According to payscale.com, legal assistants in Canada make an average salary of almost $45,000. This rewarding salary is provided due to the difficulty and complicated nature of the work that legal assistants take on during their careers. They might assist lawyers with cases in corporate law or civil litigation, or even by performing general office procedures. One area that legal assistants might also find work in is conveyancing. Conveyancing refers to the process of transferring property ownership from one party to another. As home sales in Canada rose over 12% from March 2015 to 2016, it is clear that those with legal training will have ample opportunity to assist home buyers and sellers in what is probably one of the most important transactions of a person’s life.
Read on to discover three important facts about conveyancing that students in legal assistant training need to know.
1. Previous Mortgages Need to Be Discharged
When clients purchase a new home and still owe money on their mortgage on another one, they need to have the previous mortgage discharged in order to change homes. A mortgage discharge is a legal document that the client’s mortgage broker signs in order to have their stake in their home released in order to complete the sale. This release form is very important and difficult to complete without the guidance of a professional who completed their training at a top legal assistant school.
Alberta’s conveyancing protocol makes sure that all conveyancing processes are as effective as possible
2. Conveyancing is Provincially Regulated
Did you know that each province has its own law society that makes provincially-specific laws? Alberta has recently joined forces with British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to form The Western Law Societies’ Conveyancing Protocol which helps inform the creation of each province’s own conveyance protocol. These provincially-specific protocols help create standards of practice that every conveyancer has to follow to ensure that clients are receiving proper service. Proper service includes ensuring that mortgage processes, legal advice access, and land title processes are all handled efficiently and effectively.
3. A Conveyancer Can Work For Both Home Buyers And Sellers
Once you begin your legal career and decide to work in conveyancing, you will have the opportunity to work with both buyers and sellers in different legal roles. While working for buyers, you will have the opportunity to prepare and clarify contracts of sale, conduct research on the property, coordinate deposit money transfers and final sale payments, as well as manage the settling of the property.
Throughout your career, you may also work for home sellers. In this role, you might be responsible for sorting through legal documents and ensuring they are all in proper order. Furthermore, you might represent the seller during communications with the buyer, including requests for an extension of closing dates or other deadlines.
Contact an advisor today to find out more!
