Real Estate Litigation Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia

Real estate disputes in Georgia turn on records, surveys, and statutes that most litigators see only occasionally. Rountree Leitman Klein & Geer, LLC handles them every week. Our attorneys represent property owners, investors, lenders, title insurers, heirs, contractors, and neighbors in the superior courts of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Forsyth, and the surrounding counties, and our partners serve as court-appointed special masters in quiet title actions. That combination of advocacy and adjudicative experience shapes how we evaluate, settle, and try these cases.

This page describes the real estate matters we litigate most often. For commercial contract and business-dispute litigation, see our Business & Commercial Litigation page. For lender-side and creditor matters, see Debtor & Creditor Rights.

Quiet Title Actions and Title Defects

A cloud on title can stop a sale or refinance cold: a security deed that was paid but never cancelled, a break in the chain of title from an estate that was never probated, a tax deed with an unredeemed right of redemption, a forged or “wild” deed, or an old easement nobody can locate. Georgia provides two procedures for clearing it. A conventional quiet title action under O.C.G.A. § 23-3-40 proceeds against named parties. A quiet title action against all the world under O.C.G.A. § 23-3-60 et seq. binds known and unknown claimants alike and, by statute, runs through a court-appointed special master who examines title, supervises notice and publication, and reports to the superior court.

We bring and defend both kinds of actions. Because our partners also sit as special masters, we know what the petition, plat, and title examination need to look like for a case to move efficiently, and we know the points on which contested cases are won and lost. Our articles on quiet title actions and what a special master does explain the process in detail.

Boundary Disputes, Adverse Possession, and Easements

Boundary cases begin with surveys that disagree and deeds that describe land by monuments that no longer exist. Resolving them requires a careful reading of the chain of title, the rules of construction Georgia courts apply to conflicting calls, and often expert survey testimony. Adverse possession adds a second layer: under O.C.G.A. §§ 44-5-163 and 44-5-164, possession that is public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable for twenty years, or for seven years under color of title, can ripen into ownership regardless of what the deeds say.

Easement disputes concern the right to use land rather than own it: driveways, access roads, utility lines, drainage, and shared wells. Easements may be express, implied from prior use or necessity, or acquired by prescription. We litigate the existence, scope, location, and termination of easements, and we handle the related claims for trespass, nuisance, and injunctive relief. See our discussion of the differences among easements, covenants, leases, and licenses.

Partition Actions Between Co-Owners

When co-owners of real estate cannot agree, whether siblings who inherited a house, former partners, or former spouses whose decree left the property undivided, Georgia law allows any co-owner to compel a division. Statutory partition under O.C.G.A. § 44-6-160 et seq. permits division in kind where practical and sale with division of proceeds where it is not. Where the property is heirs property, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, O.C.G.A. § 44-6-180 et seq., adds appraisal, buyout, and open-market sale procedures designed to protect family land from distress sales. We represent co-owners seeking partition and co-owners resisting it, and we handle the accounting for rents, taxes, and improvements that typically accompanies these cases.

Foreclosure Litigation

Georgia is a non-judicial foreclosure state, which means most foreclosures never see a courtroom unless someone sues. We represent both sides. For lenders and loan purchasers, we handle confirmation proceedings under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-161 when a deficiency will be pursued, judicial foreclosure where title or lien-priority problems make a power-of-sale foreclosure unwise, and defense of wrongful foreclosure claims. For borrowers and junior lienholders, we evaluate notice and standing defects under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162 et seq., challenge improper sales, and pursue claims where a foreclosure was conducted in breach of the security deed or applicable law. Our overview of the Georgia foreclosure process explains the statutory timeline.

Excess Funds After Foreclosure and Tax Sale

When a foreclosure or tax sale brings more than the debt, the surplus belongs to the former owner and junior lienholders in order of priority, not to the foreclosing party. Recovering it is rarely simple. Surplus from a security deed foreclosure is governed by O.C.G.A. § 44-14-190, and excess tax sale funds by O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5, each with its own notice, claim, and interpleader procedure. Competing claims from judgment creditors, HOAs, second-mortgage holders, and heirs are common, and the money frequently ends up in a court registry awaiting a ruling. We represent former owners, lienholders, and heirs in asserting and defending claims to excess funds, including the interpleader actions that resolve them.

Construction and Mechanics’ Liens

Georgia’s lien statute, O.C.G.A. § 44-14-360 et seq., gives contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers a powerful remedy and imposes strict deadlines and content requirements in exchange. We enforce liens for claimants and challenge defective, untimely, or inflated liens for owners, including actions to discharge liens and claims for slander of title where a lien was filed without basis. We also handle the underlying payment and defective-work disputes that lien claims usually accompany.

Real Estate Fraud, Contract Disputes, and Specific Performance

Purchase and sale agreements, options, leases, and easement agreements generate litigation when one side will not perform or when a property turns out to be something other than what was represented. We pursue and defend claims for breach of real estate contracts, specific performance, rescission, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, undisclosed defects, and earnest money disputes. Where a dispute puts title at issue, we file and defend lis pendens notices under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-610 to protect the client’s position while the case is pending. Our article on real estate fraud and misrepresentation in Georgia covers the most common scenarios.

Why Clients Choose RLKG for Real Estate Litigation

• Special master experience. Our partners are regularly appointed by Fulton County Superior Court judges to serve as special masters in quiet title actions, so we know the process from both sides of the bench.
• Depth in Georgia property law. Our attorneys write and lecture on title litigation for the State Bar of Georgia Real Property Law Section and the Southeast Land Title Association, and we are a resource for closing attorneys and title insurers when a transaction stalls.
• Litigation and bankruptcy under one roof. Real estate disputes often collide with a bankruptcy filing, a receivership, or a creditor’s collection effort. Our bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorneys work alongside our litigators so that strategy accounts for both.
• Trial-ready preparation. We prepare every case for the courtroom, which is what produces fair settlements in the cases that resolve before trial.

Talk to a Georgia Real Estate Litigation Attorney

Property disputes have deadlines that do not wait: lien filing windows, redemption periods, confirmation deadlines after a foreclosure sale, and the thirty-day response period in a quiet title action. If you are facing a dispute over title, boundaries, access, co-ownership, a foreclosure, or funds held after a sale, contact our Atlanta office to discuss it with counsel who handles these matters every day.