not listed as the person responsible for processing payments. My FIL also replied to the instructions asking for clarification on the amount and copied the broker. The fraud replied with “clarification” to both parties, so the broker was on the email chain before the money was wired.
Timeline:
Monday – In laws received fraudulent email with wiring instructions
Tuesday morning – FIL wired payment per instructions
Wednesday midday – Everyone meets for closing and that is when its realized that the money was wired to a fraudulent account. My FIL immediately contacts both banks to freeze account and recall the payment. Wells Fargo is the receiving bank and they have opened an investigation.
Thursday (today) – We are submitting claims, filling out FBI forms, and doing everything we can. I know time is of the essence so I’m reaching out to ensure we are doing everything we can.
There is a massive amount of money on my in-laws are in jeopardy of losing their retirement savings to wire fraud. We're focusing on doing everything we can now, but I'm looking ahead at what our options could be if the money is not recovered. This feels like multiple parties are at fault since the broker was likely the one who had their email compromised and didn't even send critical information to the correct email address. They even mentioned after the fact that other clients of theirs narrowly dodged this same scam a couple of weeks ago. I know its too early to reflect on the errors made in the past few days or point fingers when time is of the essence, but my mind has been racing for the past 24 hours since I first heard about this.
*UPDATE*
The bank has recovered about two thirds of the total payment, so we know they are at least getting that back. There is still about $100k unaccounted for. All things considered, this is good news. I don't have much hope the rest of the cash will be recovered, unless our FBI requests somehow pull off a miracle. My in-laws have hired a lawyer and are looking into legal options.
Edit for more context: I will be articling at a firm this summer that does civil litigation but does not touch real estate law at all. I’m somewhat scared of getting pigeonholed in such a way that I won’t be giving myself a chance to learn about (and possibly practice in) real estate law, which is something I have been very interested in since I entered law school.
For this reason, I’m not in a position where I can apply for internships/jobs that are related to real estate law, at least not currently. However, I’m still eager to keep my doors open and not give up on my dream of becoming a real estate lawyer one day.
Also, thank you for everyone who gave me tips on learning the substantive law. I understand that this is only half the battle, and am interested in learning more about how real estate lawyers run their practice.
I know a broker who asked if I have an interest in real estate law. I’ve never done any type of real estate law before (was a litigator although if I had to do it all over again, I would have done transactional law). Anyone with any experience as to how long this would take to learn? I’m interested but nervous. Thanks!
With all of the boomers retiring and (ultimately) passing away, the changing tax laws, and the pandemic, there are no shortages of estate planning opportunities right now. If you look at the hiring opportunities at any firm with an estate planning / private wealth group, I am willing to wager there is a job posting for these groups right now. As the saying goes, the only things certain in this life are death and taxes, and we need all the help we can entering the workforce!
Hope this kind of posting is allowed! If you have interest in the estate planning field, I recommend taking the estate planning classes offered by your school, as well as a tax course or two. If you like your classes and have the opportunity, there are many small or solo estate planning shops that would likely jump at the opportunity to hire a clerk to help with the influx of work. If that works out, you can graduate law school with some experience in the estate planning field, setting yourself apart to potential employers. There are very few 'young' estate planning attorneys and as such, those who are committed to the field at a young age are very attractive hires right now. Just my two cents, because that is what worked for me, and we have only gotten busier since I graduated law school 8 years ago.
Good luck and good vibes to you all!
Hello,
I'm fresh out of school and long term want to be in real estate development. Stephen Ross is a big inspiration of mine - Will I ever get his level? Maybe not but I want to try.
In my family I have legacy at a lot of the top law schools - Harvard, Yale, NYU, and U of V. My Mom said she'd pay for me to go to Law School if I wanted.
I guess I'm just weighing the pros and cons of going to law school with real estate development being the end goal? I know a lot of top developers have law degrees, not to mention the network I'd get at Harvard or Yale or would be life-changing, but again I'd be wasting 3-4 more years that I could be in real estate? But also I could act as my own attorney until my real estate business/career gets big enough?
Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated - Not sure if this would benefit me or not?
Hi my Aunty R suffered from Parkinsons disease, and died without leaving a will last year. She was unmarried and without any children; both her parents have passed away decades ago as well. There are 8 siblings who are beneficiaries in this case.
In 2013 as her illness got worse, she transferred most of her liquid assets into a joint account with her youngest sibling A totaling over £1.5 million. All the money in the joint account was solely contributed by Aunty R(the deceased). It was an account of convenience where Uncle A would help her to pay her bills and other living & medical expenses from the joint account. This account was made known to all the other siblings. As her conditioned worsened, Uncle A transferred the monies from the joint account into his personal account before she died and presumably without her knowledge.
After Aunty R died, Uncle A applied for letters of administration for her estate, the other beneficiaries noticed that the monies in the joint account was not included in the asset list. He now claims that the money is not part of the estate and that it was given to him as a gift. He has also been pocketing the rent from her 2 properties where he has instructed the tenants to transfer the payments into his personal account. The rent money is missing from the asset list as well.
