Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Validity of Grant Deed Transfer & later liens

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Re: Validity of Grant Deed Transfer & later liens

You can find out your partner's license status by checking the list of licensees on the Department of Real Estate's Web site at www.dre.ca.gov. It takes several clicks to get down to the licensee search page.

Your question is a little unspecific as to what happened, so I'm a bit impeded in giving you a fully reliable and useful answer. It sounds as though your living trust held some real property which you deeded to the purported broker on what looked like a gift deed, and that perhaps this was part of some kind of business or investment deal. Maybe the two of you were planning a partnership of some kind. Maybe the property was supposed to be your capital contribution to a partnership. I do not understand why anyone would make a "gift" to a new business partner, however!

The first step is to go to the county recorder of the county in which the real property is situated and see whether the deed and the mortgages have been recorded. If so, and they probably have, get certified copies of everything and take them to a lawyer along with any partnership papers or other documents relating to your dealings with this individual.

A court can set aside instruments made and recorded by fraud, but it will be much more difficult to have the mortgages set aside if the mortgagees (lenders) are innocent third parties without actual or constructive notice of the fraud.

An important aspect of this case may be who is in possession of the real property. If it is your residence, that is very helpful; if it is occupied by your tenant, that's good too; but if the broker is in possession, or the property is vacant, there may be lack of constructive notice of your rights to the lenders.

I handled a somewhat similar case to a successful out-of-court settlement earlier this year, and have done all the basic legal research on the issues likely to be involved. However, I must add, it isn't at all clear what's happened here. Please feel free to contact me with details.