Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: How can I retrieve money owed?

Depending on how long ago the fraud and breach of fiduciary duty occurred, you might be able to file a lawsuit and collect. If the real estate was purchased during your marriage, you might have a legal interest in the property, although your name might not be on title. See a lawyer in your locale immediately. Good luck!

Re: How can I retrieve money owed?

If you have any claim to ownership of the real estate that's about to be sold, you could file a suit to claim and protect that interest, and at the same time file, serve and record a notice of pendency of action, usually called by its old legal Latin name "lis pendens," which would protect your interest in the property pending outcome of the suit. This is probably the most direct and aggressive approach possible, but depends upon your having a viable claim to atleast a sliver of ownership as a community-property interest not settled in your divorce judgment. There is a time limit for suits to dispute the finality of a dissolution judgment, but if any of his income during marriage, hence community income, was used to pay for or improve this real property, and it wasn't declared and allocated by the marital settlement, this may be an approach.

Another more circuitous approach would be to sue for the fraud in use of your separate property to secure his debt. If and when you obtained a judgment, an abstract thereof could be recorded in counties where he has property, and would act as a lien on said property.

Neither approach is a slam dunk, and there are statutes of limitations that warrant your making quick local inquiry as to whether either type of claim can still be made. In addition to the statute of limitations issues, an attorney would need to verify the facts and check for possible defenses and whether the real-property claim would warrant use of a lis pendens.