SECTIONS 13540-13545 - California Statutes

PROBATE CODE

SECTION 13540-13545

13540. (a) Except as provided in Section 13541, after 40 days from
the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse or the personal
representative, guardian of the estate, or conservator of the estate
of the surviving spouse has full power to sell, convey, lease,
mortgage, or otherwise deal with and dispose of the community or
quasi-community real property, and the right, title, and interest of
any grantee, purchaser, encumbrancer, or lessee shall be free of
rights of the estate of the deceased spouse or of devisees or
creditors of the deceased spouse to the same extent as if the
property had been owned as the separate property of the surviving
spouse.
(b) The surviving spouse or the personal representative, guardian
of the estate, or conservator of the estate of the surviving spouse
may record, prior to or together with the instrument that makes a
disposition of property under this section, an affidavit of the facts
that establish the right of the surviving spouse to make the
disposition.
(c) Nothing in this section affects or limits the liability of the
surviving spouse under Sections 13550 to 13553, inclusive, and
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 13560).

13541. (a) Section 13540 does not apply to a sale, conveyance,
lease, mortgage, or other disposition that takes place after a notice
that satisfies the requirements of this section is recorded in the
office of the county recorder of the county in which real property is
located.
(b) The notice shall contain all of the following:
(1) A description of the real property in which an interest is
claimed.
(2) A statement that an interest in the property is claimed by a
named person under the will of the deceased spouse.
(3) The name or names of the owner or owners of the record title
to the property.
(c) There shall be endorsed on the notice instructions that it
shall be indexed by the recorder in the name or names of the owner or
owners of record title to the property, as grantor or grantors, and
in the name of the person claiming an interest in the property, as
grantee.
(d) A person shall not record a notice under this section for the
purpose of slandering title to the property. If the court in an
action or proceeding relating to the rights of the parties determines
that a person recorded a notice under this section for the purpose
of slandering title, the court shall award against the person the
cost of the action or proceeding, including a reasonable attorney's
fee, and the damages caused by the recording.

13542. The repeal of former Section 649.2 by Chapter 783 of the
Statutes of 1986 does not affect any sale, lease, mortgage, or other
transaction or disposition of real property made prior to July 1,
1987, to which that section applied, and such a sale, lease,
mortgage, or other transaction or disposition shall continue to be
governed by the provisions of former Section 649.2 notwithstanding
the repeal of that section.

13545. (a) After the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse, or
the personal representative, guardian of the estate, or conservator
of the estate of the surviving spouse has full power to sell, assign,
pledge, or otherwise deal with and dispose of community or
quasi-community property securities registered in the name of the
surviving spouse alone, and the right, title, and interest of any
purchaser, assignee, encumbrancer, or other transferee shall be free
of the rights of the estate of the deceased spouse or of devisees or
creditors of the deceased spouse to the same extent as if the
deceased spouse had not died.
(b) Nothing in this section affects or limits the liability of a
surviving spouse under Sections 13550 to 13553, inclusive, and
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 13560).