When we did the closing, the attorney put the deposit in an escrow account.After the sale, the previous owner states that the tenant has not paid the rent for a couple of months, so the deposit has been forfeited therefore should be returned to the previous owner. 

You should hire a CPA, an attorney or a specialty company specializing in this kind of setup to ensure that what you are doing is IRS-compliant.

When it’s time to close a deal do you use a title company, closing attorney?

I have a good attorney that I would be happy to recommend if you felt it was worth it.

We'd like to connect with a real estate attorney here in San Diego who is also an investor, or has experience working with investors. ...For starters, I have a 23-page operating agreement for a land entitlement investment that I'd like to have someone look over to be sure it covers us as well as the company who is presenting it to us.

Get an attorney so they can explain the contract and closing costs.

But what you get from a 3rd party you should run it past your attorney.

It would be well advised to talk to someone and learn Exactly what the rules are, even if you need to pay a local attorney for an hour or so of time.

We're both protected regardless married, but check with an attorney.   

We are scheduled to meet with an attorney and I'd be willing to pay the $1500 filing fee for him to gain executorship but I don't know if he is accurate on the amounts owed or what other issues and costs that I'm not accounting for.Another thought I have is that if we can get in touch with the banks maybe they'll be willing to waive all the fees if I will make them whole on their original loan amounts.