Walnut Creek Title Lawyers | Title Attorneys in 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.

Sometimes, neighbors will decide amongst themselves that the issue isn't worth fighting over, and will go on as they did before. This is especially 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, nonetheless, cause problems in the future - preventing a neighbor from enforcing the actual property lines, if they suddenly have a reason to do so.

It's more commonly the case that one neighbor wants to maintain the current use of the land, property lines notwithstanding, while the other neighbor wants to enforce the property lines that are on record. This is because moving a property line necessarily expands the land of one neighbor, while shrinking the land of another. Obviously, the neighbor whose land would be shrunk will likely oppose any attempt to enforce the property lines.

Title disputes in Walnut Creek, California, on the other hand, involve questions of ownership over an entire parcel of land. This confusion can occasionally arise from improperly recorded deeds, resulting in inadvertent (and, occasionally, deliberate) sales of the same parcel of land to multiple people. Obviously, each buyer wants to be the one who takes title, particularly if it seems unlikely that they'll be able to get their money back. This can lead to some very heated disputes.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Walnut Creek, California

One frequent 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 normally happens when both parties were, for many years, aware of the actual property boundaries, and did nothing about it. Additionally, 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.

Of course, there are plethora of reasons why a court might determine to enforce the property lines as the records indicate. If one neighbor knew about the discrepancy, and hid it from the other neighbor (presumably because the neighbor with the knowledge of the discrepancy benefited from it), a court will, of course, not reward this kind of dishonesty, and will decide against that neighbor. On the other hand, if the neighbor whose land would be expanded by enforcing the "real" property boundaries knew this fact, and took no action for many years, a court will probably not be receptive if he or she suddenly tries to enforce them. This is referred to as "sitting on one's rights," and courts will not reward this, either. If you have a legal right, you're expected to make efforts to vindicate it as soon as possible. If you don't, a court will basically say "I guess it wasn't that important to you if you waited 10 years to bring this to our attention. Next case."

In Walnut Creek, California courts have many options when it comes to resolving title disputes. However, these disputes are usually controlled by some fairly intricate (and old) legal principles. While they're typically built around policies that most people would find to be quite fair and reasonable, their application can be nearly impenetrable, even for some lawyers.

In general, the person who initially recorded the deed at the appropriate government office will be the one who the court deems to own the land, if they didn't have any reason to know about the existence of the other deed, or other sale, or whatever else gave rise to the title disagreement.

What Can A Walnut Creek, California Attorney Do?

Because of the high stakes, going it alone in a boundary or title dispute is rarely judicious. Therefore, it's almost always a good idea to get a good Walnut Creek, California real estate attorney to help you with such legal problems.

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Life in Walnut Creek

Walnut Creek is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is near Concord, Sacramento, and San Jose. Many view Walnut Creek at the "business and entertainment hub" of Contra Costa County because of its central location to California's capital and Silicon Valley.

Many Walnut Creek residents are employed by Aetna, HCR Manor Care, Nordstrom, John Muir-Health, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway, Macys, and the City of Walnut Creek. Top corporations in Walnut Creek include Carollo Engineers, American Reprographics, and PMI Group.

with such a working force, legal issues naturally arise. Walnut Creek is home to many small and mid-size firms with excellent attorneys who practice in all areas of law.

Popular attractions include the California Symphony and the Center Repertory Company. Walnut Creek also has a beautiful downtown with great shopping and dining.

Some famous residents include Alice Greczyn, Lester Rodney, Jeff Richards, Jason Newsted, Randy Johnson, and Luke Whitehead.

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Walnut Creek Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Walnut Creek Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in California

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Walnut Creek, California