Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
remove a person from title
when my grandmother passed away 13 years ago my grandfather put land he owns in his two daughters names my one aunt is now taking care of my grandfather and wants to live on the property. when she asked her sister to quick deed the property to them she said no. my grand father has been paying the prop tax on this land all these years and she has never paid a dime for taxex or improvment over the years is there any way of removing this person from title.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: remove a person from title
You cannot remove a person from title without their permission or a court order. Why would she want to go off title? The one aunt does not have to be the only one on title to live there.
Re: remove a person from title
You can do a patition action, but it can be expensive in legal fees. If you must start an action, you have to account for the amount of payments made in excess of 50%, in order to try and recover them. Usually, cases like this don't get litigated because 30% to 40% of the property's equity is lost in court fees and costs. Good luck.
Re: remove a person from title
That would be a little difficult. And not for you to do. Your aunt would not be "removing" the other aunt from title as much as she would be forcing a sale of the property. Presumably, your aunts hold title as "tenants in common" which give either of them the right, among other things, to force a sale under certain conditions. But these types of lawsuits are expensive and generally, the equity in the property suffers as well.
In addition, there is nothing preventing one tenant in common from occupying the property even though both tenants hold title.
Your aunt should consult an attorney with experience in real property ownership issues. We are litigators with experience in this area. If/when you are ready to proceed, call or email.
Re: remove a person from title
Depends. You don't say how she was placed on title in he first place, whether there were conditions or a contract, a trust etc. If it was a Grant Deed with no contract, conditions, or trust, then your strategy must shift from how to get her off, to how to make her want off title. The key here being that along with being on title come certain responsibilities. We could draft a demand from her seeking reimbursement for her share of the expenses for all these 13 years. As to the aunt that moved in, since she didn't pay, she can set off her amount for the work she is doing now to care for him. Call me about implementing this stategy. Otherwise, filing a partition and seeking reimbursement for costs would be the way, but costly in time and money.
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