Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I wouldn't rely on anything I read on the internet. You would have to have a title search done, or go to the county recorder's office to be sure.

Zillow is not a reliable source for title information and Mr. Roach is correct, you really need to have a title search done. However, if title is held in your son-in-law's name alone, upon his death, it will be distributed to whomever he designates and if he dies without leaving a will or trust, it will be distributed pursuant to the California laws of intestate succession. On the facts you have given, this may mean this his daughters from a previous marriage may be entitled to claim some interest in the property.

Sometimes when people purchase real property in California the lender may ask that one spouse sign a quitclaim deed or interspousal transfer deed to the spouse in whose name the loan is being made. For instance, if your son-in-law is the only person named on the loan for the purchase, the lender may have required your daughter to sign such a document relinquishing her right to claim title to the property. As between your daughter and son-in-law, California community property law controls in the event of a divorce or separation (meaning as long as the property was purchased during their marriage, and community funds were used to purchase the property, it is community property); however, as far as everyone else in the world is concerned, your son-in-law is the sole owner.

The best way for your daughter to handle this situation is to ask your son-in-law to sign a deed transferring the property from his name alone into their names as community property with rights of survivorship, or joint tenancy. If he is not willing to do so voluntarily, your daughter may have a serious problem with your son-in-law.

I agree with Mr. Roach and Mr. Hoffman that the place to start is to check the actual official public records. If they do show her husband as the sole owner, then that should be corrected unless it was intentional and she agrees with it. If she does not agree and he refuses to correct it, she needs to contact a Family Law attorney right away. Mr. Hoffman is NOT correct that it is so cut and dried that community property law trumps land title, probate and intestate succession law automatically. Conflicting claims of spouses in divorce and between widows and other heirs over title to real property fill the history of case law, and clog the court to this day. The only way to assure that ownership rights will be appropriately allocated in case of death or divorce tomorrow is to make sure that the records of ownership are correct today.

I pretty much agree with Mr. McCormick's analysis. I think Zillow makes a lot of mistakes (including one they've made on my own property), but in this case it is quite likely correct, as what they are reporting happens rather frequently -- a married couple, a property purchase, and an immediate quiutclaim by one spouse to the other. Why? Because the married couple intends that the property purchased be held as the sole and separate property of the other. Why would they want this? Usually, it's because the money used for the down payment was the sole and separate property of one of them. This isn't rare. Maybe you should simply ask your daughter why she (apparently) quitclaimed away any possible interest at the time of purchase. It was probably because she wan't entitled to any. Maybe not.

In addition, I should point out that the spouse who isn't on title can acquire a gradual interest in the property if and when community funds are used to make principal payments on a note and deed of trust (mortgage) on the property. This is called a "pro tanto" interest in California legal Latin.

I'd be inclined to think that if your son-in-law had independent (pre-marriage) wealth and/or a recent inheritance, the matters you noticed on Zillow are probably normal and OK. If, on the other hand, he is kind of a slippery eel, maybe your daughter is getting fleeced.