My pal and super real estate broker, Harlene Cohen Bernstein, has written an article about her adventures with avaricious divorce attorneys and what she did about it.

The article is called “Up Against the Wall” and it’s posted on a new website, Exon/Exoff.

The site is for and about “ex’s”.  It says if you have an ex, then you are an ex.  There are other articles, a forum for discussion, and resources for health, counseling, real estate, financial and legal services.  Check it out.

Having trouble selling your home?  Here’s a new incentive you might want to try.

In Spain, a real estate company is offering a free divorce if you buy a home from them, according to UPI.Com.

Geimsa realtors in Huelva, Spain, says this deal is for you if you are putting off your divorce because you can’t afford to move.

“A divorce is very expensive,” says Vanesa Contioso of Geimsa. “So we are offering new clients the free use of our lawyers to handle the process.”

I started practicing law before there were computers or an Internet.  Now we send drafts of agreements to our clients by email.

There is a provision in most separation agreements in which the wife waives her dower rights and the husband waives his curtesy rights.

Almost always the client’s automatic spell checker will say the word “curtesy” in the waiver section should be spelled “courtesy”, and the client will bring this to the lawyer’s attention.

Neither the client nor the spell checker can be blamed, for lawyers speak in arcane and ancient code words that have their roots in olde English, French and Roman law.

Curtesy is the life estate a man inherits, under the common law, on the death of his wife in her real estate, provided they have a child.

Dower is the life estate a woman inherits, under the common law, on the death of her husband in his real estate, provided they have a child.