Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

This is really a family law question, but property acquired during marriage can be considered quasi community property, in which your spouse would have some interest.

The property acquired before marriage will be separate property unless you deliberately or inadvertently transferred an interest to your spouse. An example of an inadvertent transfer might be the use of income earned by you during marriage, which is community property, to make payments on or improvements to a property.

The status of property acquired during marriage will depend upon the source of the funds used to acquire it. If inherited or a gift, or bought with your separate funds, treat it as described in the first paragraph (above). If bought with community funds, it is community property.

The property being in a foreign country makes no difference if you lived in California when you acquired the property. There is a category called "quasi-community property" for real or personal property, wherever situated, acquired by a spouse while not domiciled in California, which would have been community property if the spouse who acquired it had been living in California at the time. Note that quasi-community property is generally treated the same as community property in a California divorce.

Also note that where you live may make a small legal difference, but the location of the property generally has no legal effect whatsoever on its treatment in a California divorce.

I don't think you posted in the wrong forum. An attorney in California who holds himself out to the public as a real estate attorney should be well versed and familiar with California's community property system. It is one of the main functions that I perform when consulted by divorce clients, as a real estate attorney. You asked a legitimate real estate question.

I agree with Mr. Whipple's response, intially. The fact that the property is not in California means it may be treated as Quasi-Community property. Family Code section 2660 provides the procedures and authorization for a California trial judge to divide real property, although the term specifically mentions property in another state, and not a foreign country. The statutes defining Quasi Community Property are not as specific and just mention property located elsewhere.

You may have what are known as conflict of law problems, or there may be specific treaties, depending on the foreign country that the property is sitting in. So I would not be able to give you a definitive answer without knowing that and performing some in depth research.