California Real Estate Legal Questions

You can sue them for up to $10,000 in small claims court. No lawyers. The risk of small claims court is that if you win, the other side can have a re-trial in a regular court with lawyers, by just filing an appeal. By choosing small claims court, you waive the right to any appeal. Dana Sack  ... Read More

Don't act unilaterally. Judges and retired judges who act as arbitrators hate self-help. Have you sent a written (not email) notice to the HOA about the tree and asking the HOA to fix the problem i.e. remove the roots or the tree? That first step is mandatory. The Davis-Stirling Act requirs your HOA to provide a process where the Board appoints someone to meet with you and try to work it out. If you ask for it, the HOA must provide it. If that doesn't work, try offering third party mediation. Faster and cheaper than a lawsuit or arbitration. Your CC&Rs might require the HOA to participate Next, check the procedure for resolving disputes. Most require arbitration. Sometimes there is an exception when you sue to enjoin a nuisance. You should have a real estate attorney familiar with CC&Rs and the Davis-Stirling Act review your CC&Rs and any other governing documents. Before starting a lawsuit or arbitration, you want to be very sure that you will win. The prevailing party is entitled to recover its attorney fees and expenses. Lawsuits are very expensive. If you lose and don't pay, the HOA can collect by foreclosing on your house, evicting you and selling the house. Dana Sack  ... Read More

It completely depends on your contract. If the buyer has the unilateral right to cancel the contract, then you do, too. You will need to have a a lawyer familiar with Steiner v Thexton review the contract to determine whether you have this option. If the buyers miss any of the deadlines in the contract, such as the ones you listed, that might cancel the contract automatically, it might give you the right to cancel the contract, or it might give you the right to send the buyers a notice that if they don't waive the contingency and confirm they are going forward within some specified number of days, then you will cancel the contract. If you don't have the right to cancel, then yes, both the buyer and the agent can sue you and win. The buyer can also prevent you from selling the property to anyone else until the case ends. If you would like me to review the contract with you, please call me. Dana Sack 510-286-2200    ... Read More

Technically, all you need is: A purchase and sale agreement, A Transfer Disclosure Statement, A hazards disclosure report, State and federal forms to show that you are a US taxpayer, Escrow instructions, which the title company will prepare, and A grant deed. You can find samples on the internet. There are also books for sale on how to sell your home without a broker or attorney. Don't. There are good forms available, and they mean what they say, but every word is important. Unless you have lived through all the things that go wrong, you are unlikely to appreciate the significance of many provisions or how to choose among the many choices offered by such forms. You also will not know whether the particular form you have chosen has left anything out. Who are you going to turn to when the buyer asks for difficult changes or asks difficult questions? Much of what you pay a real estate broker and agent for is marketing and helping you choose the best buyer. If you don't need that, an experienced real estate attorney can probably do it of a lot less than a 5% or 6% commission. If you can get an agent to do it for 1% or $10,000 or less, that's about what a good attorney will end you charging you by the hour. If you would like to meet or talk on the phone about hiring me to help you, please call me. Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

No one can tell you until after they have read and studied your condominium's CC&Rs and the legal description attached to the deed to your unit. In some condominiums the HVAC units are owned, repaired and replaced by the HOA. In some each unit owner owns her or his own HVAC unit, but the connecting conduits and pipes in the walls and ceilings are owned, repaired and replaced by the HOA. In others, each homeowner has an easement through the walls and ceilings for the conduits and pipes, and owns them and is responsible for their repair and replacement. Still others can have any of these arrangements for ownership and still provide that either the HOA or the separate homeowners are responsible for repairs. Someone needs to check the legal documents. If you end up paying fo the repair, make sure the plumber checks for evidence of whether or not the leak was caused by someone driving a nail or screw into the pipe. If the pipe is replaced, make sure that the plumber gives you the old pipe. If your neighbor negligently damaged the pipe, maybe while hanging a light fixture or art piece, you should be entitled to reimbursement. If you would like me to look into this for you, it would probably take about an hour. We charge $300.00 per hour for such work. Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

