## Facts

- Everett L. Bibb, Jr. acquired Berkeley real property during his first marriage; after his first wife’s death, the property was his separate property.
- Before marrying Evelyn Bibb, Everett purchased a Rolls Royce titled in his name alone.
- Everett and Evelyn married in 1992.
- After marriage, DMV records reflected the Rolls Royce registered to “Everett or Evelyn,” based on an unsigned DMV computer printout.
- In 1994, to obtain financing using Evelyn’s credit, Everett executed a grant deed conveying the Berkeley property “from himself to himself and Evelyn as joint tenants.”
- Everett died intestate in 1995.
- Evelyn claimed the Berkeley property by right of survivorship and later registered the Rolls Royce in her name.
- Everett’s son, Dozier Bibb, petitioned in probate to include both the Berkeley property and the Rolls Royce in Everett’s probate estate.

## Issues

1. Whether a grant deed signed by the spouse who owned separate real property, conveying it to the spouses as joint tenants, satisfies Family Code § 852(a)’s “express declaration” requirement for a valid transmutation.
2. Whether an unsigned DMV vehicle registration printout showing registration in both spouses’ names satisfies § 852(a) and effects a transmutation of a separately owned automobile.

## Decision

- The judgment was affirmed in part and reversed in part.
- The grant deed satisfied § 852(a) and validly transmuted the Berkeley real property into joint tenancy; it passed to Evelyn by survivorship and was excluded from the probate estate.
- The unsigned DMV printout did not satisfy § 852(a); the Rolls Royce remained Everett’s separate property and had to be included in the probate estate.

## Legal Principles

- A marital-property transmutation under Family Code § 852(a) requires a writing containing an “express declaration” of the change, made, joined in, consented to, or accepted by the spouse whose interest is adversely affected.
- The “express declaration” requirement demands strict compliance; the writing must show a clear, unambiguous intent to transfer or change the property interest on its face, without reliance on inference.
- A standard grant deed, using operative conveyancing language and signed by the adversely affected spouse, can satisfy § 852(a) when it clearly conveys separate real property into joint tenancy with the other spouse.
- Informational or administrative records, such as an unsigned DMV registration printout, do not satisfy § 852(a) where they lack execution by the adversely affected spouse and do not expressly declare a change in property character or ownership.

## Conclusion

The court held that a properly executed grant deed can satisfy Family Code § 852(a) and transmute separate real property into joint tenancy, but an unsigned DMV registration printout is insufficient to transmute a separately owned vehicle; accordingly, the real property passed to the surviving spouse by survivorship while the automobile belonged in the decedent’s probate estate.


Estate of Bibb, 87 Cal. App. 4th 461 (Ct. App. 2001)