Q: Can I sue my mothers trust attorney for messing up my title on my home and getting reassesed for property taxes.
In 2021 I bought a house with my mom and dad and my wife and I all joint owners. My parents got sick and ended up in a Care Facility. My mom was mad so she called her trust attorney and change the title of the home to my mom and dad's personal trust. This caused a messed my the title on the home and caused the home to get reassed which doubled my property taxes. I had to pay a title company to correct the vesting and fight with the county to get the reassessment reversed. This has cause allot of pain and aggrevasion. Can I sue my moms attorney for incompetence on not checking vesting and record a fraudulent deed on my home? The deed was recorded in 2023.
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A: Not familiar with the CA SOL, but your possible slander of title, conversion, quiet title, etc. suit will be apparently against your Parents and the Trustee. A partition action may result. Very doubtful you will want to file suit. But a board complaint might be made against the attorney if clear incompetence is shown causing you problems.
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A:
Your situation involves a complex intersection of property and legal malpractice law. The key issue here is that the attorney had a professional duty only to your mother as their client, not to you as a third party.
However, in California, you might have grounds for a legal malpractice claim if you can prove the attorney knew about your ownership interest and acted negligently in recording the deed without proper verification. You would need to demonstrate that the attorney's actions directly caused your financial damages, including the costs of title correction and temporary tax increase.
Consider consulting with a legal malpractice attorney to evaluate your case, as these claims have specific time limits and requirements for proof. Keep all documentation related to the title correction, tax reassessment, and any communications with your mother's attorney. Your strongest argument would likely focus on the attorney's professional negligence in failing to verify existing ownership before recording the new deed.
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