California Partition Law Blog

Whether you know you are someone’s heir or are a beneficiary of a trust, knowing your rights to the property you are meant to inherit is important. California’s Probate Code offers certain protection to those meant to inherit property from a decedent. In the case of the trust where the property is being handled...

Yes. In a divorce action, courts must divide community property between the parties equally; however, this process may be different when the community property is owned with third parties. When third parties are involved, the proceedings become more complex and require that the court consider the third parties’ existence, interest, and rights when rendering...

When property is transferred whether as an “inter vivos” meaning during life transfer, or as a result of death, it may be subject to taxes like property taxes and transfer taxes. When property is transferred as a result of death in some states an inheritance tax may apply to the heir or person receiving...

By Eli Underwood As older generations (particularly Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation) retire or pass away, their assets are transferred to heirs, who are largely family members. According to a recent report from Cerulli, approximately $124 trillion will move from older generations to Gen Xers and Millennials by 2048. This means the United...

Generally, once parents have given their child(ren) funds for a downpayment as a gift, the parents cannot recover the gifted money. In fact, to recover the downpayment given as a gift, parents must prove the payment was made without intention to make a gift, or under circumstances such as fraud. Absent such circumstances, courts...

By Eli Underwood With longer life expectancy comes a longer “third act,” and many people in their 50+ era just don’t want to stay in the same box society has confined them to. As a consequence, the so-called gray divorce is now the most prevalent, especially in the U.S. While overall divorce rates across...

A default judgment may be entered against a defendant if they do not respond to the pleadings in time. This is done by requesting default and then requesting that the court enter default judgment. If you have been sued this is an important reason to make sure you respond to the pleadings or the...

The equal dignities doctrine is a California doctrine that affects the applicability of contracts. The doctrine is a subset of a larger doctrine that is called the statute of frauds which governs contracts for things like the sale of land. Some contracts must be in writing to be enforceable like leases, mortgages, and deeds....

It depends. Generally, a deceased person cannot be joined as a party to a lawsuit in their individual capacity. However, the estate of the deceased person, managed by a personal representative, can be joined as a party to a lawsuit. Ultimately, the circumstances under which a deceased person can be joined as a party...

The Williamson Act, also known as the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, allows an owner of agricultural land to enter into a contract restricting the use of land to agricultural purposes and eliminates possible subdivision of the land. The Act in return provides a reduction in the land’s assessed value which decreases the...