Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

No. The debt is what is assigned, and the security follows the debt. You need to be more specific. "The transfer of a thing transfers also all its incidents unless expresly excepted; but the transfer of an incident to a thing does not transfer the thing itself." (Civ. Code, sec. 1084.) Although your refer to it as a second mortgage, the property is most likely encumbered by a deed of trust. It is settled by abundant authority in California that a transfer of a debt secured bya mortgage or trust deed, whether by assignment or by negotiation of a negotable instrument, is a transfer of the secured obligation and that unless otherwise agreed, the security follows the debt. Thus if the debt is sold to a collection agency, they now have the right to foreclose, and are subject to all the defenses that the original beneficiary or mortgagee may have been subject to.

If it was expressed that the debt was transferred without the security interest, then that transfer of a debt would be a waiver of the security interest. (Kelley v. Upshaw (1952) 39 Cal.2d 179.)