Hello Lawyers
I am an NRI and my mom (80+ years old) stays alone in our house in Kerala. The house and surrounding land is registered in her name and it hasnt been partitioned yet. Recently we wanted to secure our compound by building a wall. One of the neighbors have their plot about 20 meters off the main road and they had a small (3-4 feet) walkway which is adjacent to our plot. They asked for a piece of land to enable construction of a way for cars 2 years back but they werent willing to pay for the same even at the market rate. Thereafter they didnt approach us further, but as we were building teh wall, one night they got some ruffians and broke down our compound wall and cut down trees and created a 12 feet way leading upto their house. We filed a case and its going on. However nothing much has happened yet. We feel our lawyer isnt doing much in our favor and he seems overwhelmed by the defendants lawyer who appears to be their senior. We got a temporary injunction though. However we do not feel it safe to let our mother stay in a place with absolutely no walls around our compound. Could we get a petition filed to ask the court permission to secure our boundaries? Even with an injunction order, Its possible over a period of time the aggressors could slowly encraoch the land and finally say its theirs rightfully. We arent in India either and my mom isnt that well physically due to her knee issues. She cant travel anywhere even to the court. The only help she has is from her sister who too is quite old.
My concern is that our lawyer depsite the exhorbitant charges he has levied for his services, is wotking at the behest of the aggressors lawyer and is asking us to concede the land at whatever price the aggresors ask. Our lawyer keeps telling us teh hearing is next month or gives some date to my mother and then tells her its postponed. This has happened at least 3 times till now.
How could I know if our lawyer isnt working to our interests? Could I change the lawyer?
I shall clear any doubts you have as the discussion progresses.
Thanks in advance.
JJMax
