Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You can file a lawsuit to "quiet title." You should get a title search which would involve paying a title company to search the public records on file at the county recorder's office in Norwalk. The title search report should show the identity of the owner of record (or maybe you could spend half a day in Norwalk researching the information yourself). You could then search the death records, DMV records, voting records, etc. for the owner of record, which is more relevant to your attempts to serve the owner of record with the lawsuit than to your actual claim of adverse possession. Best of luck to you. It's not often that we hear of a successful adverse possession. You should get legal counsel if you can.

I have done exact action this before. I brought quiet title based on adverse possession and successfully obtained judgment for title. Whereabouts of former owner was unknown. It can be a little tricky. Let me know if you would like me to handle this for you.

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

[email protected]

415-450-0424

The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC

870 Market Street, Suite 1161

San Francisco CA 94102

http://www.danielbakondi.com

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Two things are necessary to win a quiet-title lawsuit based on a claim of adverse possession: satisfactory proof of service of the right potential defendants, and proof that the elements of adverse possession are satisfied.

The court will require vigorous attempts to locate and serve the prior owner of record and other claimants such as secured lenders, successor corporate owners, and heirs of individual owners. You may be required to publish notices in newspapers.

Proof of possession, that the possession was "adverse," and that the possession was open, notorious and continuous are necessary, in addition to proof of payment of taxes, to establish the elements of adverse possession. The terms "possession" "adverse" "open and notorious" and "continuous" all have technical meanings that are somewhat different in the context of an adverse possession lawsuit than in ordinary conversational use.

I would add that you had better find out who owns the property first. If it was government property, you can't adversely possess government property.