Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Filing an unlawful detainer suit does not necessarily require the services of a lawyer, but doing any kind of business in court requires a working knowledge of, and fairly close adherence to, the court rules. It is somewhat telling about your knowledge and experience that you would feel it useful or necessary to be showing proof of facts to the clerk. The clerk might look at your complaint and summons for the presence or absence of certain information in the blanks you filled out and now want to file, but they are not interested in the merits of your case or whether you have met the substantive prerequisites to filing.

My suggestion is to ask the court whether there is an advisor for self-represented parties that could take 15 minutes to look at your papers and critique them for you. Note that instead of an attorney, there are county-registered unlawful detainer assistants (a special kind of paralegal) who can do some of the work that doesn't go far beyond filling in the documents.

Alternatively, one or more of the self-help law books on landlording may give some advice on how to prepare and file a UD complaint. Make sure the book is California-oriented. I assume you know about the Judicial Council forms, including the UD-100 Complaint form.

Even though you do not feel you have the money to pay an attorney, paying for an hour consultation if it gets the tenant out a month earlier is worth it. As Mr. Whipple suggests, read up on the topic, prepare the forms, and then maybe go to an attorney to see that you covered everything and how you should proceed.