As a follow-up to last week’s Community Association Legislative Update (Bill Adopted to Allow Electronic Membership Meetings and Voting in North Carolina Associations), Governor Roy Cooper signed HB 320 (“Modernize Remote Business Access”) yesterday, September 20. The law takes effect effect immediately. NC homeowner and condominium associations (as well as other nonprofit associations) can now choose to hold virtual member meetings or make decisions without a meeting through written or electronic balloting or electronic voting, so long as certain requirements are met. The new law applies to any member meetings noticed as of today. In addition, remote member meetings noticed and held … Continue reading
Category Archives: Corporate Law
Bill Adopted to Allow Electronic Membership Meetings and Voting in North Carolina Associations
NC Community Association Legislative Update – September 15, 2021 Community association (HOA and condo) boards have long been permitted to meet virtually by phone or videoconference, but the ability to hold membership meetings electronically ended with the expiration of the Governor’s Executive Order this spring. Since that time, while members can certainly meet virtually as an informal “town hall” and then vote afterwards by written ballot, it has not been possible to hold virtual membership meetings. And even under the Governor’s prior Executive Order, members could not vote during virtual meetings. That’s all changing with the adoption today of legislation … Continue reading
Simple Summary Of The “Free” Step-Up In Basis For Estate Assets And Possible Changes with the Proposed American Families Plan
Most of my clients do not have to deal with estate taxes due to the current 11.7-million-dollar exemption per spouse. Despite this, there are still many important conversations involving taxation that may come up in the initial estate conference at the death of a loved one from deferred income tax with inherited IRAs, fiduciary tax returns, taxation of income earned by irrevocable trusts, and the big one that always comes up and which is the focus of this blog, capital gains taxes. Capital gains tax is not an estate tax or related to death at all, but it is still … Continue reading
Law Firm Carolinas: New Shareholder, Partners, Offices and Lawyers
Law Firm Carolinas announces the following changes: Harmony Taylor, who is in the Charlotte office and practices community association (HOA and condo) law and civil litigation, has been named a Shareholder. Three attorneys have been named Partners: Joe Thompson, who practices residential and commercial real estate, and David Wilson, who practices North and South Carolina community association (HOA and condo) law, both from the Charlotte office; and Jon Raymer, who practices commercial and residential real estate, from the Greensboro office. There have also been several recent additions to the firm: Nancy Guyton and Hunt Harris have joined the Wilmington office. … Continue reading
Guilford County Mask Mandate-Effective August 13, 2021
As a result of the latest COVID-19 surge and the more contagious Delta variant, Guilford County has issued a mask mandate that becomes effective today, August 13, 2021, at 5:00 P.M. The mandate will remain in effect until the earlier of: 1) expiration or termination of the Proclamation of a Local Emergency, 2) January 8, 2022 at 5:00 P.M., or 3) modification or revocation by the Guilford County Board of Health. The mandate states: 1: Individuals must wear Face Coverings when indoors in all businesses, establishments, and public places. 2: All businesses, establishments, and public places must require that all … Continue reading
Should HOA or Condo Bylaws Be Recorded?
We were recently asked whether bylaws amendments should be filed with the local Register of Deeds. The answer, like many things community association related, depends. Condo bylaws in North Carolina are almost always filed with the Register of Deeds, but not HOA bylaws. The difference is due to initial bylaws for condos being recorded with the declaration, and then amendments need to show up in the public record. If HOA bylaws are filed (but should not be), amendments also need to be unless a later amendment makes clear (as we have sometimes done for associations) that subsequent amendments will not … Continue reading
EEOC Issues New COVID-19 Guidance to Employers
From time to time throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Equal Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), who is tasked with overseeing and administering federal anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), has issued guidance to employers seeking to smartly balance compliance with federal laws and regulations against the need to keep workers, customers and visitors to their businesses safe. With more businesses re-opening their doors and vaccines readily available, the EEOC released updated guidance to help struggling employers. In particular, the EEOC confirmed that: Employers can require all employees physically entering their workplace … Continue reading
What Is a Majority Vote?
