Irvine Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Irvine Title Attorneys

Find the right Title & Boundary Dispute attorney in Irvine, CA

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in California

Finding out that property lines are improperly drawn and learning that you have been partially occupying your neighbor's land, or vice versa, can cause some very serious legal issues.

Ideally, the neighbors could just dismiss the situation, and go on as they had before, effectively agreeing to change the property lines to reflect their past use. This doesn't always happen, however. Also, such a course of action is not free of issues, and could eventually result in ownership of the land legally changing to reflect the past use, even if one of the neighbors opposes this.

Therefore, neighbors more often end up in some type of legal dispute over whether and to what extent the property lines should be enforced. Obviously, when the property lines are changed, one neighbor wins, and the other loses. It should come as no surprise, then, that legal fights are often the result.

In addition to the boundary disputes mentioned above, land owners and buyers in Irvine, California should also be aware of the possibility of a title dispute. Rather than being a disagreement over the exact boundaries between two pieces of land, a title dispute is a disagreement over who actually owns an entire plot of land. Uncertainty over ownership of land can come up more often than you might think, and is most often caused by a buyer's failure to correctly record a deed, or the accidental loss or destruction of a deed. Sometimes, however, these disputes can be more dishonest in origin: on occasion, unscrupulous sellers of land will attempt to sell the same parcel to more than one person. Obviously, once you've sold land to one person, you can't sell the same land to anyone else, as you no longer own it. These tricksters know this, but are attempting to gain a large amount of money through the multiple sales. Once this is done, they usually attempt to flee the state or country before the buyers discovery they've been duped. This leaves it up to the buyers to figure out amongst themselves who owns the land.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Irvine, California

One common resolution for boundary disputes is a court re-drawing the boundaries to fit with what the assumptions that the neighbors were operating under before the error was discovered. This usually happens when both parties were, for many years, aware of the actual property boundaries, and did nothing about it. Furthermore, if the neighbor who has been encroaching onto the other neighbor's land has made costly improvements thereto, this weighs in favor of that neighbor, since changing the property lines would impose significant hardship on that neighbor.

A court, for several possible reasons, might decide to give effect to the legally-recorded property lines, which would necessarily change the neighbors' situation, with respect to how they use their land. For instance, if the neighbor who is benefiting from the prevailing situation (he is using land beyond the actual boundary of his property, thereby encroaching onto the land of another) knew about the discrepancy and took steps to actively hide this fact from the other neighbor, the court is very unlikely to do anything that rewards this behavior, even in the slightest. Therefore, a court is likely to decide against the dishonest neighbor. Conversely, if the neighbor who would benefit from enforcing the property lines did nothing to make this happen for many years, a court will probably tell them that they had their chance, and essentially consented to the current arrangement when they took no action to correct it.

When a title dispute comes up in Irvine, California, the court has to apply some pretty complicated legal and equitable principles. These rules are sometimes very obscure, mainly because they can trace their origins back hundreds of years, to the common-law courts of England. However, a close examination of them reveals their basic goal: deciding ownership disputes based on longstanding conceptions of basic fairness.

Without going into too much detail, the individual who recorded their deed initially will be the one who takes ownership, provided he or she did not know (or had no reason to know) of the existence of the other deed.

What Can A Irvine, California Attorney Do?

The legal issues surrounding title and boundary disagreements can get pretty perplexing, and there are usually very high stakes involved (most people think their land is pretty important). For that reason, a good Irvine, California real estate attorney will prove invaluable if such a dispute arises.

Talk to a Real Estate Law Attorney now!

Life in Irvine

Irvine is a city that has been meticulously planned. That could be why CNN voted it 4th best place to live in the entire United States but there are a number of other reasons like the FBI stating Irvine has the least violent crime in any city with a population over 100,000. Over twice that number live within Irvine city limits and enjoy access to all Irvine has to offer.

Over 50 companies have their world headquarters in Irvine including Taco Bell, Ultimate Ears, Felt Bicycles, LA Fitness, and Meade Instruments. Toshiba Corporations, Samsung Electronics, Kia Motors, Asics, and Shimano all operate their North American Headquarters from Irvine as well. With so many large businesses in Irvine, you'd probably be surprised to find out the University of California, Irvine and Irvine unified School District are still the top two employers in the city. Communications giant Cellco Partnership/Verizon Wireless and medical companies Edwards Lifesciences and Allergan are three other big hitters in the Irvine economy.

There's plenty of opportunity for recreation among Irvine residents and visitors. The City of Irvine offers countless community and neighborhood parks. The Northwood Community Park offers one of the most distinctive sights. The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial is exceptional because it's the first United States memorial to be built before the war was over. Honoring the fallen U.S. military personnel from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's also the only memorial that will be updated yearly to display the 5,700+ names. Irvine also hosts the Irvine Global Village Festival celebrating diversity. The festival offers a wide range of exhibitions, entertainment, and food from cultures around the globe.

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