Page 8 - CTT-CA Real Estate Foreign Buyer & Seller Guide_English

Title Insurance
Ways of Holding Title
SOLE OWNERSHIP
Sole ownership may be described as ownership by an individual or other entity capable of acquiring title. Examples of common vesting cases of sole ownership are:
1. A Single Man or Woman:
A man or woman who is not legally married or in a registered domestic partner- ship. For example: Bruce Buyer, a single man.
2. A Married Man or Woman as His or Her Sole and Separate Property:
A married man or woman who wishes to acquire title in his or her name alone. The title company insuring title will require the spouse of the married man or woman acquiring title to specifically disclaim or relinquish his or her right, title and inter- est to the property. This establishes that both spouses ant title to the property to be granted to one spouse as that spouse’s sole and separate property. For example: Bruce Buyer, a married man, as his sole and separate property.
3. A Registered Domestic Partner as His or Her Sole and Separate Property:
A registered domestic partner who wishes to acquire title in his or her name alone. The title company insuring title will require the domestic partner of the person acquiring title to specifically disclaim or relinquish his or her right, title and in- terest to the property. This establishes that both registered domestic partners want title to the property to be granted to one partner as that person’s sole and separate property. For example: Bruce Buyer, a registered domesticpartner, as his sole and separate property.
CO-OWNERSHIP
Title to property owned by two or more persons may be vested in the following forms:
1. Community Property:
A form of vesting title to property owned together by husband and wife or by reg- istered domestic partners. Community property is distinguished from separate property, which is property acquired before marriage or before a registered domes- tic partnership, by separate gift or bequest, after legal separation, or which is agreed in writing to be owned by one spouse or registered domestic partner. In California, real property conveyed to a married person, or to a registered domestic partner, is presumed to be community property, unless otherwise stated. Since all such prop- erty is owned equally, both parties must sign all agreements and documents trans- ferring the property or using it as security for a loan. Each owner has the right to