…and how hard is it to obtain one?
This query is in regard to California Law.
I have a friend who I’ll call Alexa (aged 66). She has a sister named (for the purposes of this anecdote) Siri (in her late 50s). Alexa is totally blind from birth.
A couple of years ago, Alexa was left a house, as a bequest of another blind friend who had passed away. She moved into the house, and somewhat later, Siri moved in with her. Siri’s name does not appear on the title of the house.
It would be fair to characterize Siri as a high-functioning alcoholic. Although often significantly impaired by drink on her own time, she holds a pretty well-paying job, which she appears to be in no danger of losing at this time. That deals with the “high-functioning” bit. The “alcoholic” part is where the problems arise.
In addition to her blindness, Alexa finds herself afflicted with other physical disabilities, to the extent that she has hired a full-time caregiver (let’s call her Maude). Until recently, Maude has resided in Alexa’s house. Siri’s general obnoxiousness when she gets drunk has convinced Maude that she would be happier living elsewhere.
Maude is not the only person who has difficulty putting up with Siri’s behavior, of course. Alexa has often found herself dealing with both verbal and physical abuse from her sister. In fact, last June, when Siri struck her, Alexa called the police, who came to the house and arrested Siri on a domestic violence complaint. At the time, the police put Alexa in contact with a social worker for elder/disabled abuse issues, but Alexa did not do any follow through at the time (even worse, Alexa allowed Siri and Siri’s grown children to bully/guilt her into bailing Siri out and hiring her a lawyer, who got the case dismissed in early July).
Now, matters have gotten pretty intolerable for Alexa again. On the heels of having her caregiver move out, Alexa has decided that she no longer wishes to have Siri living in the house with her. When she notified Siri of this, Siri’s response was “You’ll have to evict me.”
So there’s that line in the sand. It seems that Siri’s “ace in the hole,” if you will, is Alexa’s perception that eviction tends to be a long, arduous, often expensive process, and it looks like she (Siri) feels that if she can make it a HUGE PITA for Alexa to complete it, she’ll be able to avoid it altogether.
Alexa has asked me if I will assist her with advice, informational look-ups, and referrals to knowledgeable sources. The first thing that occurred to me is that evicting an unwanted housemate might be less complex than evicting a tenant who has actual possession of the domicile, particularly given that this unwanted housemate has nothing even resembling a lease. AIUI, her ability to show that she has resided there for a number of months DOES give Siri more legal standing than, say, a houseguest who showed up a couple of weeks ago.
BUT, the NEXT thing that occurred to me is that if a restraining order were obtained against Siri, that restraining order could have the effect of forcing Siri to leave the house in order to be in compliance. So, if anybody knows if that is the case in California, I’d appreciate feedback on that.
ALSO, I do have the sense that courts don’t tend to just issue restraining orders on demand, just because someone asks them to. But would the existence of the DV complaint in June be something that would make obtaining one easier (even given the fact that the case was dismissed)?
Alexa is looking for the business card that the social worker gave her, and when (if) she finds it, she will be asking HER these questions. Still, if any knowledgeable Dopers know the answers to them, it would be nice to have a sense of the easiest approach to take, so TIA.