Solicitor query

[Andy&Kath]

We are travelling to Scalea next Sunday (8th July) on a viewing trip and would like to have a solicitor lined up beforehand in case we find a suitable property.We are considering using Nick Metta. Have any other members used him before :?:

[sue smith]

You may find you don't need a solicitor at all - the notary does all the legal work anyway so if your purchase is fairly straight forward you will just be throwing money away. We didn't use one.

Are Scalea properties showing you around ? If so I would be guided by them - they will be totally honest with you and advise if you need to employ a solicitor or not.

Happy hunting and have a great time,if you haven't been to Scalea/ Calabria before I'm sure you will love it, it's a great place !

[truffles]

Hi, I'm no expert on deciding whether or not to use a lawyer but we just bought using Nick Metta and he was excellent so if you do go down the lawyer route I would recommend him. Good luck with the property hunting.
Jerry

[iggy]

Hi guys,
I've used Nick Metta, eventhough it was only last year that we bought I think we used him for the power of attorney (my memory isn't great). He was really great, he couldn't do enough, he looked over all our documents, free of charge, and offered advice on tax issues etc. He can also organise you codice fiscal if you like, which if at the time I'd known I would have got him to do it. I live in Cork and we had to travel to the Italian embassy (which was only open in the mornings) in Dublin to organise this.
His English is superb as is his assistants. It's a family run business based in Bari, if you google him, you'll find the website, studio legale metta.
We had a problem at the notary and Nick was great at sorting it out, eventhough he was based across the coast. I highly recommend him.
Hope this helps,
Cara

[Andy&Kath]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
Can't wait to get to Scalea and hopefully find an apartment to buy

Andy

[davidturner]

Dear Cara,
As Tony Hackett is away on holiday, do you think you could e-mail me Nick Metta's e-mail please. We bought in Santa Domenca in Sept and need to make an Italian will, hopefully when we come in Feb.

Regards,
David Turner

Originally Posted by iggy

Hi guys,
I've used Nick Metta, eventhough it was only last year that we bought I think we used him for the power of attorney (my memory isn't great). He was really great, he couldn't do enough, he looked over all our documents, free of charge, and offered advice on tax issues etc. He can also organise you codice fiscal if you like, which if at the time I'd known I would have got him to do it. I live in Cork and we had to travel to the Italian embassy (which was only open in the mornings) in Dublin to organise this.
His English is superb as is his assistants. It's a family run business based in Bari, if you google him, you'll find the website, studio legale metta.
We had a problem at the notary and Nick was great at sorting it out, eventhough he was based across the coast. I highly recommend him.
Hope this helps,
Cara

[Italy4me]

Here's the website address in English for the Metta Legal Studio:

STUDIO LEGALE METTA - Bari (Italy)

There's a contact page included.

[Dermot Brophy]

Hi all,

Anybody give me a rough idea of the cost of making a will in Italy, involving a husband/wife 50/50 ownership of property? I have heard hugely varying figures.

Dermot

[Doug]

Hi Dermot-
I cannot remember which of several forum sites I saw it in about a year ago, but someone said that Italy was nearing the point of accepting foreign wills if translated into Italian. An email to the Metta office shown above might yield an answer. I think that what we call "living wills", wherein you ask your doctors, family and friends to pull the plug and do no resuscitation in certain situations, is NOT likely to be widely accepted in Italy. We are planning to have our wills and living wills translated before moving there. I've seen the news about the Italian woman in a coma there for 10 years who's family got court permission to pull the plug, but no one is willing to do the deed. The Italian aversion to "assisted suicide" is not going to keep us away. We are in one of the few states in the USA that allows this.

[Dermot Brophy]

HELLO, DOUG.

GOOD TO READ YOU AFTER QUITE A WHILE.

We are not particularly exercised by the "Living will" concept - though I would not be philosophically against it. In fact, I could easily see myself making such provision, should it become possible. We are a long way away from that point here in Ireland.

Very interesting to learn that our existing wills might become acceptable in Italy, but I think there may be a need first to harmonise succession laws first. Meanwhile, we are in discussion with an Italian firm of solicitors here in Dublin, and it looks as if they may be relieving us of a couple of thousand for our two wills!

