Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Change real estate deed owners

Is the form a deed? Once a deed is prepared, signed, notarized and delivered, it must not be changed in any way. It should, however, be recorded.

Technically, a delivered deed has done its work to transfer title just as set up in the language of the deed, and any subsequent alteration, even with the consent of both parties, has no legal effect whatsoever. There is a case in which X deeded his farm to Y, and afterward they both decided it was a big mistake, so they tore up the deed and decided to forget about it. Surprise! the farm stayed in Y's ownership. The only way to get it back in X's ownership would be for Y to deed it to X by means of another deed. Destroying a deed, even with the intent to rescind it, is ineffective. Therefore, you cannot change the date or any other major aspect of your deed with any effect.

Of course, if no one discovered the change and/or no one cared, you would probably get away with it; however, there is always someone who cares, such as the property tax collector and the IRS.

Now, maybe what you refer to as a "form" isn't a deed; it might be a property settlement agreement, a consent to judgment, or something else. If so, your situation and your next step are very different.

In any case, my suggestion is to ask a local real estate or family law attorney for a 30-minute free consultation, and take your entire file covering your legal separation proceeding with you, including the final decree, the "form" you mention, and any papers relating to deisclosure or division of property. This will get you a better result than askig questions about a "form" when the answering lawyers cannot tell whether it is a deed, some other kind of instrument, contract, decree or judgment that your husband signed.