Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

It depends. All property acquired before and during marriage is presumed to be community property for purposes of divorce proceedings. However, if one spouse owned property before marriage and title was taken in his or her name alone (without naming the spouse) the property is owned by the person in whose name title is taken. In the event of a divorce, the non-owner spouse could make a claim that they are entitled to some portion of the property because it is community property. If the owner spouse can prove that the property was acquired with the use of his or her separate property before marriage, and that no community funds were ever used to purchase, improve or otherwise pay expenses of ownership, then the court would likely hold the property was the owner-spouse's separate property.

If you have concerns that your spouse may try to claim an ownership interest in the property, you can always enter into an agreement which confirms the separate property nature of the property.