Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: homestead exemption

I assume you are referring to the exemption that reduces your property tax, not a declared homestead that is filed for limited protection from creditors.

The property tax exemption exempts $7,000 of the assessed value of an owner-occupied dwelling from taxation. It is a benefit available to owner-occupants, although not a huge one for most owners. Since it is owners who pay the taxes, and owner-occupants who get the benefit, the claim form should be signed and filed by the owner. The forms are furnished by the county assessor. As far as I am aware, there are not separate forms for single persons and couples. If a couple co-owns the dwelling, only one need sign.

If your question is really about declared homesteads amd not homeowners' exemptions, the answer is different. Code of Civil Procedure section 704.930(a)(1) says ".......A husband and wife both may be named as declared homestead owners in the same homestead declaration if each owns an interest in the dwelling selected as the declared homestead." This suggests that there may be private publishers who are printing and selling two kinds of homestead declaration forms, "couple" and "single." This is unnecessarily confusing, but if this is your situation, I'd say do NOT use the "couple" form since your wife does not own an interest in your home and thus under 704.930(a)(1) you cannot file on the same declaration form.

However, your wife can file a homestead on the home even though she is not a co-owner, but it must be on a form separate from yours. The authority for this is CCP 704.930(a)(3).