Rancho Cordova Partition Lawyers

Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, about 12 miles east of the state capital of Sacramento and it was named after the local Cordova Vineyard. Rancho Cordova is an established community with old homes and newer homes. Any home buyer can encounter joint ownership problems and when that happens a partition action might be required. An experienced Rancho Cordova Partition Lawyer will be able to give you just the right legal advice on how to handle a partition action.

Rancho Cordova Partition Lawyer usually find partition actions to be the best remedy for joint owners in disputes in four broad categories:

• Parent-Child shared tenants in common in real estate;
• Brother-Sister shared tenants in common in real estate;
• Investor-Investor shared tenants in common in real estate; and
• Significant others shared tenants in common in real estate;

As the legal process of partitioning a property can be difficult, one element that should be at the forefront of any one’s mind should be the costs of partition. Under the law, the “costs” of partition include “reasonable” legal fees spent by a partitioning party for the “common benefit.” (CCP § 874.020.) The statute providing for legal or attorneys’ fees, however, is larger than just the partition action and includes all of those for the common benefit in prosecuting or defending other lawsuits to protect title, survey the property, or confirm its boundaries.

When a California partition action is finished, a knowledgeable Rancho Cordova Partition Attorney will seek the legal fees and costs of the action for activities spent for the benefit of all owners. (see In re Flynn (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 2003) 297 B.R. 599.) It is also worth noting that self-represented parties—those persons who participate in the litigation without a lawyer—cannot receive money from the other parties for those services. (Mueller v. Martin (1953) 116 Cal.App.2d 431.) In other words, the statute makes the recovery of “attorneys’ fees” available only to those licensed to practice law. (Bennett v. Potter (1919) 180 Cal. 736.)

One question that an experienced Rancho Cordova Partition Lawyer will focus on will be the issue of providing evidence on the topic of the “common benefit.” The law is vague and unclear on this topic. The purpose of the law is to require the owners who benefit from the legal services to bear the results of the benefits of the lawsuit. (Stutz v. Davis (1981) 122 Cal.App.3d 1.) These legal fees and costs are not a part of any intermediate, or interlocutory, judgment but instead are permitted only in the final judgment. (Broome v. Broome (1919) 179 Cal. 638.)

Significantly, even transferring property from one owner to another cannot extinguish the right to attorneys’ fees incurred for the “common benefit.” (Capuccio v. Caire (1932) 215 Cal. 518.) Instead, the land itself carries the lien for these interests even after the transfer.

At the Underwood Law Firm, our Rancho Cordova Partition Attorneys are well-versed in the legal remedy of partition, and its fees and costs, and are ready to discuss your legal issues.