Texas real estate law
Property disputes are rarely only about property. They are about money already committed, plans already made, and a counterparty who has decided not to move. We handle both sides of that — the paper that prevents the fight and the litigation when it arrives anyway.
McMillan & Black represents property owners, investors, developers, lenders, and companies across the full life cycle of a Texas real estate asset: acquisition, financing, leasing, joint ventures, and the disputes that follow when ownership, access, or title is contested.
Much of this work is unglamorous and decisive. A missing signature on a decades-old deed, an easement nobody recorded, a co-owner who will not sell, a fence three feet into the wrong lot. These problems compound quietly until a closing falls through or a title company refuses to insure — and then they need resolving fast.
What we handle
- Quiet title actions and title defect resolution
- Partition suits between co-owners and heirs
- Boundary, easement, and access disputes
- Purchase and sale contract drafting and negotiation
- Deed preparation, correction, and reformation
- Landlord-tenant and commercial lease litigation
- Trespass to try title and declaratory judgment actions
- Pre-suit demand letters and settlement negotiation
How these matters usually start
A title commitment comes back with an exception nobody can clear. An inherited property has six owners and two of them cannot be found. A neighbor starts using a driveway as though it were theirs and, after enough years, claims it is. A tenant stops paying and the lease turns out to be less protective than it looked.
In each case the practical question is the same: what does it cost to fix, and is litigation the cheapest route or the most expensive one? We answer that first, in plain terms, before anything gets filed. Sometimes the answer is a corrective instrument and a phone call. Sometimes it is a lawsuit, and the sooner it is on file the better the leverage.
Frequently asked
General information about Texas law, not legal advice for your situation.
What is a quiet title action, and when do I need one?
A quiet title suit asks a Texas court to declare who owns a piece of property and to remove competing claims from the record. You typically need one when a title company will not insure a sale because of a recorded defect — an old lien that was never released, a gap in the chain of title, a forged or defective deed, or a claim by someone asserting an interest they cannot document. The result is a judgment that clears the record so the property can be sold or financed.
How much does a quiet title action cost in Texas?
It depends almost entirely on whether anyone actually contests it. An uncontested suit against a defunct lienholder is a fraction of the cost of a contested suit against a live adverse claimant with counsel. Filing fees, service and citation by publication where defendants cannot be located, and title research all add to it. We will give you a realistic range after reviewing the title commitment and the deed history — not a number over the phone before we have seen the record.
My co-owners will not agree to sell an inherited property. What can I do?
Texas law allows a co-tenant to force the issue through a partition suit. The court will divide the property in kind if it can be fairly split, and order a sale with the proceeds divided if it cannot — which is the usual outcome for a single house or a small lot. You do not need the other owners' consent to file. Where the property came through an estate, an heirship determination may need to happen first or alongside it.
Do I need a lawyer for a residential purchase in Texas?
Not always. Standard TREC-form residential transactions with a competent title company often close without incident. It is worth involving counsel when the transaction is off-form, seller-financed, involves an entity or a trust, includes a property with known title or boundary problems, or when you are buying investment property where the terms of the contract will matter more than the closing itself.
What is the difference between an easement dispute and a boundary dispute?
A boundary dispute is about where the property line is. An easement dispute is about someone's right to use land they do not own — a driveway, a utility run, a right of access to a landlocked parcel. They often show up together, because a survey that moves a boundary can also reveal that a long-used access route was never properly granted.
Writing on real estate law
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