Consult Your Lawyer Before Signing This Lease: Fill & Download for Free

Definitely contact a bankruptcy lawyer in your jurisdiction. The details matter here and I would not trust the information your tenant is giving you. Here are a few things your lawyer will consider:The timing of the tenant’s filing matters. When a debtor files for bankruptcy an automatic stay goes into effect. This occurs even if the tenant did not notify you or list you in the schedules. If you take an action in violation of the automatic stay, you can be subject to significant sanctions in bankruptcy court.If the tenant filed before he signed the lease with you, then your lease may not be covered by the automatic stay. However, if he filed for bankruptcy before signing the lease you would have seen the bankruptcy filing in your credit report. (You got a credit report - right? If not, you will next time.) It is quite possible that the tenant intended to file before signing your lease, but his lawyer filed later than planned and the filing occurred after the lease was signed it which case the tenancy is based on a prepetition (pre-filing) obligation. You need to find that out.In most states, the police won’t do anything about a deadbeat tenant. You probably have to get a court order. While landlord tenant law is state specific, I think all or nearly all states will not allow a self-help eviction and you can expose yourself to significant financial penalties if you try.So, yes, call yourself a lawyer. It is possible most of your questions will be answered in a consultation.

No. Of course not.On the other hand, you do need to know when you should involve a lawyer. (I’ve messed up a couple of times, and it’s cost me a lot of money.)Other opinions may vary, but if a transaction is going to involve more than $3,000 and you don’t have absolute confidence in who you’re dealing with and the terms of the agreement, have a lawyer review the documents.I’m a real estate investor (among other things) and all my contracts and agreements contain within them the advice to consult a lawyer. I recently added a separate check-box so that the seller has to acknowledge that he/she has been advised to consult a lawyer. Now, my contracts are fair and I’m not worried at all about a lawyer reviewing them. But if someone’s selling me a $300,000 house, it makes sense for them to have a lawyer review the documents.One suggestion: Read through all the terms and conditions of any legal agreement. If you don’t understand any part of it, ask. If the answer doesn’t make sense, run it by a lawyer or at least someone with more knowledge than you may have. That certainly applies to real estate, including leases. I answer questions on Quora all the time about “My landlord did this . . . .is that legal?” Or “I co-signed a lease and now I’m being told . . .” Most of the time, I and the others here answer: “Read your lease.” It should have been read (and questioned) before you signed it.I’ve taken courses in real estate law, transportation law, and communications law, so I have a bit of a sense on how the law operates. But, as noted above, I still screw up. General rules of thumb:If a mistake could cost you more than you’re comfortable losing, consult with a lawyer before signing.If you don’t understand any provisions in a contract and you’re not 100% satisfied with the answer, consult with a lawyer before signing.

e-Signatures can be used in almost any region, between businesses and individuals. For your government, however, specific rules may apply, and e-signatures may or may not be used. In some cases, e-signatures are ok, as long as they are backed up by a paper signature. If you don’t know the regulations in your area, always plan to have a paper document backup anyway, and consult a lawyer before making any important agreements.Some important laws to consider in this field are the ESIGN act and the UETA. These are more commonly being used to enforce e-Signatures, and over the last 5 years, e-signatures have been found to be enforceable under most circumstances. As more legal precedence is being built up, it becomes less and less likely that e-signatures will be found invalid at some point in the future.Practically speaking, e-signatures are used widely for end-user agreements (EULA) on software, which limit the producer/author’s liability. Such “acknowledgement” of existing laws documents are a secondary document which cushions the practical enforceability of laws by making users sign to acknowledge a second time (implicitly, users should already know to follow the law).Although the example above is obviously enforceable, since the laws already exist, e-signatures are starting to be used more and more on traditional documents, like lease agreements, sale and purchase agreements, or other high-dollar amounts, as they become more popular, and are accepted more in society as legally binding.I’m part of the Kdan team, and we’ve put together a great e-signature app DottedSign. It’s free to get started making e-signatures, and you can sign on with Google or Facebook SSO to get started now and send your first document with request for signature.