Like many things association related, the answer can vary by state and by association. That’s because some state statutes or governing documents define majority differently (“a majority of the entire membership” or “a majority of members present”). But if you’re just talking about “majority,” then under Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (12th Edition) that is “more than half” (NOT “half plus one” or some other language that can give you the wrong number). When used without qualification, a majority vote means “more than half of the votes cast by persons entitled to vote, excluding blanks or abstentions, at a regular or … Continue reading
NC Community Association Legislative Update – May 14, 2021
Like everything else during this past year of COVID, the legislative process has also been different. Usually by now in the first year of a new session of the General Assembly, a number of bills that could affect North Carolina HOAs and condominiums would have been introduced. Some would move forward, and some not. In contrast, this have been a fairly quiet year for community association proposals. Almost certainly that’s because of the focus and attention on economic and health issues. That said, there are a few proposed bills that, if adopted, would impact community associations. Yesterday, May 13, 2021 … Continue reading
(Likely Final) NC Extension of Order Allowing Virtual Membership Meetings
The NC Executive Order allowing electronic membership meetings (Executive Order #198) was set to expire today, Monday, May 10. That Order has now been extended by Executive Order #212 through Tuesday, June 1, 2021. As a result, nonprofit membership meetings may continue to be held virtually so long as certain conditions are met. Such a process is likely needed by some larger associations a bit longer, as a different Executive Order (EO #209) still caps the maximum number of people for indoor gatherings at 100 and for outdoor gatherings at 200 “at the same time in a single confined indoor or outdoor … Continue reading
Department of Labor announces changes to independent contractor or employee determination
In the final days of the Trump Administration, the Department of Labor put forward clarifications to help businesses determine whether workers could properly be classified as employees or independent contractors. Under the new guidance, the Department of Labor would initially consider only two factors – specifically, the level of control the individual has over his or her own work and the opportunity for profit or loss due to his or her own personal investment. If, and only if, these factors were inconclusive would businesses then proceed to evaluate or consider the level of skill of the role involved, the permanence … Continue reading
New South Carolina Law Creates COVID Immunity for Many HOAs and Condos
On April 28, 2021 the South Carolina Governor signed into law a bill that creates some protection for many homeowners associations and condominium associations from potential coronavirus claims. The bill (S147) creates broad immunity for health care facilities, government agencies, and legal entities, whether they are regular business entities or nonprofits, regardless of how they are organized (so nonprofit corporations, LLCs, etc.). These are what the new law calls the “covered entities.” The law also specifically creates protections for any director, officer, employee, agent, contractor, third‑party worker, or other representative of one of the covered entities. These are considered to … Continue reading
Even Further Easing of NC COVID Restrictions
The title of Executive Order #209 issued today (April 28, 2021) pretty much sums up the trend in North Carolina: “Removing the Outdoor Face Covering Requirement, Relaxing Restrictions on Gatherings, and Extending the Capacity and Social Distancing Measures of Executive Order #204.” (For more details on prior Executive Order #204, see NC Easing Covid Restrictions.) The new Executive Order contains additional easing of COVID restrictions to begin this Friday, April 30 at 5 pm. It’s difficult to summarize lengthy Executive Orders, and this particular Order is 31 pages with 10 appendixes for different venues/businesses. Here are some HIGHLIGHTS that may … Continue reading
Whether to Hold In-Person HOA or Condo Meetings in South Carolina
While prior Executive Orders contained clear requirements about how to address COVID-19, the most recent South Carolina Executive Orders leave much to the imagination. For those familiar with South Carolina and its approach to legal issues, this might not be surprising. In South Carolina, the basic difference for gatherings currently is that, unlike prior Executive Orders that required face coverings and strictly limited gatherings in terms of number of participants, social distancing, and hygiene efforts, the current orders only encourage compliance with these guidelines. That leaves the board of directors of any HOA / condo with the question of whether … Continue reading
Q&A on Holding In-Person Association Member Meetings
Now that North Carolina allows larger in-person gatherings (see NC Easing Covid Restrictions), many of our homeowner and condominium associations are wondering if it is time to restart in-person membership meetings. Here are questions and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about meetings that we’ve received. Can HOA/condo associations begin holding in-person membership meetings again? Perhaps. There are two aspects to the question: (1) CAN the association membership meeting be held in person?, and (2) SHOULD the association membership meeting be held in person? As with other state Executive Orders, the question of whether members can gather … Continue reading
Update on Emergency Authorization of Remote Notarizations
The saga continues in this third entry of the three-part series (so far) on North Carolina’s authorization of emergency video notarizations during the pandemic. As of March 12, 2021, Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 196 into law, which allows video notarization to continue through December 31, 2021. The Bill acts to amend the previous authorization which expired on March 1, 2021, and appears to have retroactive effect to save any brave soul who continued remote notarizations after the Bill’s expiration date. At this time, there is still no indication that permanent authorization of remote notarizations is in the works … Continue reading
Governor Extends Order Allowing Virtual Membership Meetings
Community association leaders and managers have been asking if the Governor would extend the ability to hold electronic membership meetings beyond March 1. The answer as of today is “yes.” On December 31, 2020, Governor Cooper issued Executive Order #185 entitled Extending Prior Executive Orders on Remote Shareholder and Nonprofit Meetings During the COVID-10 State of Emergency. EO #185 extended earlier orders allowing for nonprofit membership meetings to meet virtually so long as certain conditions are met. However, Executive Order #185 had a expiration date of this coming Monday, March 1. A separate Executive Order #195 was issued this past … Continue reading
Remote Notarizations to Sunset on March 1
As the sunset date approaches for remote notarizations under the temporary emergency authorization, it is now apparent that the legislature will not agree on a bill authorizing a further extension before the expiration. Therefore, we will revert to the notarial requirement of “close physical proximity” on March 1, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. Folks in the know believe that there is legislative support for either an extension of the emergency statute or its permanent authorization and codification. However, other non-related budget aspects of the bill are causing a delay (insert your cynical political comment here). Additionally, it is speculated that when … Continue reading
NC Executive Order Increases Attendance at Association Meetings
The Governor’s latest Executive Order, EO No. 195 issued this week, really isn’t about nonprofit corporations or homeowner and condominium associations. The Executive Order is instead aimed at easing COVID-19 restrictions on businesses, including restaurants and bars. However, there is one section that may be of interest to North Carolina HOAs and condos. For many months now, North Carolina’s pandemic gathering restrictions have limited indoor meeting attendance to 10 and outdoor meeting attendance to 25 “at the same time in a single confined indoor or outdoor space.” Executive Order #195 increases these in-person attendance caps to 25 for indoor meetings … Continue reading
Special Meetings in NC & SC Homeowners Associations and Condominiums
Community associations (homeowners associations and condominiums) hold several different types of membership meetings. Most will hold an annual meeting at which typical agenda items are common: reviewing or ratifying a budget, electing new members to the board of directors, and other regular business. Sometimes the governing documents for the association will specify the exact date of the meeting and sometimes they will leave it to the discretion of the board of directors. Another type of membership meeting that often occurs is a special meeting. To call these meetings “special” is really just a way to distinguish them from regularly scheduled … Continue reading