Father Sold Property That I Inherited From My Mother

Location: California, San Francisco Bay Area.

My mother and father divorced in 2008. My mother died in 2013. I lived with my father from 2008 to 2022, when I turned 18 and moved out. I have not had contact with my father since my move out in 2022. I tried to reach out in June of 2025 to rekindle our relationship, but he was not interested.

In December of 2025, my mother's brother, whom I had not spoken to since 2008, informed me that I had inherited a property from my mother, and my father had sold the property as custodian. He never informed me of this when I turned 18. For reference, I had been paying all of my own expenses, including phone bill, car insurance, college, etc, since 2020.

I did some digging in the public records and found more things out. My grandfather died in 2008, and my uncle opened an estate case for the properties that he had in the same year. That case was settled in the county's court in 2014, but my mother died in 2013, leaving the property directly to my brother and I, per the Order of Distribution.

In the Recorder's Office of the county the property was sold in, I have both deeds of the property being passed to my brother, myself, and my father as Custodian in 2014, and the property being sold to a third party in 2015, with my father still listed as Custodian.

I believe this is a potential breach of fiduciary duty case. I have been attempting to find lawyers who might be willing to work on contingency, but it has been incredibly challenging. I have a file of all of the documents, including a timeline, and am attempting to figure out next steps. My father has a lot of assets, and just inherited a large property from his mother, who passed a few months ago.

I am fairly confident that I have a strong case and would be able to collect if the case went to trial. But I have been unable to find a lawyer so far. I am currently homeless, a full-time student, and working multiple jobs. I do not have money for a retainer.

I did message my father inquiring about the property, but he did not get back to me. We broke no contact at my grandmother's funeral a few months ago, with no mention of the property.

I could take him to small claims court, but the property sold for more than $10,000 in 2015. What are my next steps here?

UPDATE:

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I was able to find a lawyer who was willing to take on the case on a contingency basis. I feel very lucky. The property was sold for well below the market value rate in 2015. There was no house on the property. My lawyer and I are looking into collecting interest on the inheritance, as well as collecting at the market rate of the property.

To clarify, a custodian has very clear duties according to the state of California. A custodian cannot use assets obtained from selling property for the general well-being or survival of the minor.

Thank you again!