Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: mortgages

Thank you for adding some detail to your prior post. I couldn't really get what you were asking from the original post. Based upon the information you have provided, I would have to say no, small claims court is not the forum. Small Claims Court has a jurisdictional limit of $7,500, and can only award monetary damages.

If you are asking can you foreclose in Small Claims Court, the answer is no - foreclosure is both a montetary and a non-monetary relief, and additionally, the dollar amounts are too large. If you wish to foreclose, contact a title company to handle a non-judicial foreclosure for you. If you just want to sue him for the money he owes, and not foreclose the property, then you are forced to go to Superior Court because of the dollar amounts involved (I assume the dollar amounts are more than $7,500 because he offered to pay $14,000 to reduce payments). You are probably talking about having to file a case in unlimited jurisdiction which can be costly.

I would suggest that you sit down with a real estate attorney to review your options. You have several, but you need to be fully informed about the ramifications of each before you proceed.

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Re: mortgages

Assuming he has signed a deed of trust you need to foreclose. You can either institute a judicial foreclosure action or a non-judicial foreclosure under the power of sale contained in the deed of trust. You should either see an attorney or hire a company to do the foreclosure. If you try to handle this matter yourself and you don't know what you are doing, you will likely forfeit your rights under the deed of trust.