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Landlord Tenant Law for Family Lawyers
(12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. PT)
A spouse won't leave the marital home after the divorce is filed. An adult child's partner has been living rent-free in a client's rental unit for a year. A protective order needs someone removed from a property today, not after a lengthy process. Family lawyers run into occupancy disputes constantly, but the landlord-tenant framework that governs them is a different body of law entirely, and getting the occupant's legal status wrong can mean the difference between a lawful removal and a costly forcible entry claim.
This session gives family law practitioners a working framework for identifying who is actually occupying a property, what rights and duties attach to that status, and how to remove someone the right way.
What You'll Learn:
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Who's Actually Occupying the Property: How to distinguish a tenant, an occupant without rent, a licensee, and an unauthorized occupant, and why the absence of rent alone never settles the question.
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Rights and Duties Attached to Each Status: How landlord-tenant statutes assign rights and duties based on occupant classification, using the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA) and real state comparisons to show how the framework plays out.
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Removing an Occupant the Right Way: The difference between unlawful detainer, forcible entry, forcible detainer, and ejectment, and why self-help removal is never an option regardless of who is occupying the property.
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The Shifting Fair Housing Landscape: What changed with HUD's 2025 guidance rescissions and its May 2026 policy on trained assistance animals versus emotional support animals, and what didn't change under the Fair Housing Act itself.
Misclassifying an occupant can expose a client to a forcible entry claim, treble damages, or a stalled removal at the worst possible moment. Register today to make sure you can spot the issue before it costs your client the case.
Presented by:
Eric M. Steven, Principal Attorney at Steven Law Office
Meet the Presenter
Eric M. Steven
Principal Attorney, Steven Law Office
Eric M. Steven is the Principal and Managing Lawyer of Steven Law Office in Spokane, Washington, where he focuses his practice on landlord-tenant relations and housing law. He represents property owners, landlords, management companies, mobile home parks, and subsidized housing providers, and litigates landlord/tenant matters involving eviction, ejectment, commercial litigation, and fair housing claims in state and federal courts throughout eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
Mr. Steven is active in legislative reform and serves as advisory counsel to the Washington Apartment Association. He is also a licensed real estate instructor and frequent CLE speaker for attorneys, property managers, and other professionals.
He earned his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and his J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law. Mr. Steven was selected by the Washington State Bar Association for its Encore “Best of CLE” series and was named National Business Institute’s “Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year” in 2023 and 2024. In 2026, he was named a “Super Lawyer” and recognized among “America’s Most Honored Lawyers Top 1%.”
Sponsored by:
