Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Title and deed

He who is on title 'owns' the house. If you want to dispute the transfer, title and ownership, you'll have to file a court action to do so. Feel free to contact me if serious about doing so, if the house is in SoCAL.

Re: Title and deed

This sounds as though dad prepared a deed giving his house to his daughter, but did not deliver the deed to her during his lifetime. If by "put in daughters name 5 years after dad dies" you mean "Dad's deed to daughter was recorded 5 years after dad's death," then another major issue arises: Whan was dad's deed to daughter DELIVERED to her? Delivery of a signed deed by the grantor to the grantee transfers title, whether or not the deed is recorded.

So, if daughter received actual or constructive delivery of the deed before dad died, she would own whatever interest dad had as his separate property at the time of delivery. If dad had only a community-property interest, the deed would have to be signed by dad's wife in order to convey any interest.

However, if daughter didn't obtain actual or constructive possession of the deed before dad died, but instead (for example) found it among his papers after his death, the deed is a nullity and she gets nothing by way of the deed. Undelivered deeds expire upon the maker's death - they are not a will substitute.

So, you see, there are a bunch of rather complex and possibly interrelated legal concepts that govern who owns the house. These include the community property rules, the rules governing what constitutes delivery of a deed, the rules of intestate succession, and so on.

You need to run this one by a competent real estate lawyer. I think it is likely the deed is going to play a small role, or no role at all, because its creation, validity and handling seem to present issues, but who knows until we hear the whole story?