I have a lawyer be the trustee for our land trusts, if a situation does arise and it does go to court, I do not want my interest disclosed.  

sewer and electrical/breaker box issues may arise in the next 5 to 10.  

Again, certain acute situations may arise, but it is just that, acute. 

As a lawsuit typically arises from a loss of money.

Usually what I see is that when a seller claims to be helping some poor buyer out it actually arises out of a justification of an underlying sence of guilt.

Going forward I will have to have everything spelled out in writing so everyone knows what to expect if this situation arises again.

That is a darn good mistake to make...at least you have equity you can borrow against should the need arise. 

If it is not filed the seller may encumber the property, borrow against it, have liens attached arising from the seller's actions or lack of actions, if a seller dies an unrecorded contract may complicate estate issues and it places the buyer's interests at risk.Recording also protects the seller from certain acts of the buyer, such as the buyer granting rights or encumbering the property.

Such expenses paid also are seen to give an individual tenant an equitable interest in that property arising from their making repairs and they may make such claims after tenancy (or any time).

It would be interesting to see how they go about dealing with situations like those we are discussingwhen they arise.