Legal Articles

Guarantees: Interpretation, Breach

Personal guarantees or guarantees by another business are commonly required by lenders to provide additional safeguards for a loan.  In litigation, the same rules that apply to contract interpretation apply to guaranty interpretation. Royal Banks of Mo v. Fridkin, 819 S.W.2d 359, 361 (Mo. 1991). Specifically, the language of the guaranty is to be understood in…

Wrongful Foreclosure, Deed Set Aside: Real Estate

Missouri foreclosures typically occur outside of Court because property is conveyed through a deed of trust, rather than a mortgage. Although “mortgage” and “deed of trust” are often used interchangeably, there is a distinction. Specifically, under a deed of trust, a trustee holds legal title to the property while the borrowers hold equitable title to…

Statutory & Equitable Redemption for Deeds of Trust, Foreclosures

Redemption refers to the ability of a mortgagor to stop a foreclosure after a default. Missouri almost uniformly uses a deed of trust arrangement to handle real estate financing. Under this arrangement, a trustee holds legal title title to the property while equitable title remains with the borrower/mortgagor — i.e., the person(s) generally living on…

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