Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Real Estate Title

Well, yes, married people can have two kinds of property (at least); stuff that is community property and stuff that is separate property.

It looks like the property he listed isn't "our" property, as you characterize it - it's his. If so, he can sell it without your approval and can keep all the proceeds.

However, things aren't always as simple and black-and-white as they seem. Even if this property was truly his separate property way back when, it may have acquired a partial community-property interest over the years, if perhaps community funds (like his wages during marriage, which are, believe it or not, community property, were used to pay down a mortgage on it, make substantial long-term improvements, etc.

So, you might want to ask your divorce lawyer if you have what is called a "pro tanto" community interest in this originally separate property.

I'm a little mystified by the "first right of refusal" - the concept is reasonable, but who has counseled him to extent such a privilege to you, and more importantly, why?

This is one of the reasons why do-it-yourself divorces for couples that own significant amounts of property (stocks, real estate, pension plans, 401(K)s etc.) are maybe too easy to do but surely too easy to make a regrettable blunder. If you don't have a family-law or divorce lawyer, I'd say at this stage it is in your interest to get one before you lose out on stuff like a possible pro tanto interest in his separate property.