California Real Estate Lawyers Blog

Latest from California Real Estate Lawyers Blog

In California, a Partition action is used to resolve disputes between property owners, and results in sale of the property or physical division. The most common result is a judicial sale of the property, made by a referee appointed by and accountable to the court. The referee is typically a licensed real estate broker.

An all-inclusive deed of trust (“AITD”) is used when the seller will be financing part of the selling price, and the buyer will also take subject to the existing deed of trust. The seller remains on the existing loan (and continues to make the payments) and finances the difference between the existing loan balance and

The Doctrine of Merger in California real property law provides that when a greater and lesser estate are vested in the same person, the lesser estate may merge into the greater estate and the lesser estate be terminated. A practical example is the case of an easement on one of the properties (the servient) for

Assessor’s Parcel Numbers are usually included in the legal description of a deed. But that does not always work; there are times when the APNs do not exactly describe the individual parcel. The assessor’s office does not necessarily follow the subdivision map in assigned APNs. Parties do not necessarily have the Assessors map to refer

Easements for road purposes are common in California. But what happens when the width of the granted easement is far greater than the road actually used by the easement holder? In a decision out of Napa the court held that a deed granting a nonexclusive easement of a specified width does not, as a matter

A Notice of Action, also known as Lis Pendens (Latin for “a suit pending”), may be recorded in a lawsuit that involves title to real property. Because this will prevent sale or refinancing of the property it attracts the defendant’s attention, and they want to remove (“expunge”) it from the record. Anyone seeking money damages

Under California real estate law a prescriptive easement requires the trespasser showing that they have used the property “for the statutory period of five years, which use has been (1) open and notorious; (2) continuous and uninterrupted; (3) hostile to the true owner; and (4) under claim of right.” The way a property owner cuts

In quiet title actions a common defense is the statute of limitations – has the plaintiff waited too long to file suit? Generally, the clock does not run while the defendant is in “undisturbed possession.” But what that means is often disputed in these cases, and there are no bright line rules. In a recent

Outside reverse veil piercing differs from traditional veil piercing, which is permitted due to the “‘The alter ego doctrine prevents individuals or other corporations from misusing the corporate laws by the device of a sham corporate entity. Traditional veil-piercing permits a party to pierce the corporate or limited liability company (LLC) veil so that