QUESTION: Dear Legal Wiz,
In 2008, my husband and I started to purchase a piece of land in Negril. We separated and the person who was selling died not long after that. Before she died, she did another sales agreement and the attorney who did both agreements and collected my money is no longer in Jamaica. I really need to know whats going on, because I have been paying the taxes. I am not about to waste my money on yet another attorney. I paid over US$$3,000 already to Jamaican attorneys-at-law and nothing, except my paying taxes in over ten years. Do you think the land could have been sold, as one of the neighbours told me that they were trying to buy it and was told that it was being sold but not to me.
I’d love to ask your team to assist me in checking through everything before helping me to find a capable attorney who can just get my name on that land. If you could give me an idea on what is required and the length of time.
Shauna Peru

RESPONSE: Dear Shauna,
In your case, even though you said an attorney assisted in drafting the sales agreement, the attorney who reviewed your query has recommended that checks should first be made to ensure the person in the agreement had legal authority to sell the land.
The other checks will include the person who is currently in possession of the property as well as the persons who is the owner, or representing the owner presently.
It is therefore fair to estimate a research period of one week for the preliminary results.
Please contact us when you are ready for the procedure in becoming a client of the Legal Wiz team.
Legal Wiz