Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My dad recently transferred his joint interest half into a Trust. His name on the original deed with his second wife, read "(John M. Smith and Jane Smith, husband and wife, as joint tenants." On the Trust transfer deed for his half, he typed "John M. Smith, a married man as the Grantor name but grants her a life estate in his Trust. The Recorders Office accepted the document. His wife retained a lawyer to make sure this unilateral transfer does not cloud the title of the property or affect her legal rights. Did my dad do anything wrong in a legal sense?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Wrong is a broad and vague word. CAN a married man holding title as joint tenants with his wife legally deed his 1/2 interest into a trust? Yes. Did he do it correctly? No way to tell without seeing the deed. Was it a breach of the automatic fiduciary duty that the law imposes on husbands and wives? Possibly, since it appears to convert a guaranteed remainder in fee into a life estate by terminating the joint tenancy, which is a lesser interest in real estate. Will it create complications and create potential challenges to the transfer in the event of divorce or him dying before her, if it was done without proper legal advice and attention to proper documentation? Almost certainly. Will it actually cause problems in the end? No way to tell.
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