Blogs written by lawyers at Highlander Law Group in Tantallon, Nova Scotia for people in Halifax with an interest in Real Estate Purchase and Sale, Corproate, Litigation, Debt Collection, Divorce, Probate, Wills, Power of Attorney, Trusts, Child support, Spousal Support, Custody, Migration, Debt Collection, Builders Liens, Estate Planning, Trademarks, Copyright and other Intellectual Property issues. .
You’ve been using a piece of land in Nova Scotia that you know is not your own for years and you’re wondering how to get legal title to this land. People commonly refer to this area of law as squatters’ rights, lawyers call it “adverse possession”. In simple terms, in order to have any legal right to someone else’s land you must have used the land in an open, notorious, exclusive, and adverse manner for 20 years.
Read MoreVerbal contracts are technically enforceable. You can go to court and obtain a judgement against someone who doesn’t respect a verbal agreement. So why bother getting it in writing? Here are a couple of basic reasons why everyone should use a written agreement instead of relying on a verbal agreement:
Read MoreI recently came across a story in the news highlighting the unfortunately common situation where a small business owner is facing financial disaster as a result of terms in their commercial lease they didn’t fully understand when they signed. Cash flow challenges are reality for most small business, particularly those in the start up phase. As a result, many view spending money to have a lawyer review what appears to be a standard lease is a luxury they can’t afford.
Read MoreEver wonder why some people have a ‘slip and fall’ and get a big payout from the business owner where the fall happened, but some people, and sometimes those hurt far worse, don’t get anything?
Most often these situations are governed by the Occupiers Liability Act, although the common law rule of negligence may also apply. Under the Act, the ‘occupier’, defined as the person who essentially has control over the premises (whether because they own it, rent it or for any other reason have physical control over the premises), has a duty to ensure that any person who legally enters the premises will be reasonably safe. The key word there is ‘reasonably’. Obviously no owner/occupier of a property can prevent every potential accident from happening, so the law draws a line between injuries that are as a result of unavoidable, unfortunate accident and which injuries should have been prevented by some action by the owner/occupier.
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Ever drive by a school zone sign and wonder what counts as ‘When Children Are Present’? It’s even more important to know now that the speed limit in a school zone changed to only 30 km/hr where the speed limit is normally 50 km/hr. The definition of ‘When Children Are Present’ hasn’t changed. The School Area Regulations made under the Motor Vehicle Act states that a child is deemed ‘present’ if the child is ‘on land’ within 30 meters of the center line. There is no time limit to this definition. If a child is present, the reduced speed limit is in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Therefore, if a child is walking along the side of the road in a school zone at 10:00 pm at night in the middle of August, the school zone reduced speed limits still apply. The logic is, regardless of the time of year, a school is an area where children congregate, whether it’s for academic learning or other pursuits that make use of the school facilities (sports leagues, drama camp etc.).
Read MoreLorne Grabher was back in the news this week after police told him to remove an out-of-province license plate bearing his controversial last name. Nova Scotia law requires valid plates mounted on the back of a vehicle only; the plate in question was an expired Alberta plate mounted on his front bumper.
Read MoreOne of the biggest challenges for small business owners is managing cash flow. Running a business is expensive, and while none of your creditors want to wait to be paid, sometimes collecting from your customers can be a real challenge. So what can a business owner do when they are having a problem collecting the money owed by their clients?
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5288 St. Margaret's Bay Rd.
Suite #201, Upper Tantallon, NS (just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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