Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Property title

The basic mechanism is a "quiet title" lawsuit, and the obvious legal problem here is that if someone is "on title," there is no law saying they lose the right to be on title merely by being absent from the property for decades. For example, a co-owner cannot (without an ouster) acquire title from the other co-owner by adverse possession.

Even if the co-owner is dead, the ownership interest would pass to her heirs.

California has a record marketable title act, which voids certain clouds on title after the passage of many years; things that fall off title include options to buy, mortgages, reversionary provisions and the like, but apparently not the interest of a disappeared co-owner.

Perhaps your best bet is to prove an ouster more than five years ago, and then apply the adverse possession rules. Pleading and proving an ouster may be possible if there are sufficient facts showing that the missing co-owner would have been refused co-possession if she showed up, e.g., by changing the locks, showing hostility, and any of the other facts by which ouster of a cotenant can be shown.

Whether this will work is fact-sensitive and I cannot predict the outcome.

Procedurally, there is the obvious problem that for quiet title actions to be effective against defendants whose identity is known, they must be served with the summons and complaint. When the person is missing and cannot be located, the plaintiff must get the court's okay to serve by publication. The judge's willingness to do this may depend upon the overall soundness of the case, e.g. whether there is a solid case for ouster, the defendant has been missing a very long time, efforts have been made to locate her, etc.

Please contact me if your brother would like to pursue quieting title; I have some recent experience with quieting title against long-disappeared parties and with ouster and adverse possession.

Re: Property title

Answered this already.

Re: Property title

What type of lien is it? Depending on the type of lien, there may be a simple motion your brother can file with the court to get it removed off of title.

Was the other person listed on title as an owner of some sort? If so, depending on the facts, your brother will need to file either a quiet title action or one for adverse possession. He will likely be able to serve the person with the lawsuit via publication, since the person's whereabouts are unknown.

Feel free to email or call with answers to my questions.

Also, as a side note, we have resources and databases at our office we can access to locate individuals.