CAS California-specific Essays Flashcards

Under California Probate Code §6111, a holographic will is valid if:

Answer: The signature and the material provisions are in the testator's handwriting

California Probate Code §6111 provides that a holographic will is valid if the testator's signature and material provisions are entirely in the testator's own handwriting; witnesses are not required.

Under California Probate Code §15300, a spendthrift provision in a trust:

Answer: Restrains voluntary and involuntary transfers of the beneficiary's interest, shielding it from most creditors

California Probate Code §15300 gives effect to spendthrift clauses that restrain both voluntary assignments by the beneficiary and involuntary seizure by creditors.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure §322, the statutory period for adverse possession is:

Answer: 5 years

California CCP §322 sets a 5-year period for adverse possession, and California uniquely requires the claimant to have paid all property taxes on the disputed parcel during that period.

Under California Civil Code §1113, a grant deed contains which implied covenants?

Answer: The grantor has not previously conveyed the property and the property is free from encumbrances made by the grantor

California Civil Code §1113 implies two covenants in a grant deed: that the grantor has not previously conveyed the same estate and that the estate is free of encumbrances made by the grantor.

Under California intestate succession law, if a decedent dies leaving a surviving spouse and two children, the surviving spouse receives:

Answer: All community property and one-half of separate property

Under California Probate Code §§100-101 and 6401-6402, the surviving spouse takes all community property and one-half of the decedent's separate property when two or more children survive.

California's recording statute (Civil Code §1214) is best characterized as:

Answer: A race-notice statute — a subsequent purchaser must lack notice and record first

California Civil Code §1214 is a race-notice statute: a subsequent purchaser prevails over a prior unrecorded conveyance only if the subsequent purchaser takes without notice of the prior interest and records first.

Under California Probate Code §21610, an omitted spouse (one married after the will was executed) is entitled to:

Answer: An intestate share of the decedent's separate property and all community property

California Probate Code §21610 grants an omitted spouse who married the testator after will execution the share he or she would have received by intestate succession, unless the omission was intentional.