Practice Areas
Based in Monterey, Mallery & DeMaria, PC is law firm representing Central California businesses and individuals in transactional matters. Whether assisting clients in day-to-day operations or orchestrating complex transactions, our attorneys provide high-quality advice, documentation, and legal compliance to protect and advance our clients' interests, and maximize their after-tax economic return. For further information about our legal services, please contact our offices to speak with one of our attorneys. Our primary practice areas include:
Real Estate
Real estate transactions today can be particularly complex. However, the advice and assistance of an experienced attorney in these transactions can help to maximize profitability, minimize potential liability, and provide a better understanding of the situation and the best course of action. The attorneys at Mallery & DeMaria, PC are also licensed California real estate brokers with agent experience. This background gives us unique understanding and insight into the practical workings and ultimate significance of real estate deals. Our services include:
- Purchases, Sales & Exchanges of Real Property - We represent buyers and sellers of real estate, from initial planning to closing. Always working to streamline the transfer and serve our clients' interests, we provide advice during the negotiation, contract, due diligence, and financing stages of real estate deals including planning and executing deferred, reverse and multi-property like kind exchanges.
- Commercial & Residential Leases - Our attorneys have extensive experience negotiating lease terms on behalf of landlords and tenants, including such issues such as options, assignments and subletting, permitted uses, alterations, indemnifications, early terminations, and guarantees.
- Real Estate Financing - As part of our comprehensive real estate services, we help clients analyze financing options necessary to accomplish a real estate purchase. While financing arrangements can be complex, our attorneys are well versed in the components of institutional and private lending, including acquisition, construction, and loan documentation; security and negotiable instruments; secured and unsecured loans; deeds of trust; and guarantee agreements.
- Foreclosure & Short Sale Counseling - We provide foreclosure and short sale counseling for property owners, offering guidance on available options and carrying out the best course of action. In recent years, the "short sale" has become a popular means of dealing with defaulted mortgages because it allows both the lender and the distressed property owner to avoid foreclosure by selling the property at a loss. We negotiate with lenders to obtain short sale approval with favorable terms for the seller. We also advise on the foreclosure process and help homeowners understand important tax and legal consequences.
Business Law
Our firm assists entrepreneurs and small business owners with business formation, and provides continuing consulting services with regard to organizational strategies, contractual agreements, and asset management. Our attorneys also help business owners plan and implement large, potentially complex transactions, always working to see our client in the most advantageous position possible at the conclusion of a business deal. We possess extensive experience in the following areas:
- Purchase & Sale of Businesses - Our attorneys represent buyers and sellers of privately held businesses equally, providing the advice and guidance necessary to help the parties achieve their business goals. Representing the seller, we help plan the transaction, including the expected terms, financing possibilities, and long-term objectives, and then we implement the plan by negotiating with the prospective buyer or buyer's representative, drafting all relevant documents, such as the asset and purchase agreement, notes, and security agreements, and overseeing the escrow process. When representing the buyer, we help to plan the transaction, develop the terms of the offer, negotiate with the seller or seller's representative, draft letters of intent as needed, and draft all relevant documents to conclude the transaction.
- General Business Advice - Business owners can benefit greatly by staying in close contact with their business attorney, as the modest cost for a quick phone question may save the owner a lot of money and hassle. We provide clients with quick and accurate advice on all manner of business questions within our areas of expertise. We can also draft form contracts for transactions the client engages in repeatedly, and create "fill-in-the-blanks" contracts to fit a business' particular needs, including PDF versions to complete and print out for the customer's signature.
- Business Formation - We regularly help clients structure new businesses, including corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and partnerships, ensuring that the chosen organizational scheme best suits our clients' business needs and goals. The primary advantage of operating within a limited liability entity is that owners of corporations, LLCs, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and limited partnerships (LPs) enjoy protection from the business's creditors in most circumstances. Other advantages of one entity over another can be tax based or relate to ease of operability.
- Succession Planning - Succession planning is the process of evaluating the business, family, income tax, gift tax, and estate tax considerations in passing ownership of a business from existing business owners to the next owner. What differentiates succession planning from a sale of the business is consideration of the business owner's estate planning goals and dovetailing those goals with business and tax considerations.
Trademarks & Copyrights
Mallery & DeMaria, PC helps clients protect their intellectual property (“IP”) assets by preparing and filing applications for trademark and copyright registration, and also handling maintenance and renewals of registrations. We also draft licensing agreements for intellectual property and can help advise on strategies to protect and profit from these assets.
A trademark is any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination thereof adopted and used by a person or business to identify goods and distinguish them from goods made or sold by others. Registering a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides the registrant with the exclusive right to use that mark in connection with the goods or services registered.
A copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The Copyright Act generally gives the owner of a copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly.
Estate Planning
Our firm assists clients in estate planning, including the preparation of wills, trusts, and other necessary planning documents such as powers of attorney and advance health care directives. In arranging for the transfer of property, we recognize that every client's situation is unique, and therefore, we carefully tailor every estate plan to accomplish our clients' objectives while minimizing potential tax consequences. Furthermore, we invest the time necessary to get to know our clients, so that we may fully understand not only the nature and extent of their assets, but also their personal values and estate planning goals. For those who have lost a family member, friend, or associate, we also provide estate administration services.