First, the tenant cannot sue the landlord to force the landlord to get rid of the other dog, without proving that the dog is a danger. If the dog has really not attacked anyone, then there is no evidence that it is dangerous. However, the landlord is still at risk. There is a case where the tenant of a small store in LA posted a newspaper clipping in door window, about how the store kept a vicious dog to scare off thieves. When the dog attacked a person, the landlord was held liable, because the landlord should have vistited the store when the lease was renewed, and should have seen the article, and should have done something about the dog. In this case, you don't think the dog is vicious, but you really don't know, and the other tenant has put you on notice that the other tenant thinks the dog is dangerous. At the same time, the landlord cannot retaliate against the tenant who has complained by either evicting that tenant or requiring that tenant to get rid of her or his dog, too. There is no easy answer. I suggest contacting an agency that conducts mediations between neighbors. Here in Oakland, there is an outfit called SEEDS. A person with training and experience in helping people resolve such misunderstandings, without resort to legal rights. The tenants are probably not speaking to each other. If the big dog is kept inside, the new tenant may not have ever met the dog he is complaining about. A mediator might be able to make that happened in a safe and non-threatening setting. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

I would contact the customer service desk at a title company where your father's house was and ask them to send you the deeds from when he bought the property until now. They'll need the address and his full name. Yes, this sounds very suspicious. If the home went through probate, you should have received notices of all the hearings and proceedings. And nothing should have shown up on your credit report. That is really suspicious. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

Unfortunately, I get this question a lot, and there is no easy answer. The fastest and easiest way is to have a title company or a lawyer prepare the grant deed to transfer your ex's interest in the house to you, and send it to her with a polite, non-threatening letter asking her to please have it signed and notarized, in order to complete your divorce. If she refuses or fails to respond, the next step would be to have someone like me call her and try to talk her into it. if that doesn't work, you may have to offer to pay her something in order to buy her signature. As long as it doesn't cost more than taking her to court, it's worth it. Taking her to court will take two months and cost at least $1000.00. If that doesn't work, then you have to take her to court. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

If the tenant has been there longer than a year, then the landlord must give 60 days notice of termination and of any change to the lease terms, including any increase in rent or a change in the way utilities are billed. If the tenant has been there less than a year, then 30 days. The landlord cannot charge more than the utility charges for the same service. If the landlord wants to add a flat charge, it has to be not more than the utility charges. Since the landlord does not know how much water each tenant uses, unless they are separately metered, the landlord cannot just divide the water bill in equal or proportionate shares to the tenants, because some tenants might use less water than others. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

I am not aware of any such forms or websites. I don't search the Web for sites to eliminate the need for my services. No waiver can guaranty that the buyer will not sue you. A court is more likely to enforce a properly drafted waiver. Even if perfectly drafted, a buyer can still sue, and a court will still refuse to enforce it, if the court finds that the waiver was obtained by deception, fraud, duress, or bullying. If the waiver is both unfair, either inherently or in the way it is being applied in a particular situation, and was obtained unfairly, a court does not have to enforce it. Waiver must be knowing. The best waivers involve "assumption of the risk." If I wrote it for you, I would start by listing the improvements which were constructed without permits, the consequences, the price reduction, a statement by the buyers that they know that correction might cost more, take longer, and reduce the value of the property by more, a waiver of claims known and unknown, and a waiver of the statute that says you can't waive a claim you don't know about. I would also include an integration clause in order to take advantage of the parole evidence rule. Ready to hire an attorney to do this? Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

