Uranga & Asociados
There are important pitfalls, beyond those normally confronted by a legal practitioner, that can easily be avoided in Real Estate transactions in Mexico through the use of a Mexican Lawyer. For example, the Ejido Property Pitfall, has had universal coverage in high profile cases where unscrupulous sellers in real estate transactions fail to disclose the encumbered nature of those types of properties. Ejidos basically are federal lands that were set aside for the benefit and use of peasant farmers to the exclusion of the general population. These properties can be used in the private domain only after undergoing a legal process of transformation so that they can be bought and sold freely. To those who do not adequately analyze the deed in depth along with other documents to a transaction, they can suffer significant investment losses. The study of real estate contracts also requires a special expertise and understanding of the relevant law and requirements to avoid unnecessary breaches.
A Mexican Lawyer can be instrumental when conducting business in Mexico. Carrying on business there may give rise to a choice of forum and choice of law issues when there is a breach of contract or accident. In Mexico, commercial contracts are governed by the federal code, but torts are governed by the separate civil codes of each state. However, because both Mexico and the United States have adopted as treaty law the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, substantive contract law is essentially harmonized where the treaty is applicable. Mexican tort law, in contrast to contract law, is very different from U.S. tort law. Choice of forum and choice of law issues are often complex and this is where a Mexican Lawyer can be an important ally.
Because of recent litigation, many practitioners are rethinking how they deliver their products to a Mexican market or how they go about manufacturing products in Mexico. Here again, a qualified Mexican Lawyer can provide important insight because accidents can happen, disagreements do occur, and preventive measures are constantly changing.
Tourist projects are especially exposed to potential legal problems. A tourist area can afford important investment opportunities when you consider that tourism represented an 80 billion dollar market in Mexico last year, but this also attracts some unscroupulous product and service providers that an investor needs to get a good project off the ground. A Mexican Attorney has a good handle on what types of relationships should be forged to attain a desired result that conforms to time and quality measures.
The foreign retirement community has grown in Mexico in recent years, and before undertaking this agreeable pursuit, it is not a bad idea to have a competent Mexican Attorney review the important steps necessary to set up this retirement plan.
Immigration in Mexico has important similarities and differences that should also be explored with a qualified professional to forgoe delays, denials and/or unnecessary cost.
In sum, whatever you endeavor to do in Mexico, it is a good idea to have a Mexican Lawyer as part of your team to give you important information so that you can then make the best choices.
fm3
1 comment:
Excellent article which orients possible buyers or litigants in the intrincacies of the Mexican Law, specially now with the NAFTA accord and globalization in general.
Post a Comment