Lee and Patricia Cheema own a house in California. The house was owned by Lee Cheema as his separate property before his marriage to Patricia. Improvements were made to the house after the marriage and paid for with community property funds. California

Question

is a community property state and therefore most property acquired during a marriage is community property. Assume that Don Burgunder wishes to buy the property from Lee Cheema. Don will want to be sure that all interests in the property are conveyed to him. Ownership records will show that Lee Cheema is the sole owner. Don, however, would be right to be concerned that Patricia may have some interest in the house because of the community property improvements to it. What type of deed should Don expect from the Cheema's to protect his interests?

Answer 1

Don would like a warranty or grant deed from Lee, which will include the implied promise to protect Don from all claims of ownership from others. In some states Don would accept a warrantydeed. However, as to Patricia's potential interest, he would like a quitclaim deed from her. Patricia should be willing to convey this deed, because it transfers only what ownership interest she may
have, but does not warrant that she owns any interest at all. Quitclaim deeds are very useful to transfer an interest in cases such as this, when a person might have an interest, but no formal records document its existence.