I will certainly take up your suggestion about asking Sgr Metta.

Are you tired of being asked how you felt about the cannonization - sorry, inauguration - of Mr President? I must say that I was greatly impressed by what I saw on screen. Future performance will tell us more, but he seems to have hit the piste running anyway.

I think we may miss one another this time around - we will be in San Nicola on and off from late March.

All the best

Dermot

Since writing the above, I got some interwsting info from the Metta website under "FAQ" - worth a look.

DB

[Doug]

Hi To You Dermot,
Yes, most Yanks are very happy to be rid of the evil-doers to move forward with Barack and his team. Even conservatives are willing to give his administration a chance. The total chaos we allowed to happen with our economy (to spread everywhere else) is a huge problem and one cannot expect one leader alone to be the ultimate answer. We do still have the Congress (Parliament) with the keys to the purse and I just hope they are listening to wise economists and not just to themselves as they implement all these stimulus concepts. You have your own banking debacles there that we hear about, so let's all tip one toward global economic stability.

Sorry that I never mentioned we too did without a solicitor in buying our Italian property, but we're probably going to turn to Nick Metta with help in our residency process. Non-EU folks have a few more hurdles.

On the wills, Di's nephew is one of our beneficiaries and also a US lawyer, so he and my daughter will have fun sorting out the Italian property when we are gone. It will be a fun challenge for them with the Italian system! They should have to work a little to earn their inheritance don't you think?

Hope you're well. We're looking at a visit in late May if the income taxes here don't mess it up.

Ciao,

[MarKel]

Dermot, a couple of thousand for two wills! Surely it couldn't cost that much, not even by our very expensive " Irish" standards.
Speaking of wills, we have yet to make even a basic will regarding our home etc., not to mention the Italian property. Tempting fate I know, and creating a big problem for those left behind. But at those prices, we would need a lottery win to even approach a solicitor.
Regards,
Markel

[Dermot Brophy]

Doug, and all present = sorry about the awful word-play - it's yet another of my weaknesses.

Just one small cautionary tale. Without going into gorey detail in public, we DID use a firm of solicitors - Giambroni and Law (they have a London office). They were not cheap - but - suffice it to say that in our particular case we were very glad we had them!

By the way, we were very impressed by the Notaio, P Magurno, in Diamante - very professional and high-tech operation.

Yes, Doug, I can quite see that non-EU emptors might have even more reason to caveat! Re the economy, we all do indeed have our problems. The Irish playwright, Seán O'Casey's famous malapropism puts it well

"The world is in a state of chasis"!

We might well be still there in late May - non siamo sicuri!

Auguri

Dermot

[Doug]

Hi All,
Dermot, I have shipped my Oxford dictionary on the English language to Santa Domenica, fortunately my well-read wife can interpret such things as "malapropism" for my old brain.

I hope Andy and Kath have learned something from all these side discussions on solicitors? Some of us have used them for estate deals and others relied on notari with good results. If you are suspect of weird chain-of-title on the property, a lawyer might be prudent.

Oh, and finishing on the will thing -- we paid about $300 for two wills from a lawyer that (in hindsight) we could have done ourselves and gotten the requisite two signatures, plus notarization. Don't know what the rules are for the UK.

In the UK, which group has more jokes made about them -- solicitors or politicians?

Bye, Doug

[Andy&Kath]

Our original enquiry regarding a solicitor was some 18 months ago now. We finally opted not to use a solicitor as our purchase was fairly straight forward (with the help of Tony Hackett @ Scalea Property Services). However as others have stated, I guess it depends on personal preference and the type of property you are purchasing. As far as the will issue is concerned, I looked into this a while back. I can't remember where I got the info from but it went a bit further than the guidance on Nick Metta's website. I seem to remember the site I was on advising that you get your English Will (which should make reference to your Italian Property) officially translated into Italian and then registered with a Notary just to ensure that there are no problems in future for any beneficiary.

As usual I haven't got round to doing it myself yet.

Andy