Probably, you can't. After the 1980s and 1990s, when almost every subdivision and condominium developer was sued by the homeowners associations (HOAs) they had set up, developers tried hard to design subdivisions without common area, so that there would not be an HOA set up and ready to sue them. If your subdivision or condomnium has an HOA, then it probably has common area. How are the homeowners going to deal with the common area without an HOA? Without the HOA, then all the owners will own the common area as tenants-in-common. That means each owner individually will be personally liable for claims for injuries, deaths, and property damage which occur on the common area. Insurance will cover most claims, but not all, and not for damages that exceed the limits of the insurance. If your community has common area, then you need the protection of an HOA corporation. Why do you want to dissove your HOA? If you are unhappy with decisions the HOA has made or its enforcement of rules and assessments, you should get people who agree with you voted onto the HOA Board of Directors. The Board makes those decisions. If you can't get your own majority onto the Board, then you won't be able to get the votes you would need to cancel or amend the CC&Rs to eliminate the HOA. The Davis-Stirling Act provides that an amendment of the CC&Rs requires approval of the owners. If the CC&Rs do not specify the percentage approval required, then the Act provides for majority approval. If the CC&Rs require a higher percentage and you can't get it, because not enough members will vote, there is a procedure for obtaining court approval, as long as the amendment is reasonable, a majority approved, and a good faith effort was made to get the needed supermajority. You may have trouble proving to a judge that completely revoking the HOA parts of the CC&Rs or the CC&Rs in their entirety, is reasonable. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

Your Realtor is exactly correct. Don't do this deal without good title ownership of the home on the official government records. If the seller is not shown on the official records of either the Deparment of Motor Vehicles or the Department of Housing and Community Development, then you do not know who actually owns the property. It is possible you could give the seller $12,000.00, and then be evicted by the true owner. The whole idea of an escrow is you give the escrow holder your money, and the escrow holder does not give it to the seller until the title has been transferred to the buyer on the official government records. The only reason for a seller to refuse to do it this way is because the seller does not really own the mobile home. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

There is probably no lien on your property. When I win a lawsuit and get a judgment, the first thing I do is record the judgment in the official county real estate records. Thereafter, it is automatically a lien on all real estate the judgment debtor owns in that county or every acquires in that county. That is probably what has happened. The judgment has been recorded and is a lien on any property owned by your son, but not you. You just have to show the title company and the lender that the judgment is against you and not your son. In some counties, but not all, you can go onto the court's website and download copies of the judgment and the original complaint. Send those to the title company and the lender to show them that the lawsuit was against your son and not you. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack... Read More

If you're talking about a house on a city lot, I can quote you a fixed price of $1000.00, or our usual hourly rate of $300.00 per hour plus expenses. Unless the two sides get involved in a lot of changes to my draft of the agreement, the hourly rate is likely to be less. The purchase and sale agreement is only the first step. The seller is required to provide a completed and signed Transfer Disclosrue Statement, which is a form adopted by the state legislature, and a Hazards Disclosure, which is available from several online companies and the title companies, for about $100.00. The buyer should obtain a title report, a termite report, and a home inspection report. For property in the Oakland Hills and some other areas, the buyer should pay particulare attention to any indications of soil subsidence or slippage, foundation settling, and surface water runoff issues. If there is any evidence of any of them, additional experts should inspect the property. Someone should check the records of the city planning department and the city building department regarding permits, which might disclose previousl attempts to fix problems. They might also reveal any improvements constructed without permits. Regarding all of the items listed above, if the buyer does not have a lot of experience regarding such matters, and there isn't a trained and experienced real estate broker or agent reviewing such documents and advising the buyer, then the buyers should have their attorney review the documents to look for potential problems. After the sale is completed, if a problem arises and it was mentioned in any of the disclosure documents or the buyers should have noticed it when they inspected the property, then the buyers can't win a lawsuit against the sellers regarding that problem. Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

Whatever the CC&Rs say controls. If the CC&Rs don't say who repairs and replaces decks, then it depends on who owns the deck.  Sometimes decks and patios are owned by the HOA, but the adjacent homeowner has a right to the exclusive use of the deck or patio. The CC&Rs often refer to such areas as "Restricted Common Area." If your deck is Restricted Common Area, then the language you quoted, that the homeowner is responsible, is what controls. If you have any questions or would like me to review your CC&Rs and your deed, please call me. Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

