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Some people, in trying to save some dollars in legal fees, avoid the work of finding a good attorney to guide them through their problems.

It is best not to try the Do-It-Yourself method!.

Because of that, the best place to begin your investment plan is in an attorney’s office, and not the ‘Del Rey’ Hotel (a local, ‘colourful’ gringo casino/club/ where you can ‘hire’ a female companion…)

Always bear in mind that the legal system in Costa Rica is Napoleonic, not Common Law, so things are handled very differently than in the US or Canada.

Or, it just may be the kind way most Costa Ricans behave with ‘gringos’, which turn them into wishful thinkers.

Do not do anything you would not do in your own home town.Ī lot of foreigners seem to believe they can outsmart the system when they come to a less developed country.

So, please let me try and help you avoid same mistakes made by those who came before you and try and keep you out of ‘hot water.’Ĭosta Rica Law – Top Gringo Legal Mistakes. “The law is an amazing preventive medicine, but it is a devastating curative medicine.” Attorney José Rafael Fernández But precisely because of all my experience in court I have come to take the following axiom as an absolute truth:

I am a corporate lawyer and a litigator I love to litigate, because it is like playing chess. And only now he asks for my opinion! Just one short phone call would have been enough to help him avoid such a disaster from day one! My client is so desperate that he is willing to pay a ridiculous amount of money to his counterpart to get rid of him. His properties are under the threat of being frozen by the court and his ‘enemy’ has also, – through very dishonest tactics – stopped all his negotiations with the local banks. He now faces a US$6 million lawsuit, which could drag on for 10+ years… He negotiated and signed a contract without speaking a word to me, nor to his local manager.Īfter a few weeks, the deal went sour and my client, again without saying a word to anybody, called the deal off. In order to help him find a ‘better deal’ for some substantial mortgages he needed to fund to help with a new business. He entered into a legal contract to give a high commission to a local ‘attorney-turned-into-a-mortgage-broker’. Just this week an old client of mine made his worst legal mistake in Costa Rica so far. No way! Trying to solve such disasters can be frustrating, aggravating and rarely ‘rewarding.’ You could say that as an attorney, I make a good living from those mistakes. If you described my intellectual capacity as normal, I would agree, but even with all my travels, studying different languages and having a good formal education and a successful legal practice, this has not helped me decipher why Gringos make the mistakes that they do in Costa Rica.Īnd to be frank, I still don’t have an answer for you…

I have been an attorney for 25 years and have a Master’s degree in International Business Law and almost all my clients have been and are US citizens. “I have lived in San José for 40+ years, but have traveled extensively to the US, Chile, Argentina and several countries in Europe.Īpart from my native Spanish, I speak fluent English, and fairly understandable Italian. “When it comes to legal mistakes made by foreigners in Costa Rica, José has just about ‘seen it all before’ so I would encourage you to take note from his experience.” Scott Oliver. Home / Departments / Lawyers, Laws & Taxes / Costa Rica Law – Top Ten Gringo Legal Mistakes Costa Rica Law – Top Ten Gringo Legal Mistakes