Real Estate Law
A Lawyer Familiar with Local Real Estate
Because Ms. Callaway lives and works in the area she serves, she understands local property issues. She takes the time to understand the history of the real estate matter at hand—whether it involves family farms or commercial real estate.
Ms. Callaway handles a diverse range of real estate law matters, such as:
- Foreclosures
- Partitioning of farmland
- Litigation
- Easements
- Adverse possession
- Closings
- Landlord-tenant issues
- Drafting and review of leases
- Mechanic’s liens
- Homeowners’ association issues
A Few Examples of Real Estate Issues:
Partition suits: If a person who owns real estate dies without a will and the heirs do not agree to sell the property and divide the money, a sale of the property can be forced by filing a lawsuit. After the property is sold, the sales proceeds that remain after paying off all liens against the property and legal costs are divided among the co-owners in proportion to their ownership interests.
Suits to quiet title: In some cases, a person owns a piece of real estate but does not have clear title to the property because a document in the land records (or the absence of a necessary document) suggests that another party has a claim to the property’s title. A property without clear title usually cannot be sold. Such a situation can be resolved by filing a lawsuit to clear the title.
Boundary line adjustments: If landowners whose properties adjoin decide to move the boundary line, they can do so by agreement. Such a change is official after certain documents are prepared, signed, and recorded in the land records.
Easements: A landowner whose property does not have frontage on a state road often has an easement across a neighbor’s land to gain access to the state road. To be enforceable, such an easement must be in writing and recorded in the land records; otherwise, a landowner whose property is land-locked will have trouble selling the property. Filing a lawsuit to establish an easement can solve the problem.
Trespassing: Sometimes, one landowner will build a fence, or a lake, or a building, that ends up located partially on the landowner’s property and partially on the neighbor’s property. This is usually because the first landowner does the work without having a survey done; or because the landowner assumes that an old fence is located on the boundary line. In such cases, the neighbor, whose land was encroached upon, can file a lawsuit asserting that the first landowner is trespassing on the neighbor’s land, and asking the court to order that the landowner remove the improvements.