The CC&Rs for most homeowners associations ("HOAs") provide that in the event of a dispute which goes to arbitration or a lawsuit, the prevailing party is entitled to cover the fees and expenses charged by its attormeys. Even if the CC&Rs do not include an attorney fees provision, under the Davis-Stirling Act, the prevailign party is entitled to such reimbursement in almost all lawsuits to enforce the CC&Rs, but there are some exceptions.  The amount of the fees and expenses is the actual amount you incur. Courts aren't stupid. If your attorney claims some unreasonable amount, the court is likely to only allow reasonable fees. There was a recent HOA-CC&Rs case where the Court of Appeal reduced the fees granted by the trial court from over $1,000,000.00 to less than but close to $750,000.00. You and your attorney better be absolutely sure you are right. If you lose, you will end up paying both your own attorney fees and the HOA's, double-or-nothing. Homeowners almost always lose such lawsuits. The HOA Board of Directors will get advice from professional managers of the project and if the issue is complex or difficult, the manager will consult with an attorney knowledgable in this area of law. If you lose and don't pay the fees awarded to the HOA, it can foreclose on your home, evict you, and sell your home, to pay the fees, interest, and the expenses of the foreclosure, without going back to court! On the other hand, if the conduct of the HOA is so bad that DOJ is prosecuting the HOA, then you're probably right. DOJ almost never takes on cases arising from disputes between homeowners and HOAs.  Personally, I have never heard of any. I know several former Deputy US Attorneys who have left DOJ, and I have heard from them how difficult and rare it is for a case to get to them. If DOJ has already taken it on, then you have a good case. If you're just hoping they'll take it on, I am afraid that I have to advise you that is not likely.  If you would like to discuss what the HOA has done or failed to do and the chances your case would be successful, please call me. Dana Sack 510-286-2200  ... Read More

No, you do not need a broker. Brokers charge 5%-6% of the purchase price, but most of that is for marketing, staging, and the risk they take that the sale might not be completed. The brokers don't get paid unless the sale is completed. They get paid at the close of escrow. In your situation, there will be no marketing or staging, and no risk of the deal falling through. In California, the lien on real property which secures a loan is created by a deed of trust, not a mortgage. Such loans almost always include a due-on-sale clause, which says that the lender can declare the loan to be due in full when there is a transfer, but I have never heard of a lender doing so for an inter-famiy transfer. Loan rates have never been lower. You might want to think about a new loan in order to lock-in a lower rate, if your grandmother's loan has a higher rate. in order to accomplish the transfer, you will need a grant deed all the persons who currently are shown as owners on the official county real estate records. Each will need to sign the deed in front of a notary public and have their signatures notarized. They will need to fill out and sign a Transfer Disclosure Statement and disclose any other defects in the property which any of them know about. Someone will need to purchase a hazard disclosure report. There will be the fee to the notary, the recording fee, a county transfer tax, and the fee for the hazard disclosure report (which is $99). The county transfer tax is $1.10 per thousand dollars of value. Some cities also have their own transfer taxes. I have seen them as high as $14.00 per thousand dollars of value. I would recommend buying title insurance. It will probably cost about $1000.00, but it's a bargain. It's the only way to know for sure that you have obtained all the signatures you need on the grant deed, and that you know all the liens and claims against the property. I have heard of people buying just a title report for  $200-$300, but if there are any mistakes, the title company has no liability for mistakes unless you pay for the title insurance policy. It provides coverage for as long as the buyer owns the property. Mine is still in effect after over 30 years. Before going to al the time, effort and expense of applying for a new loan and everything else described above, I recommend that you get all of the current owners to sign an agreement to sell you the property. I can do that and everything described for less than $5000.00 plus the fees listed above. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Dana Sack  ... Read More

Is it worth the trouble? For the buyer, absolutely. For the seller, not so much. For the seller, if the value of the property increases, it all belongs to the buyer, and all the seller gets is its loan payments. If the value of the property goes down, the buyer can walk away, and all the seller can do is take back the property. If the seller wants to avoid paying income tax on the profits by exchanging this property for a replacement property, the seller probably can't use your promissory note to buy the replacement poperty, unless the seller can find someone to buy the loan, usually at a substantial discount. It used to be that if the buyer was borrowing 70%-80% of the purchase price from a bank, and the buyer did not have the rest of the cash, the seller might take 10%-15% of the price as a loan secured by a second deed of trust on the property, behind the bank. After the last two real estate loan debacles, most home lenders want to see that the buyer has 20%-30% of the buyer's own cash invested in the home, as assureance that the buyer will take good care of the property and not stop making the loan payments, even if the value of the property goes down. Therefore, most lenders will not accept such partial seller financing. Hiding such seller financing from a federally insured lender is a felony. I suggest first pre-qualifying with a lender or a loan broker, so that you know how much you can borrow. Find out how much seller financing the lender will allow. IF the answer is none, keep asking lenders until you find one who will. Now you know what to tell your broker about how much you ca offer, how much will be the bank's cash, how much will be your cash, and who much you will need the seller to carry back as loan secured by a second deed of trust. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

