Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Removing a name from title

You will need to contact your ex and have him sign a "Quit Claim" deed which will remove his name from the property. You can get a form at an office supply place. Just fill in the legal description and name yourself as the "grantee". Then have it recorded at the county recorder's office where the property is located. If you cannot find him, then you will need to file a "Quiet Title" action in the superior court for the county where the property is located. After filing suit, and since you can't find him, you will be able to serve him by publishing a notice of the suit in a local paper for four consecutive weeks. File notice of the publishing with the court and ask for an order granting your request to extinquish his interest and assign it to you.

As to other places where you may have joint interest, follow the same procedure for real property. If you have joint accounts I would close them and open new ones. If you have joint stock or other similar accounts, ask them what procedure to follow. Generally it will be fairly simple. You may want to run a credit check on your ex to locate him. If you cannot do it your self (there are plenty of places on the Web that can help) get an attorney to assist. Many attorneys can use various sources to locate individuals.