WE FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS
TITLE DISPUTES
Title disputes involve adverse claims to property and usually are litigated through a quiet title action. The objective of a quiet title action is the ultimate determination of the ownership of the property or an interest in it. The remedy can act prospectively in nature: the plaintiff need not wait until he or she has been disturbed in possession of the property, or sued, to bring a quiet title action. It may therefore act as a preemptive move for clients or parties with business interests and the value of property questioned or jeopardized as the result of conflicting claims. Contact us if you think you have a potential or existing dispute about ownership.
REAL ESTATE FRAUD
Closely related to title disputes but not limited to them is real estate fraud. Title disputes often arise as a result of real estate fraud after a perpetrator found a way to be placed on title or through other means. We have experience representing clients in real estate fraud cases and obtaining favorable results.
ADVERSE POSSESSION
Claims of adverse possession are a subset of property title disputes. They arise when someone was in actual, continuous, hostile and adverse to the true owner possession for five or more years, timely paid all real estate taxes during that period and now claims title to the property. Adverse possession claims are mainly resolved in quiet title actions in state civil or probate courts.
HOMEOWNER/PROPERTY OWNER REPRESENTATION
Property owners may encounter a great range of issues related to the ownership of real property. We handle disputes involving mortgages (or trust deeds), common interest developments, declarations of covenants and restrictions (“CC&Rs”), deeds, easements, equitable servitudes, encroachments, and other legal issues.
BOUNDARY DISPUTES (ADJOINING LANDOWNERS)
Handling issues dealing with rights, duties and liabilities that arise particularly out of the relationship between neighboring landowners including encroachments, the doctrine of agreed boundaries, tree disputes, subjacent and lateral support, wall and fence disputes, and the preservation or enjoyment of views and sunlight.
REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
Helping individuals and businesses with real estate transactions such as leasing, purchase and sale and real estate finance transactions. Legal representation can involve review and drafting of legal instruments such as leases and purchase agreements, escrow agreements, negotiating of their terms, legal advise regarding performance of contracts, and pre-litigation dispute resolution. The firm also represents parties to real estate transactions gone wrong before and in litigation.
COTENANCY AND PARTITION
Title to real property can be held by more than one person as joint tenants, cotenants or tenants in partnership. There are also other variations of common ownership. We represent parties in legal disputes among cotenants which may include advising on cotenancy issues prior to creation of cotenancy, drafting and advising on legal instruments, pre-litigation consultations and representing parties in disputes among cotenants which may include actions for partition, ejectment, recovery of share of rents or rental value and damages for the ouster.
ESCROW
An escrow involves the deposit of documents, money, or other items of value with a third party to be delivered on the occurrence of one or more conditions. In most real estate transactions these functions usually are handled by a neutral escrow holder. We represent parties to an escrow including escrow holders (agents) and principals if the dispute arises about obligations of the escrow holder, rights and obligations of the parties related to the property and documents held in escrow, escrow agreement terms and conditions and other escrow related disputes.
