Legal Question in Family Law in California

That will depend on the facts and circumstances of the transactions. There is no hard and fast rule that signing a quit claim deed is irrefutable proof of an intent to make a gift of her community property interests to you as your separate property. Absent proof of such an intentional gift, she probably has a significant claim to rights in the house. In addition, even if it was an intentional gift, if you used income earned during the marriage or other community assets to pay the mortgage or for improvements to the house, she would have a smaller but still valid claim. Lastly, if you got her to sign the quit claim in order to set her up to have no or little claim to the house in event of divorce, you could be found guilty of breach of the spousal fiduciary duty, and the entire house could be awarded to her.

The quit claim deed is usually done, so that the lender can make sure that a spouse will not interfere with the enforcement of the lender's lien, if a foreclosure became necessary. By signing the deed, your wife acknowledged to the lender and to the rest of the world that she is not on title to the house.

But......

Title, by itself, does not determine whether property is community or separate. The issue of whether your wife has any claim to the house will be determined by other factors, such as the source of the funds to buy the house and pay the mortgage or any written agreements or other communications between you and your wife.

For example, if you and your wife have been paying the mortgage with community property funds (such as earnings from employment), then your wife would have an interest in the house and/or the funds. There could be an issue, in this hypothetical situation, of whether your wife has acquired an interest in the equity or is entitled to reimbursement of her half of the mortgage payments that went into a house that is determined to be your separate property.

These types of issues can get complicated. I suggest you contact an attorney.

Some courts treat the quit claim deed as her giving up any interest in the property. Other courts find that it creates a presumption of undue influence, for which you would have the burden of disproving. Mr. Saltzman is right, in that payment of mortgage payments or improvements with community property could give the community an interest in what would have otherwise been separate property.