Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

one day my father transferred real property back to me that was in his name but I owned it. Then my father drafted his inter vivos trust funding the trust with his estate property. After he signed the deeds and documents he switched either the property descriptions or the APN number on the deeds which made his estate property mine and my property his. He always knew I loved his property and I think he did this out of love and affection, my two sisters who always disrespected him were furious and planned to get it from me and they did in the end with fraud and making up stories that their attorney believed. Their attorney was very good and prevented me from showing a mountain of evidence to the Court. They had no evidence and the judge issued a tentative ruling in their favor.

QUESTION------ When a real property is gifted to a family member after the property is put into an inter vivos trust, dosen't the transfer automatically revoke the trust? The day my father died his original estate property was not in the trust, it was mine solely and entirely. I assume he never had a trust because his lawyer will not comply with me even though I am Trustee named in the instrument. Question #2-- If there was never a trust can I say that my sisters committed grand theft? My property never had anything to do with any trust issue or anything because my father outright gave it to me 4 years before he died. My father's trust was not funded with any real property. It only had his checking account.

A lot of wasted time and money for no reason. Almost four years after father died and I am still homeless. My sisters know I cannot afford an attorney. Can I represent myself so I can get justice? Thank you for your time and expertise, respectfully, J.C.


Asked on 1/22/11, 12:38 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

You haven't got a prayer without an attorney in something like this.

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Answered on 1/27/11, 1:22 am
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

I agree with Mr. McCormick. If the trust was involved in litigation, and you were the trustee, you were required to have an attorney, and could not represent yourself as trustee unless you were a licensed attorney.

You need to consult with an attorney to go over the trust documents and the litigation as soon as possible. You have many issues that cannot be fully answered here without reviewing the underlying documents and the underlying litigation. Time is of the essence and you may be making procedural errors that will hurt you if you don't act promptly.

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Answered on 1/27/11, 8:32 am
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

An individual can represent himself or herself in court. However, the old saying "One who represents himself in court has a fool for a client" is too often literally true. In addition, it's doubtful that your appearances (past or future) are truly of yourself; you may be appearing on behalf of the trust, which is not permissible.

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Answered on 1/27/11, 8:43 am


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