Practice area
Real Estate Litigation
Navigating complex real estate disputes requires a strategic approach that protects both your financial investments and peace of mind.
Our real estate litigation team provides robust legal representation tailored to resolve high-stakes property conflicts efficiently. We have extensive experience in managing trust properties and real estate disputes both on the transaction side as well as in court.
We assist developers, builders, general contractors, subcontractors, homeowner associations, and private property owners with purchase and sale agreements, commercial leases, easements, property management contracts, and construction documents. The firm handles real estate administrative and litigation matters, including construction defects, land use and entitlement issues, zoning, boundary and easement disputes, agent and brokerage issues, construction liens, workouts, and purchase and sale agreement disputes. We specialize in handling intricate construction defect cases, fiercely advocating for property owners, developers, and contractors to address structural failures, building code violations, and substandard workmanship. Whether you are dealing with a commercial development hurdle or a residential property dispute, we combine deep industry knowledge with aggressive courtroom advocacy to protect your rights and secure the remedy you deserve.
Beyond traditional property disputes, we offer specialized expertise in the management, settlement, and disbursement of trust and estate property. Resolving co-owner conflicts, title disputes, and the distribution of inherited property requires a delicate balance of legal precision and interpersonal diplomacy. We advise trustees to manage, invest, sell, rent, and expeditiously liquidate trust and estate properties according to estate planning instruments and Utah law. We guide executors, trustees, and beneficiaries through the entire process, from managing the asset during active litigation to negotiating final settlements and overseeing the lawful disbursement of property. The firm advocates for heirs and beneficiaries to obtain the maximum inheritance after meticulously vetting the universe of trust assets, including real estate. Our goal is to mitigate risk, minimize tax liabilities, and resolve emotionally charged probate disputes with professionalism, clarity, and structural efficiency.
What we handle
Real Estate Ownership Disputes
Ownership disputes arise when the record does not match the reality: co-owners who cannot agree, a deed that was never recorded, a transfer made under a promise that was never honoured, or property inherited jointly by people who want different things. We litigate quiet title actions, partition claims to divide or force the sale of jointly held property, and disputes over deeds, life estates, and beneficiary designations on real property. Because so much of this work arises from trusts and estates, we are used to untangling ownership that passed through several hands and generations before anyone thought to question it.
Real Estate Boundary Disputes
Boundary disputes are small in acreage and large in feeling. A fence in the wrong place, a driveway crossing a neighbour’s land, a survey that contradicts decades of use, a structure built over the line. We handle boundary and easement disputes, prescriptive and implied easement claims, encroachments, and access rights to landlocked parcels. These matters turn on surveys, historic use, and the documents of title, and they are frequently resolved by agreement once the legal position is properly established. Where they cannot be, we try them — but we will tell you honestly when the cost of trial exceeds the ground in dispute.
Construction Defects
Defects surface long after the work is finished: water intrusion, foundation movement, failed roofing and cladding, structural work that does not meet code. Responsibility is usually spread across a developer, a general contractor, several subcontractors, and sometimes a design professional — each pointing at the others. We represent property owners, homeowner associations, developers, and contractors in these disputes, working with the engineers and experts needed to establish cause rather than merely describe the damage. Utah imposes strict time limits on defect claims, and they can begin running earlier than owners expect, so early advice materially affects what can be recovered.
Mechanic’s Liens
In Utah these are construction liens, and they are unforgiving. The statutory scheme sets out exactly who may claim, what must be filed, and when — and a claimant who misses a step can lose the right entirely, however good the underlying debt. We act for contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers pursuing payment through the lien process, and for owners and developers challenging liens that are overstated, untimely, or defective. We also handle the disputes that surround them: bond claims, lien releases, priority against lenders, and the contract claims that usually run alongside. Speed matters here more than in almost any other property dispute.
Tell us your story, and we’ll protect your inheritance
Tell us what has happened. We will tell you plainly whether there is something worth pursuing, and what it would take.