House Fights | Litigation Over the Family Home

I’m not the story here. The story is about American families – and, their homes. Ben Harper wrote,

“A house is a home

even when we’ve up and gone

even when you’re there alone

a house is a home.”

The feeling for home runs deep. Family home memories are passed on to us. I’m a custodian of memory for several of my family’s homes. I’ve visited my great grandmother’s Irish home – a home she departed when only 15 to sail for America. We had cake and an Irish whiskey at the nearby home where her mother, my great-great grandmother, died.

My father took me to his boyhood Wyoming home. He pointed to the window where a lightning bolt once struck in a prairie thunderstorm. He showed me the room where his grandfather slept. He teared up as we walked to the barn where his beloved pony died in a fire.

We know the feeling of home. And, we know the desolation when its dearness is desecrated.

We do trust, estate and elder financial abuse litigation in California. Too often the fight is over the family home.

A wrongdoer – maybe a family member, a caregiver or a neighbor somehow has taken the family home. The taking might be an actual transfer before the death of its owner, or the taking may occur by a will or trust provision.

The story is often the same. The owner is elderly, impaired, maybe incapacitated, and is taken advantage of. The battleground is in one of California’s probate or civil courts, maybe both. The stakes are more than financial. There are wounds that money doesn’t heal. Emotional wounds are not easily mended. Still, money is the currency of these lawsuits.

House litigation has many parts. The litigators are like chess players. Our minds must amass not only the data of the wrong. Our calculus must include home values, mortgages, liens and housing market strengths and weaknesses.

Litigating in this sector is different. I’ve come to know everyone connected with housing – appraisers, residential real estate brokers, title companies, escrow officers, lenders, loan officers, agents, fiduciaries, and repairmen. And, the prelude to a trial involves many other participants – process servers, court reporters, deposition videographers, mediators, settlement judges and supporting court personnel.

So, there’s more to a house dispute than a house; I know this from experience. Our law firm has been engaged in over 60 house disputes in the last 3 or so years. Our team is a reservoir of knowledge.

House disputes can be complex, emotional, drawn out and challenging. If you find yourself in the middle of a house dispute and you want to talk about it, call us at Hackard Law: 916-313-3030. We want to hear your story.