Focus Areas

The team of lawyers at Kaman & Cusimano are able to handle every aspect of your community association's legal needs. The following is a brief listing of common legal issues that we are involved with on a day-to-day basis.


COLLECTIONS

We involve ourselves in every step of the collection process to better protect associations against delinquent owners. We advise on all collection issues - from establishing an aggressive collection policy, through the collection letter and lien process, and finally through foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings. Our collections computer program allows us to monitor every collections matter on an up-to-the-minute basis.


GOVERNING DOCUMENT AMENDMENTS

Each of our attorneys is thoroughly versed in the language of governing documents. No two governing documents are the same. We work with boards to help them understand, interpret, and enforce their specific provisions. We work on amending document provisions that are antiquated, illegal, and/or those that no longer serve the needs or interests of the association. In numerous instances, we have entirely rewritten governing documents. Our office is uniquely capable of handling all aspects of the amendment process, from reviewing the documents and determining the need for amendments, to the preparation of ownership consent forms through the preparation of the final amendment document that is recorded with the County.


LITIGATION

As stated in our Firm Philosophy, we believe in "communication not litigation". However, there are those times when negotiation and/or mediation fails and litigation is the only available remedy. Our litigation practice ranges from covenant enforcement to complete construction defect litigation.


ASSOCIATION OPERATIONS

The association's operation practice encompasses the broadest spectrum of work the firm handles. The operations practice includes every aspect of running a community association from answering board member questions, drafting legal opinions, attending annual meetings, to drafting compliance demands for covenant enforcement.

A brief sample of just a few of the topics recently handled by our attorneys include:

• Bank Loans
• Real Estate Tax Appeals
• Satellite Dish Contracts
• ADA/Fair Housing Disputes
• Insurance Policy Review
• Contract Review and/or Drafting of Contracts
• Developer Related Matters Including Transition
• Employee Handbooks and Personnel Matters
• Staff Performance Problems
• Determining of responsibility for repairs
• Compelling insurance carrier to defend association
• Elimination of Mechanic's Liens

ASSOCIATION MEETINGS

Our attorneys are well versed and experienced in the proper procedures involved with association meetings.  We stress community association spirit.  We assist our community association clients with the drafting of proxies, the issuing of meeting notices and the establishment of a quorum.  All of our attorneys frequently attend meetings with our roles varying in degree from specialized presentations on individual topics to moderating an entire meeting from start to finish.