Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Lawyer has failed to file docs to change title

There's no such thing as being forced to keep an attorney. Your "friend" either doesn't understand the ruling or is confused. A party can change attorneys at any time.

The problem for your friend may be that it's too late to do much about this. There are rather strict time limits on when a party can seek relief from the inadvertence, surprise, mistake or neglect of the party of that party's attorney.

You should probably see an attorney quickly.

Regarding the property tax issue, it matters not in whose name the property remains - if the County is owed back taxes, the County will foreclose its tax lien after five years.

Seek out a real estate litigator familiar with real property transfers. We are litigators with extensive experience in such matters; if you would like a no charge consult, please feel free to call or email.

***No Legal Services or Attorney Client Relationship - Although this email may provide information concerning potential legal issues, it is not a substitute for legal advice from qualified counsel. You should not and are not authorized to rely on this email as a source of legal advice. Until a formal Retainer Agreement is executed, any communication between you and The Guerrini Law Firm cannot create any attorney-client relationship between you and The Guerrini Law Firm.***

Re: Lawyer has failed to file docs to change title

If a judge really told someone that they could not have the attorney of their choice, then your friend needs to get a copy of the transcript and file a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Re: Lawyer has failed to file docs to change title

I too cannot imagine any circumstance under which a judge would, or could, require a party to keep the same attorney, assuming that the client is a competent adult and not a minor or conservatee. Attorneys can under some circumstances be ordered not to dump their uncooperative or non-paying clients, but not the reverse.

Your facts suggest that your friend is currently in possession of the property. That is in itself a powerful factual tool for her. First, a person's possession of real property is constructive notice to possible good-faith buyers or encumbrancers (lenders) of the rights of the person in possession, helping to overcome any lack of a recorded instrument showing your friend as legal owner. Second, possession is one of the key elements in acquiring title by adverse possession, so that even if your friend didn't acquire title at close of probate, she may have acquired it by continuous residence at that property.

It is the property that owes the taxes, not the individual; the county doesn't care who pays them. They send tax bills to the person who appears to be most concerned with their payment, i.e. the owner of record or the owner's agent, but the taxes are a lien on the property. Your friend should pay them at once, even if the property isn't assessed to her; it's an element of adverse possession and also essential to prevent a tax sale.

The 1991 case is probably legally dead now, as far as any further action or orders; the court's jurisdiction would have expired. Subject to a careful review of the status of the case, I believe your friend should retain a new attorney to review the old case and write up, file and serve a new civil action to quiet title in the residence in herself. I believe this would have a good chance of successfully terminating all adverse claims, both existing and threatened or potential, and will result in her becomeing record owner with a clear title. Of course, a quiet title action will not remove valid liens for taxes, mortgages or the like, but it will cut off the claims of disinherited relatives.

I have expertise in the area of quieting disputed titles, and have handled cases of this type all over California. Please have your friend contact me for a free consultation on how we could handle this matter quickly and economically to a happy outcome.