“It’s a Partition by Sale lawsuit,” Elena explained, turning the monitor toward Sarah. “Julian filed it the exact week of your uncle’s funeral. He argued to a judge that you both inherited the house but couldn’t agree on what to do with it, demanding a forced court auction to cash out his half.”
Sarah’s eyes welled with tears. “But I never received a single court summons! How could a judge rule on this without me knowing?” Elena pointed at the digitized service logs. “Because Julian lied to the court. Look at the address he provided for you. It’s the corporate apartment you lived in three years ago.”
The puzzle pieces violently slammed into place. Julian had used a real, verified past address to satisfy the court’s background checks, knowing the certified letters would never actually reach her. By the time the mail was returned as undeliverable, the legal clock had already run out, allowing Julian to win a “default judgment” behind her back.