Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You probably mean the process of escheating to the State. That only occurs if there are the owner of the property or the beneficiaries can not be found. The most common example is when a person fails to close a dormant bank account and the bank can not find the account holder.

There always is an owner of real property; if that person dies, then the property goes to the named beneficiaries if there is a Will or passes to the relatives as provided for in the Probate Code. It does not go to the State unless no one can be found who is entitled to inherit the estate. A life insurance policy always has a beneficiary named, but if that person is dead and no heirs can be located, the proceeds wold pass to the State, subject ot anyone later proving they are entitled to the money.

A house cannot be a "ward of the state" any more that a house can be a bride, or a lottery winner, or an heir, or a valedictorian. "Ward of the state" means a PERSON, in particular a person that the state has to take care of because the person cannot care for himself or herself and there is no one else who is responsible.