Home purchases and closings, deeds and title problems, and landlord and tenant disputes. Taxes and recording rules are set by each state and county.
The rules depend on your state, so the points below are set out state by state.
Lawyers whose own published profile focuses on real estate work. Each lawyer was checked on their state bar's public directory before being listed — check again before you hire, as people move firms.
Ashton Holmes Ott · Partner · Dothan
100 Adris Place, Dothan, AL 36303
Partner at a Dothan firm whose services include residential and commercial real estate, probate and estate matters, and personal injury. Ott's own practice includes commercial leasing, employment contracts and commercial litigation, and mediation.
Alabama charges a recordation tax when the deed and any mortgage are recorded: $.50 for every $500 of the property's value on the deed ($300 on a $300,000 home) and $.15 for every $100 of the mortgage ($360 on a $240,000 mortgage). If the mortgage is recorded at the same time, deed tax is only charged on the part of the price above the mortgage. Recording fees and your lawyer's fees are separate.
The Alabama Department of Revenue publishes a directory of county probate offices with their addresses and phone numbers.
To practise law in Alabama a lawyer must be licensed through the Alabama State Bar. You can look up any lawyer in the State Bar's public Find a Member search, and the Bar publishes its disciplinary history. Each lawyer on these pages was checked in that search before being listed, but people move firms, so check again before you hire. Complaints about a lawyer go to the State Bar's Office of General Counsel.