Prob. Code, § 5044 · Chapter 3. Nonprobate Transfer to Former Spouse
Prob. Code, § 5044
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Nothing in this chapter affects the rights of a purchaser or encumbrancer of real property for value who in good faith relies on an affidavit or a declaration under penalty of perjury under the laws of this state that states all of the following:
(1) The name of the decedent.
(2) The date and place of the decedent’s death.
(3) A description of the real property transferred to the affiant or declarant by an instrument making a nonprobate transfer or by operation of joint tenancy survivorship.
(4) Either of the following, as appropriate:
(A) The affiant or declarant is the surviving spouse of the decedent.
(B) The affiant or declarant is not the surviving spouse of the decedent, but the rights of the affiant or declarant to the described property are not affected by Section 5040 or 5042.
(b) A person relying on an affidavit or declaration made pursuant to subdivision (a) has no duty to inquire into the truth of the matters stated in the affidavit or declaration.
(c) An affidavit or declaration made pursuant to subdivision (a) may be recorded.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by renumbering Section 5602 by Stats. 2015, Ch. 293, Sec. 14. (AB 139) Effective January 1, 2016.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=5044.
- Text hash
- sha256 32398ef386e270236c43c18c585ab2b63e83da04d2562a621a357193c59610af
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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