FAM § 1102

Both spouses must sign to sell or mortgage: FAM § 1102

Under FAM § 1102, both spouses must join to sell, encumber, or lease community real property for over one year. An action to avoid has a one-year limit.

Official text FAM § 1102 — California

(a) Except as provided in Sections 761 and 1103, either spouse has the management and control of the community real property, whether acquired prior to, or on or after January 1, 1975, but both spouses, either personally or by a duly authorized agent, are required to join in executing an instrument by which that community real property or an interest therein is leased for a longer period than one year, or is sold, conveyed, or encumbered.

(b) This section does not apply to a lease, mortgage, conveyance, or transfer of real property, or of an interest in real property, between spouses.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), both of the following shall apply:

(1) The sole lease, contract, mortgage, or deed of the husband, holding the record title to community real property, to a lessee, purchaser, or encumbrancer, in good faith without knowledge of the marriage relation, shall be presumed to be valid if executed prior to January 1, 1975.

(2) The sole lease, contract, mortgage, or deed of either spouse, holding the record title to community real property to a lessee, purchaser, or encumbrancer, in good faith without knowledge of the marriage relation, shall be presumed to be valid if executed on or after January 1, 1975.

(d) An action to avoid an instrument mentioned in this section, affecting any property standing of record in the name of either spouse alone, executed by the spouse alone, shall not be commenced after the expiration of one year from the filing for record of that instrument in the recorder’s office in the county in which the land is situated.

(e) This section does not preclude either spouse from encumbering that spouse’s interest in community real property, as provided in Section 2033, to pay reasonable attorney’s fees in order to retain or maintain legal counsel in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, for nullity of marriage, or for legal separation of the parties.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Section 1102(a) gives either spouse the management and control of community real property, and then imposes the limit that matters: both spouses, personally or by a duly authorised agent, are required to join in executing any instrument by which community real property or an interest in it is leased for longer than a year, or is sold, conveyed or encumbered. Day-to-day management is single-handed; disposing of or borrowing against the home is not.

"Encumbered" is the word that catches people. A mortgage, a deed of trust, a home equity line, a judgment lien voluntarily created — each is an encumbrance, so a spouse who borrows against the house alone has acted outside the section. Subdivision (b) excludes transactions between the spouses themselves, and subdivision (e) preserves a spouse's ability to encumber their own interest under § 2033 to pay reasonable attorney's fees to retain counsel in a dissolution, nullity or legal separation proceeding.

The section then protects the outside world, which is why acting quickly matters. Subdivision (c)(2) presumes valid the sole lease, contract, mortgage or deed of a spouse holding record title, given to a lessee, purchaser or encumbrancer in good faith without knowledge of the marriage relation. And subdivision (d) sets a hard limit: an action to avoid such an instrument affecting property standing of record in one spouse's name alone may not be commenced after one year from the date the instrument was filed for record in the county recorder's office. A spouse who discovers the transaction late may be outside that period and left with a claim against the other spouse under § 1101 rather than against the property. That is a distinction with large consequences and a reason to take the paperwork to a family lawyer immediately.

When it applies

A spouse took out a loan against the family home alone
A house sold or transferred without the other spouse's signature
A long lease of a community property granted by one spouse
A recorded deed you knew nothing about
A lender who says it had no idea the borrower was married
You have just discovered a transaction recorded more than a year ago

What this section does not say

It does not cover separate property. A married person may convey their own separate property without the spouse's consent under § 770(b).
It does not apply between spouses. Subdivision (b) excludes a lease, mortgage, conveyance or transfer of real property between the spouses themselves.
It does not protect against a good faith third party indefinitely. Subdivision (c)(2) presumes valid a sole instrument given to someone acting in good faith without knowledge of the marriage.
The right to challenge expires. Subdivision (d) bars an action to avoid the instrument more than one year after it was filed for record.
It does not cover personal property. Management and control of community personal property is dealt with by § 1100, which has its own restrictions.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

One spouse takes out a loan secured on the family home without the other's knowledge or signature. The other only learns of it when the lender writes.

How the wording applies

Section 1102 requires both spouses to join in executing an instrument encumbering or conveying community real property. It turns on two facts: whether the property is community property under section 760, and whether the lender acted in good faith without knowledge of the marriage, because subdivision (c)(2) presumes such an instrument valid in that case.

How the parties settled it

The borrowing spouse refinances the loan into their own name, or the parties agree in writing that it is charged against that spouse's half in the eventual division.

Illustrative example

A spouse discovers a deed transferring an interest in a community property that was recorded more than a year earlier.

How the wording applies

Subdivision (d) bars an action to avoid the instrument brought more than one year after it was filed for record. The decisive fact is the recording date, and a claim outside that window has to be pursued against the spouse under section 1101 rather than against the property itself.

How the parties settled it

The parties agree that the transferring spouse's share of the community estate is reduced by the value transferred, with the figure fixed by a jointly instructed appraiser.

Related sections

FAM § 1101 3 years to sue for breach of fiduciary duty – FAM § 1101 FAM § 760 Property acquired during marriage is community (FAM § 760) FAM § 770 Inheritance is separate property under FAM § 770 FAM § 2550 Equal division of community estate – FAM § 2550

That's the law. Now let's settle your problem.

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of FAM § 1102 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in California.

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