California Family Code 1102 – (a) Except as provided in Sections 761 and 1103, either spouse …
(a) Except as provided in Sections 761 and 1103, either spouse has the management and control of the community real property, whether acquired prior to, or on or after January 1, 1975, but both spouses, either personally or by a duly authorized agent, are required to join in executing an instrument by which that community real property or an interest therein is leased for a longer period than one year, or is sold, conveyed, or encumbered.
(b) This section does not apply to a lease, mortgage, conveyance, or transfer of real property, or of an interest in real property, between spouses.
Terms Used In California Family Code 1102
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- County: includes city and county. See California Family Code 67
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- order: include a decree, as appropriate under the circumstances. See California Family Code 100
- Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
- Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by Section 297. See California Family Code 143
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), both of the following shall apply:
(1) The sole lease, contract, mortgage, or deed of the husband, holding the record title to community real property, to a lessee, purchaser, or encumbrancer, in good faith without knowledge of the marriage relation, shall be presumed to be valid if executed prior to January 1, 1975.
(2) The sole lease, contract, mortgage, or deed of either spouse, holding the record title to community real property to a lessee, purchaser, or encumbrancer, in good faith without knowledge of the marriage relation, shall be presumed to be valid if executed on or after January 1, 1975.
(d) An action to avoid an instrument mentioned in this section, affecting any property standing of record in the name of either spouse alone, executed by the spouse alone, shall not be commenced after the expiration of one year from the filing for record of that instrument in the recorder’s office in the county in which the land is situated.
(e) This section does not preclude either spouse from encumbering that spouse’s interest in community real property, as provided in Section 2033, to pay reasonable attorney’s fees in order to retain or maintain legal counsel in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for legal separation of the parties.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 115, Sec. 11. (AB 1817) Effective January 1, 2020.)