Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Ownership of property

When a grant deed says ''the seller grants Mr. A, and Ms. B, a husband and wife, and Mr. C, a single man, and Mr. D, a single man all as tenant in common.'' (without stating the percentage of each ownership) Does it means the husband and wife is the same unit, therefore the owhership splitted one third each among Mr. A (together with his wife), Mr. B, and Mr. D. Or does it mean that the ownership splitted 25% each for Mr. A, Ms. B, Mr. C and Mr. D ?


Asked on 12/12/05, 6:05 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Christopher M. Brainard, Esq. C. M. Brainard & Associates - (310) 266-4115

Re: Ownership of property

Depends on the intent of the grantor.

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Answered on 12/12/05, 6:21 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Ownership of property

I'd say a deed written thus was very poorly drafted. If the deed is recent, say in the last 30 years or so in which women have increasingly been recognized as more than a husband's slave, the courts would construe the intent to be to give each named person an equal slice of the pie. This interpretation is enhanced by the way commas are used in your example. Are commas used the same way (between Mr. A and Mrs. B) in the actual deed?

Are Mr. A and Mrs. B named in full, i.e. John Q. Doe, and Mary J. Doe, or does it read John Q. and Mary J. Doe? The former is more suggestive of intent to convey a separate full-sized slice for each.

A court can also look at extrinsic evidence to interpret a deed, e.g., how was the consideration paid? If this ownership is the result of a will or testamentary trust, what was the relationship of the deceased to each, and how were other bequests made?

There are probably decided cases on this precise issue; I haven't researched them, but I bet the more recent ones at least would reach the results predicted from this kind of guesswork answer.

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Answered on 12/12/05, 6:57 pm


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