Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: setlement after divorce

In California, generally unless you have comingled or otherwise transmutted the property into community property, the answer is no. However, this is something you should discuss in detail with a lawyer practicing family law.

Re: setlement after divorce

Either outcome, or some mixture of the outcomes, is possible.

When the money and property is first inherited, absent an express agreement to the contrary, the money and property would be the daughter's separate property, and in a divorce, the spouse would have no right to any of it.

However, separate property can and all too often does become community property through either "commingling" or by express agreement. The change from separate to community property for whatever reason is called "transmutation."

Commingling-type transmutations occur when it is no longer easily possible to trace a married couple's assets to separate-property origins because, for example, his money and her money have been put into the same bank account and many put-and-take transactions have occurred over the years without crystal-clear record-keeping; or because his money and her money (and probably community money) have been put into joint investments or used for household purposes.

Express-agreement transmutations occur when (for example)large gifts are made, or where property is deeded over for financing or perhaps management purposes, or where the couple invest separate funds in a business they intend to operate together for their mutual benefit. These are just examples.

A prenuptial agreement is somewhat helpful, but not a cure-all, in maintaining separate-property status for assets owned or anticipated before marriage.

Your question does not state whether the "party" has died yet, to say nothing of whether the divorce has been requested or obtained. A truly useful answer would require whether it was addressing the situation as a preventive or curative response.

Nevertheless, the general answer is that inherited property starts out being the married heir's separate property but can easily lose that status and become, in whole or in part, community property subject to equal division upon divorce.

Finally, it's worth noting that even if a couple never divorces, the distinction between community and separate property is still important, as it determines the extent of the right of a spouse to "will" the property to heirs other than the other spouse.