Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Easement

Depends upon how far along you are in the conceptual development of your proposed lot split and what other problems you are facing or come up against later on.

I'd say that a registered land surveyor who has experience in doing land subdivision in your municipality (city or county) is the key figure at the present. The surveyor can work with you to come up with a location for the easements and placement of the lot lines so that you lose the least amount of buildable land and also create the best marketability while complying with local expectations. After you and your surveyor agree on a concept, the surveyor would then turn the concept into stakes on the ground and a map that can be submitted to planning, filed, and then upon approval, recorded.

At this point (when the concept is worked out and you have a survey and map), you may need a lawyer to prepare the written part of the application for the proposed lot split.

Subdivisions into four or fewer lots are somewhat easier that larger subdivisions under the Subdivision Map Act, but whether you can prepare and obtain approval of your split without a lawyer's help may depend upon your own skills, how helpful your surveyor can be, whether there is opposition, and how tough the local enforcement of the Map Act is.