Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California

I hired a lawyer in 2012 to prevent my sister from selling off family land that she forged a deed on when my mother passed. The lawyer filed a civil case, my sister was going to return the property to the family, the lawyer had the civil suit dismissed without prejudice and opened a probate case. Other litigation was on my sister because of embezzlement and while the title to our family land was in her name a lein was attached. We had a lis lenders filed on 2/24/12. Shouldn't this have held off any such incidents while the matter was pending? The land was never my sister's to own, she forged a deed, pretty much admitted it,and the lawyer never helped me one bit. His fiduciary duty to me, his client, was disregarded and ended up with me losing my home where I was going to live out my days, becoming homeless, all my possessions stolen, arrested for trespassing and going to jail, all because I tried to do the right thing and right the wrong my sister did. This lawyer has ruined me. I am living in a car and suffering while he has made an exorbitant amount of money by taking me on as his client and then failing to do what he was hired to do,. Protect the land from being sold and having my sister declared predeceased. Two things asked for in the civil complaint. How is it that everybody wins except my families land,(now sold) and myself, ending up with less then when I went to this lawyer in the first place.


Asked on 4/16/16, 3:28 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Perry Law Offices of Charles R. Perry

I am sorry to hear of your difficult situation.

A lis pendens would not have prevented the fiing of the lien, but it may have affected its validity. It is not possible to tell from what you have written.

It is also not possible to tell if you have a malpractice action against your former attorney, largely because it is not possible to tell what happened in the probate action.

You need to consult an attorney to see if you have a malpractice claim. Please act quickly, since the statute of limitations for attorney malpractice is only a year from the time your claim accrued. That time may be extended, however, until one year after the attorney stopped representing you.

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Answered on 4/17/16, 2:15 am


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