We know that he has given £100,000 to Aunty B, Aunty C and Aunty C's husband (who is not a beneficiary) saying that it is part of the estate in an agreement he made them sign. He now refuses to distribute the money to the other siblings, D,E,F,G, & H who are not on good terms with him. His logic is that the money is his now to do as he pleases.
We know for a fact that Aunty R did not gift him the money. She had discussed her plans for her estate with several siblings as well as nephews and nieces. We have a draft of a will that Aunty R never got attested that detailed what she wanted to do with her assets after her death as well.
We also have evidence by way of recordings of meetings and correspondence between Uncle A and the other siblings explicitly saying that the monies in his account belonged to Aunty R. We also know that Uncle A is not able to produce any document saying that she was gifting him the monies in the joint account.
The other siblings are considering taking up legal action against Uncle A. After some research we believe we can rely on the law of Resulting Trusts to get the assets included as part of her estate. Can a
... keep reading on reddit ➡Has anyone used rocket lawyer to do estate planning? Firms around town are quoting 1800 to 2300 to develop an estate plan for my parents. Basically creating a trust and wills and the different powers of attorneys, things like that. Does that sound like a reasonable price? And any general advice on creating an estate plan for aging parents is appreciated. Thanks
I'm a 2L and thinking about getting into real estate law. I was wondering what the pay and work life balance is typically like.
Originally I wanted to do public interest work, then I realized that I literally cannot afford to do that because my loan payments will be too high. And honestly I've always been broke, living paycheck to paycheck as an adult (social work field), and grew up poor. So, I'd like to have some sort of financial security for once, even though that may seem selfish. I figured I could always still volunteer and contribute that way.
Plus, I'm thinking I'd like a field with less drama. I've personally been through a lot and feel like I need to just do something more emotionally neutral.
I know all about the public service loan forgiveness, but I'm still better off just getting a higher paying job. There have also been a lot of issues with people actually receiving the forgiveness who are eligible.
Anyway, are there any real estate attorneys or students who know more about this field? I'm an average student at an average law school. I put in about average effort, so I'm fine with this. I believe with hard work I can pass the bar just fine.
I have no interest in big law, and obviously don't have the grades for that anyway haha. I'm basically just looking for a decent paying job where I can work like 40-50 hours a week.
Thanks! :)
I am trying to get in on the Small Business and Minority Owned under 2500sqft dispensary. I know it’s up to local and state law if this happens but it’s going to happen for someone and why not my small group of investors. I think we will score very high on the criteria to be eligible. I also need to find a firm that has good morals and standards. Thanks in Advance. Feel Free to PM
We are in SC.
In 2018 my husband and I bought a house. On the property disclosure form they listed all the pipes as PVC. Nothing was noted about the pipes by the inspector, and I haven't had to go under the house more than a couple of times; when I did, the pipes in the area I was were all insulated and covered, so I couldn't see them. Recently I had to go further under the house (i was looking for a water shutoff valve to see if I could turn off water to outdoor faucets) and I saw a bunch of pipes; all of them were copper. They look like they're nearing the end of their lifespan as well, I'd estimate they're nearing the 25-30 year mark based on the amount of corrosion. I haven't uncovered the other pipes yet to determine if everything is copper or not, but I plan to check. So far we have had no leaks that I'm aware of, so no damage; but based on the looks of these pipes, it's a matter of time.
If I had known the pipes were copper here, I would never have bought the house. Our last house had a nightmare issue with copper plumbing from the 80s and we had to pay out the nose to have it all ripped out and replaced. I specifically checked the property disclosure form when looking at this house, for that reason.
I have no idea if the seller intentionally lied, or truly thought the pipes here were pvc and just didn't know. Like I said, we've had no actual damages yet, and the sale was 3 years ago. But there was definitely misinformation on the form, we purchased based on that information, and now we'll have to pay to replace all the copper. Does the seller have any legal liability here, or are we unfortunately on the hook for this?
Thank you in advance!
Most large companies pay about 20% of their fixes administrative costs toward legal, accounting/audit, and consulting fees.
By fixed costs i mean costs that occur every month that do not go up nor down because of volatility or use. For example Netflix is a fixed cost whether you download movies every day or once a month, you pay the same.
Professional fees are a hybrid, most organizations accrue a monthly charge and then reverse the accrual and add reality. So i could accrue $200,000 in professional fees and actually incur 170,000 meaning i can bank 30,000 for the next month.
With all the different laws on property, printing, IP, labour, safety, permitting, etc. It only makes sense that transnational companies outsource legal problems to specialized local experts.
Given the size and membership of our org add to the fact that we have an enormous exposure to litigation suits.
How much does WT accrue per month? My guess is 10 million a month
I have seen so many cyclists ignore traffic lights and stop signs that I no longer believe that it is even remotely acceptable to immediately vilify the driver of the vehicle.
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