MAN DONATES CALIFORNIA CONDO TO CHARITY. CHARITY IMPROVES PROPERTY AND ATTEMPTS TO SELL IT. DURING ESCROW, CHARITY DISCOVERS A LES PENDENS FILED BY THE DONOR'S EX-WIFE ... LES PENDENS AND DIVORCE FILING WAS AFTER PROPERTY HAD BEEN DONATED!
FACTS: On April 6, 2006, a condominium that had been an asset of an investment trust was donated to our non-profit child-help charity The condo had been recently appraised for $900,000 with an owing balance of $600,000.
Donation documents included a 2006 quit claim deed from the wife releasing her interest in the property to the trust.
We spent 2 months cleaning, painting, advertising and marketing the property for sale.
The condo just sold for $800,000 and today the Escrow officer informed me that a preliminary title search showed a Les Pendens which was filed on April 27, 2007... 21 days after the property was donated!
It appears that a divorce action was filed on April 10, just 4 days after the donation. In checking with the court, I discovered the property donor recently won a quash motion on improper service and is about to return to court and expected to win a dismissal based upon improper jurisdiction (he filed and his divorce action in final in another state -- and the dispute is whether the wife was a California resident. Immediately after filing the divorce action in California, the petitioner returned to her home in Singapore!
What do I need to do to get the Les Pendens released?
If the petitioner and/or her attorney who filed the les pendens resists, can I file a lawsuit against her as she knew she had quit claimed her interest in the property to the husband's investment trust and that the trust had donated this property -- and other property -- to our charity? If yes, what causes of action would apply? Or can I appear in the existing "jurisdiction" action to have our issue ruled upon?
Admiral Chuck Foster
Lighthouse Navy
