Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

partician action on our property

We had no verbal or written agreement with my father. We allowed him to live in a house of ours while we were building it and making improvements. He put some money into the building. We never charged him any rent for twenty years. We paid the taxes and paid the majority of the building built 20 yrs ago. Now we are not on good terms and his lawyer wants us to negotiate through her. She wrote different offers trying to get us to sell some other land of ours to him and we never acknowleged the letter. Now the lawyer is trying to get us to quit claim him the other piece of land and house we own and he will quit claim the property he lives on to us or he will proceed with a partician action against the house of ours he still lives at.

First of all he does not own any part of the property he is saying he will quit claim to us, We do not want to mediate with this lawyer for something that is ours We wanted him out and he won't leave. Lawyer writes contact in 10 days or we will proceed with partician action on land. Would a lawyer really take a case and try to prove partial ownership of property on a few building receipts or is this just them trying to get us to let him stay?


Asked on 4/27/07, 11:31 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Judith Deming Deming & Associates

Re: partician action on our property

If your father has never been on title, then his attorney will have an uphill battle trying to prevail in a partition action. While the attorney may just be "blowing smoke", it is possible that your father has provided a very different set of facts than you relate here. Were I trying to establish a claim on behalf of your father, I would file a complaint seeking to have the court determine that the house is held by you in trust for your father, etc. In any event, even though your father may file suit, you may retain your own attorney and defend and/or cross-complain against him.

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Answered on 4/30/07, 1:57 pm
Daniel Harrison Berger Harrison, APC

Re: partician action on our property

A lawyer will do what he/she is paid to do so long as the lawyer believes there is a good faith basis in it. The lawyer sounds like she is claiming that the father has some ownership interest in the property despite not being identified on title. The receipts, depending on what they are for, may be used to substantiate the claim.

However, most agreements concerning ownership interests in real property must be in writing. This is called the statute of frauds. Without a written agreement, the person is usually out of luck. However, as in anything in the law, there are exceptions. One exception is estoppel, where the father can show he was led to believe he was an owner and acted to his detriment in reliance thereon. For example, if your father contributed toward payment of the mortgage or taxes, or paid to improve the property in some manner. (Minor improvements that would usually be done by a tenant would probably not qualify.)

At any rate, there is nothing to stop your father from suing. You can only defend the case. We have handled partition actions in the past and can help you if you are interested. You should have a lawyer look at your case earlier than later. In some situations, it's better to be proactive than wait to be sued. Please feel free to call or email.

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Answered on 4/28/07, 11:21 am


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