The owner is a habitual defendant and has skipped on a couple other rental properties.

Allowing a party to enter into a SUB2 transaction, leads to a 80% possibility of being subjected to thousands of dollars of fees for an attorney to defend themselves either infront of the bar or worse, the fed.

I can take them to small claims court but I was told that even if the judgment is in my favor, the defendants most of the time don't pay.

I'll also be the first to defend a GOOD agent.

He went on to explain the checks he collected from the defendant corporations for his legal work on behalf of a mere consumer were the sweetest fees he ever collected.  

I think a court of equity will let them out of the contract with EMD, but... it will be an expensive endeavor to defend such a lawsuit....

If I went behind her back and did a first deal without her knowledge (or some of the other advice given here), my next move would be on the defendant's side of the table at divorce court.

You should have your own written or at least reviewed by an attorney so you are protected.Should there be a problem, the attorney that wrote or reviewed them will be in a much better position to defend you.

Even though they are trained to deal with them, more police die from calls to domestic violence disputes than anything other type of crime (at least that's what I hear).So I am not going to step in and take on a job even the cops fear.I would hire a lawyer to find out my legal obligation to the abused wife (or husband) and my options to defend my property rights as well.

They find some excuse to sue, and they hope to collect a nuisance tax - either an insurance company or the defendant pays some money to make the person go away, because even though they did nothing wrong it will cost more money to show they did nothing wrong.