Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Is there any case law in the State of California that says that a transfer to a non-existent entity is a nullity? Example would be a recorded assignment of a promissory note and deed of trust assigned to an entity that did not exist.


Asked on 3/16/11, 11:01 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

I'm not sure if there is any case law exactly on point, but there is plenty of case law on invalid transfers and they are not always void. For example if it was due to an innocent error in the drafting of the instrument, the courts might equitably amend the document or quiet title in the intended recipient. If it was with fraudulent intent or to avoid creditors, the court would probably void it. There are a lot of ways it could go.

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Answered on 3/16/11, 11:28 am
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

I put the appropriate search terms into a WestLaw search and skimmed the 20 best-match California cases that came up. None of them dealt expressly with attempted or purported transfers to nonexistent entities. There are a couple of cases holding that nonexistent entities cannot sue or be sued, and so on.

If your context is an assignment of your note and deed of trust to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, it is a validly existing Delaware corporation, not to be confused with a California corporation with a very similar name, which is defunct.

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Answered on 3/16/11, 12:05 pm


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