In order to answer your question, the first thing I would need to do is review the deed to your property, the first deed out of your property from the original subdivider, and a copy of the CC&Rs and all amendments. In most subdivisions of detached single family homes, the homeowner owns the entire lot and is solely responsible for maintaining the entire property, including his or her side of any fences. In zero-lot-line subdivisions of townhomes, where the homes have shared side walls, any yards are often owned by the HOA. The HOA is sometimes responsible for maintaining the landscaping, any fences, and even for painting the exteriors of the homes. This responsiblity is placed on the HOA in order to assure adequate and consistent maintanence and uniform exterior appearance of all the homes, in order to protect and enhance the exterior appearance and value of all the homes. There are every manner of cross-overs and variations between these two extremes. For example, do you even own the fence? If the HOA owns it, then you have no right to paint it and it's the HOA's responsibility. Don't ignore this issue. The HOA can impose fines, make the fines a lien on your home, add the attorney's fees for preparing and recording the lien and for foreclosing on the lien, and foreclose on your home, evict you, and resell it. The attorney's fees can exceed the value of the fines, the harm, and even of the property. A recent appellate case in which a homeowner lost such a dispute with an HOA produced an attorney's fee award for the HOA of over $1,000,000.00! If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

Where anywhere in the State of California is there a piece of land worth only $4500.00? Unless the other owner can somehow be persuaded to either buy you out or sell, the only remedy the law provides is for you to sue the other owner to partition the property in order to force its sale. The court filing fee is $435.00. The fee to have a registered process server formally deliver the lawsuit papers to the other side is $75.00. Preparing the papers will cost about $500.00. I recommend that a litigation guaranty be purchased from a title company, in order to make sure the other side is exactly and correctly identified in the lawsuit papers. That will cost $100.00-$200.00. And that's just the opening round to start the lawsuit. If the property is really only worth $4500.00 and you don't want anything to do with it, maybe you should offer to just give it to the other owner for free. Another choice would be to stop paying the property taxes and association fees, and let the association forelcose on the property. If the other owner really wants to hold onto the property, he'll have to start paying the association fees and property taxes. If the association doesn't foreclose, then the tax collector will sell the property after the taxes have not been paid for 5 years. I don't believe the land is worth ony $4500.00. There's more to this story that you need to tell in order to get good advice. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack  ... Read More

In theory, in order to transfer an interest in real property, the transfer must be in writing and must be delivered to the person to receive the interest. Recording the transfer, by filing it in the county real estate records, is a way to put the world on notice of the transfer. In theory, if you signed, notarially acknowledged, and recorded a quitclaim deed, without the consent of the transferee, no transfer would occur, because the deed had not been delivered. As a real estate professional with years of experience closing escrows, solving title problems, and litigating them, I am not a fan of quitclaim deeds. Why do you want to make this transfer? Maybe there is a better way? I get lots of inquiries from families wanting to tranfer real estate from the parents to the children. Bad idea. If the parents own a property as community property, when the first one passes, the survivor receives a stepped-up basis to the market value on the date of death. That means that if the survivor sold it then, there would be no capital gains tax. If the survivor transfered it to the children, they would get the survivor's stepped-up basis. On the other hand, if they wait and make the transfer when the survivor passes, then the children get a tax-basis equal to the market value when the survivor passes away. If the goal is to avoid probate, and that is an excellent idea, the better way is to create a revocable living trust and transfer the property to the trust. When the parents pass, the trust owns the property and the successor trustee distributes the property as provided in the trust. Just like a will, but with no probate fees, delays, or annoyance. If you would like to discuss creating such a trust or a family limited partnership, please call me. Dana Sack  ... Read More