Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: being sued..name change on deed legal?

If you lose a lawsuit and owe a money judgment, the successful plaintiff will record an abstract of judgment in any county where he/she/it expects you may own real property (or an interest in real property). That judgment then becomes a lien on your real property interests.

The judgment can also be enforced against you in whole or in part by other means, including garnishment of wages.

If your mother is not also a judgment debtor, in most cases a judgment against you will not be or become a lien on her interest in the real property. That means the judgment creditor cannot sell the entire house at foreclosure; all it can do is sell your interest. This is not a good prospect for the creditor - who wants to buy a half interest in a house when the other half is owned by a stranger?

As you probably understand, technically you can't take names off deeds; once a deed is recorded, its contents are set in stone. I assume you mean that you would take your name off title by executing, delivering and recording a new deed, granting your part interest to your mom, thus making her the sole owner.

If you do this, you must do it with extreme caution. There is a law (called the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Civil Code sections 3439 et seq.) that declares as fraudulent and voidable any transfer of property made with the intent, or even the unintended effect, to "hinder, defraud or delay" a creditor or even a potential creditor of the transferor. The transfer can be un-done, and both the transferor and the transferee may be liable to the creditor for the debt and the costs of suit.

A transfer is not fraudulent if the transferor receives fair value for the property. So, if you were to deed your interest in the house to your mom, you absolutely must receive fair value, taking into account how much equity there is in the house. Further, the use of an IOU between the two of you could be attacked as a meaningless subterfuge, so you should be paid in real money.

Then, perhaps you should use that real money to defend the suit, settle the claim before trial, or pay the judgment if the plaintiff gets one.