Return of Deposit Check Error
Hello, I hope everyone is well. My partner and I encountered a dilemma we've never experienced before. We really don't know how to move forward without consulting an attorney, so I decided to post our situation here in hopes of getting some bits of wisdom.
We made an offer in the name of a land trust that we hadn't formed completely at the time that our offer was accepted and signed by the seller. My partner put up an EMD amount of 1K via a certified check in his name. After consulting a good friend of mine, we decided to not go the trust route and to just use our personal names to purchase the property. We informed our agent via email of the change who, in turn, informed the listing agent. We never signed an addendum mentioning using our personal names. Well, our title company discovered there were massive issues with title and would not insure the property. Due to clear title not being produced, we signed a release from the AOS form confirming that our deposit would be returned. My partner went to pick up his deposit check and realized that the check was made payable to the trust. His name did not appear on the check. He contacted the listing agent to get a revised check. The agent agreed to do so, but eventually contacted my partner and told him that the check has to remain in the trust's name. We were informed by the listing agent's broker that we should finish setting up the trust, get it notarized, take it to the bank to open up an account for the trust and deposit the check. Is there a simpler way to do this? Is this our only option? The error wasn't on our part, as we promptly revealed that we'd be using our personal names and not the trust. It had also been revealed that we would not proceed with establishing the trust upon receiving the signed contract from the seller's side.