The RegistryPractice Area · Statewide
Find Real Estate Lawyers in California
Counsel for property: purchases, disputes, title, and land use. This is the statewide record for real estate in California: every attorney on the State Bar of California's official roll whose published practice reaches this area, shown in neutral directory order.
Californians search this field under many names · real estate attorney, real estate lawyer, property dispute lawyer, property lawyer, quiet title attorney · and the registry answers all of them from the same source. Below: the governing deadline with its citation, what to weigh as you read the record, the questions Californians ask with the code sections that answer them, and real estate coverage county by county, from Del Norte to San Diego.
The clock & the craft
Three years for trespass or injury to real property; four years on written contracts (§ 337).
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(b)
Adverse possession and prescriptive easement claims require five years of qualifying use (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 321–325). Seller non-disclosure claims sound in fraud: three years from discovery (§ 338(d)).
Reading the roster
Real estate disputes are document cases: bring the purchase agreement, escrow file, title report, and any disclosure statements to a first meeting. Look for attorneys who practice real property litigation in the county where the land sits; venue is fixed there by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 392, and ask whether the matter is better resolved by negotiation, a quiet title or partition filing, or the arbitration/mediation clause most CAR purchase agreements contain.
Real Estate · statewide roster
16,161 attorneys on the official State Bar of California roll list real estate among their practice areas, with an address of record in 55 of California's 58 counties.
15,496 of them hold an active licence; the remainder are recorded as inactive and are not currently eligible to practise.
The largest county rosters are Los Angeles (4,964), Orange (2,339), San Diego (1,693), San Francisco (1,279) and Sacramento (712).
183 hold a State Bar Certified Legal Specialist designation, a certification issued by the State Bar's Board of Legal Specialization, and not a rating or a ranking.
631 are recorded as taking client work in a language other than English.
Real Estate matters in California
The matters this field covers, as Californians search for them. Each attorney's own profile states which of these they take.
- purchase and sale disputes
- seller nondisclosure claims
- boundary and easement disputes
- quiet title
- partition actions
- HOA disputes
- commercial leases
- escrow and title problems
- eminent domain
- foreclosure defense
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Real Estate questions, cited
What must a home seller disclose in California?
Sellers of residential property (1–4 units) must deliver a Transfer Disclosure Statement describing known material facts and defects (Cal. Civ. Code § 1102 et seq.), plus a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (Civ. Code § 1103) covering flood, fire, and seismic zones. Deliberately concealing known material defects supports fraud claims running three years from discovery (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(d)).
How does adverse possession work in California?
A claimant must show five years of actual, open, hostile, and continuous possession under claim of right or color of title, and payment of all property taxes on the parcel during those five years (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 321–325). The tax-payment requirement defeats most casual encroachment claims; boundary disputes more often proceed as prescriptive easement or agreed-boundary theories.
Can I force the sale of a jointly owned property in California?
Generally yes, through a partition action: a co-owner is ordinarily entitled to partition as of right (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 872.710). For inherited homes, the Partition of Real Property Act (Code Civ. Proc. § 874.311 et seq.) adds appraisal and buyout rights that let family co-owners purchase the interest of the co-owner seeking sale before a forced sale occurs.
What is a quiet title action?
A lawsuit under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 760.010 et seq. asking the superior court to determine all adverse claims to a property and settle title in the rightful owner. It is the standard vehicle for clearing clouded title (stale deeds of trust, forged conveyances, easement disputes, or competing inheritance claims), and judgment binds all parties named and served.
Is a handshake deal for land enforceable in California?
Usually not. The statute of frauds requires contracts for the sale of real property, or leases longer than one year, to be in writing and signed (Cal. Civ. Code § 1624(a)(3)). Narrow exceptions exist for part performance and estoppel, but they are litigated uphill, real property deals belong on paper.
Legal information, not legal advice.
From the answer files
Real Estate in all 58 counties
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Adjacent shelves of the law
Full Real Estate rosters, by surname
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Find Your Counsel278,688 attorneys · 58 counties · Official State Bar records