This was the important question the California Supreme Court ruled on in the case In re Brace. It affirmed that community property laws take precedence in actions between spouses during their lifetimes; however, in post-death proceedings, it’s possible title could take precedence.
Consider spouses who hold title to property as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. This means that the spouses co-own the property while alive, but when one spouse dies, the surviving spouse assumes full ownership of the property. In this instance, form of title would reign supreme. Hence, the Brace court concluded that title generally controls at death, but that the court should not solely rely on title when deciding whether a deceased person has a right to dispose of a property.
The Brace ruling, however, was slightly modified in the case Estate of Wall, where the California Supreme Court ruled that the title presumption applies in all probate contexts. This means that if the deceased spouse held title to property as a sole owner, then, even if the property was acquired during marriage, the deceased spouse would be presumed to be the sole owner of the property at death.
The Estate of Wall ruling highlights the importance of the manner in which spouses title their property, which influences how the property can be managed or transferred after death. To prevent inheritance disputes, spouses must carefully consider how they hold title and ensure any community property contributions are tracked through proper legal documentation.
