Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: In CA can joint tenants be 3 people added to the deed at different times?

Creating a joint tenancy requires that all joint tenants acquire identical interests at the same time under the same instrument. So, probably at least, none of you are joint tenants. However, that doesn't mean you aren't co-owners. The default way of co-owning property is to hold as tenants in common. When joint tenancies break down or weren't really joint tenancies in the first place, the parties are probably still co-owners, but the form of holding title is probably as tenants in common, especially if the parties aren't married or in a business partnership.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is a way to create a joint tenancy in property you already own; you draw up the deed in the following format: "From A, grantor, to A and B, grantees, as joint tenants." If a deed is thus written, A and B technically acquire simultaneous new title from A, even though A previously was the owner. If you drew up the deed this way, which isn't too likely, you may have created a joint tenancy. The same method could be used to transform a joint tenancy between A and B into a joint tenancy of A, B and C:

"From A and B, grantors, to A, B and C, grantees, as joint tenants."

In your particular case, my immediate reaction is that this poor guy is indeed SOL because he has made gifts of interests in what was his own, sole-ownership house. This would be true whether or not a joint tenancy resulted; if the result were not a joint tenancy, it would be a tenancy in common.

(If it is a tenancy in common of three people, it would be an interesting legal exercise to figure out what the interests are; could be 25% you, 50% her, and 25% junior, depending on how the deeds read; in other words, you may have given away half of whatever you had with each successive gift. Or, it could be 1/3-1/3-1/3, or possibly something else. By the way, joint tenants always hold in exactly equal shares.)

But then, a lawyer's mind always turns to thinking about loopholes and exceptions that might save his client's bacon. There are several possibilities. Maybe the deeds are defective. Maybe you can argue there was no gift. Possibly there was an implied promise of some kind. Maybe there is an equitable or promissory estoppel buried in there. Maybe some fraud.

If you can get me copies of the deeds, I'd be willing to give you a further free analysis. Please contact me directly.

Re: In CA can joint tenants be 3 people added to the deed at different times?

In my previous answer, I didn't directly address the part of your question dealing with a possible partition action. The fact that you paid for the whole thing doesn't, in itself, provide a defense; the basic probem is that the law recognizes gifts, even gifts of very valuable property, and generally doesn't allow the donor to take back the gift. That is why it is probably gonna be necessary to attack the gift head-on, by finding facts showing no gift was made, fraud, fatally defects in the deeds, or something of that ilk.

Those two gift deeds will be Exhibit A and Exhibit B on the complaint for partition. You need to figure out a way to render them legally insufficient to show that the plaintiffs are co-owners.

This is not to say you won't have other arguments and defenses, but the likelihood that they can show valid gifts of part interests is the main issue.

Re: In CA can joint tenants be 3 people added to the deed at different times?

You may be SOL. You will have to prove that you added their names solely with the mistaken belief that this was an effective way to provide them ownership in the event of your death. But, this will be a tough road to hoe. They will probably not acknowledge that you never intended to give them a gift of a present interest in the house. Hopefully you will have some proof to the contrary.

Re: In CA can joint tenants be 3 people added to the deed at different times?

You may be SOL. You will have to prove that you added their names solely with the mistaken belief that this was an effective way to provide them ownership in the event of your death. But, this will be a tough road to hoe. They will probably not acknowledge that you never intended to give them a gift of a present interest in the house. Hopefully you will have some proof to the contrary.