Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Quite a pickle! Mail your rent check to the address in your lease, and make it payable to the party that is indicated in the lease as your landlord. If it is both of them, then make the check payable to them both with the word "AND" between their names. That then requires them both to sign it to deposit or cash the check. Until you receive a court order from the family law court ordering you to pay someone other-than the name(s) listed in your lease and at a different address, then do as the lease instructs you. Keep receipts for mailing rent checks, and if the checks are not cashed, do not take that money out of your bank account. Be sure that none of your rent checks will bounce even if negotiated months later.

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Mr. Gibbs advice seems sound, but it runs afoul of the fact that every residential lease I have ever seen has a provision for the landlord to give notice of a change in where, when and how the rent is to be paid. So there is a good chance that one or both of them will claim they have given you such notice and you must comply with it. Technically the proper course of action in this situation would be to file an interpleader action, but that seems rather over the top for the relatively small amount involved. On the other hand, however, if they are going to jerk you around like this every month until the divorce is final, you can't just put up with it. I guess what I would do in your shoes is follow Mr. Gibbs' advice regarding making your rent check payable jointly, using the magic "AND" between the names. I would then send it to the one that made the most recent demand that you send the rent to them. I would accompany it with a letter stating that if they cannot agree on who is to receive the rent payments by the time the next rent payment is due, you will file an interpleader lawsuit against both of them under Code of Civil Procedure section 386, requiring them to litigate between themselves the right to the rent money, and you will seek recovery of your attorneys fees and costs under section 386.6. Send a copy of that letter to the other spouse. Also, copy their attorney(s) if they have attorneys. You should be able to figure that out on the court's website.