Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I am having a dispute over access to my property in Mendocino County California. My family has the deed and has used this access for over 50 years. I can't afford the $20,000 dollar retainer the attorney wants to file with the courts. I need to know what papers I need to file both for a lawsuit for my access and a restraining order for her to stop blocking my access and harassing my family and renters on the property.


Asked on 3/17/17, 1:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Your situation is not one in which you just "file papers" for a lawsuit and a restraining order. Land titles and real property access are complex areas of the law that even few lawyers really understand if they have not dealt with them for years. I can give you a list of the documents you would need to file to initiate court proceedings, but only two are forms. Everything else must be custom drafted by someone who knows what to put in them. And that is just to start the case.

$20,000 seems like an EXTREMELY unreasonable retainer up front, but that is a mid-range budget for a case like this. If you want to preserve access to the property (and fulfil your obligations to your tenants to provide access) you're going to have to find an attorney to take the case, perhaps with some kind of financing arrangements.

I have 30 years of real estate litigation experience, including the better part of a decade litigating nothing but land title issues as an in-house litigator for Fidelity National Title and Chicago Title. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss your options.

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Answered on 3/17/17, 1:32 pm


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