Richmond Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Richmond Title Attorneys

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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 create some fairly serious legal issues.

Sometimes, neighbors will decide amongst themselves that the issue isn't worth fighting over, and will go on as they did before. This is particularly likely if the neighbors are on good terms, and the difference between their use of the land, and the actual property lines, is small (say, a few feet or less). This is an ideal situation, at least in the short term. It can, however, cause problems in the future - preventing a neighbor from enforcing the actual property lines, if they suddenly have a reason to do so.

In these cases, what often happens is that the owner of the property which is truly larger than he initially believed (due to the property line not being where he thought it was) wants to make use of the additional property, and eject his neighbor from it. The other neighbor, on the other hand, will want to keep using the land as before, to avoid having his property shrink.

In addition to the boundary disputes mentioned above, land owners and buyers in Richmond, 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 conflict 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 someone 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 typically 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 Richmond, California

Courts have many tools at their disposal to resolve boundary disputes. One way is to simply re-draw the property lines to reflect how the neighbors had been using the land before the discrepancy was discovered. This doesn't very change the position of either neighbor, and is sometimes the fairest result. This is most frequently done because the neighbors were both aware of the legal property lines, and that they differed from how they were using the land, and went on using the land anyway.

On the other hand, a court could decide to take the opposite approach, and order the neighbors to abide by the legal property lines. When deciding which course of action to take, courts consider many factors, but most of them boil down to common-sense principles of fairness. For example, if the owner of the land who was encroaching onto his neighbor's land knew of the encroachment, and hid this fact from the other neighbor (hoping to continue to use more land than he paid for), that will weigh heavily in favor of enforcing the legal property lines. On the other hand, if neither neighbor knew about the error, and it turns out that the actual property line goes through somebody's living room, a court probably won't enforce them.

With title disputes (as opposed to the boundary disputes discussed above), a Richmond, California court has to determine who owns an entire parcel of land. There are some pretty confusing legal issues involved here.

Without going into too much detail, the person who recorded their deed first 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 Richmond, California Attorney Do?

The legal problems that can come up in boundary and title disputes can get very confusing. Given this fact, and the high stakes of such disputes, most people shouldn't approach these problems without good legal representation. It should therefore go without saying that the counsel of a qualified Richmond, California real estate attorney is essential in most of these disputes.

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Life in Richmond

Richmond, California is located in Contra County in the San Francisco Bay Area. Richmond's population of over 103,000 reflects the diversity of the Greater Bay Area. Richmond's economy is driven by heavy industry as well as the service and commercial industries. The city's location along the Western coast makes it a popular residential and commuting area.

Richmond was incorporated in 1905 and has historically functioned as a suburb of San Francisco. The city is filled with many outdoor parks, and maintains several sites that are listed with the National Register of Historic Places. Waterfront fishing is very popular due to the huge variety of marine wildlife in the area. The Richmond waters are home to many species such as sturgeon, manta rays, flounders, trout, and the rare Olympia Oyster.

Point Richmond or "The Point", is a small village in Richmond known for its charming boutiques, owner-operated stores, and coffee shops. It has a distinct old-town appearance with its historic streetlights and benches. Other attractions in Richmond, California include the Masquers Playhouse, the Plunge (a swimming pool complex), and the Richmond Art Center. Annual festivities such as "Juneteenth" and Cinco de Mayo celebrations showcase Richmond's diverse and creative community.

Lawyers in Richmond, California often assist their clients at the Richmond Superior Court (George D. Carroll Courthouse). The courthouse process several types of legal claims and has seven different courtrooms as well as a public law library. Richmond lawyers are available to help clients with legal claims or questions.

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