2007 California Probate Code Chapter 3. Exoneration; Ademption

CA Codes (prob:21131-21139)

21131.  A specific gift passes the property transferred subject to
any mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien existing at the date of
death, without right of exoneration, regardless of a general
directive to pay debts contained in the instrument.




21132.  (a) If a transferor executes an instrument that makes an
at-death transfer of securities and the transferor then owned
securities that meet the description in the instrument, the transfer
includes additional securities owned by the transferor at death to
the extent the additional securities were acquired by the transferor
after the instrument was executed as a result of the transferor's
ownership of the described securities and are securities of any of
the following types:
   (1) Securities of the same organization acquired by reason of
action initiated by the organization or any successor, related, or
acquiring organization, excluding any acquired by exercise of
purchase options.
   (2) Securities of another organization acquired as a result of a
merger, consolidation, reorganization, or other distribution by the
organization or any successor, related, or acquiring organization.
   (3) Securities of the same organization acquired as a result of a
plan of reinvestment.
   (b) Distributions in cash before death with respect to a described
security are not part of the transfer.



21133.  A recipient of an at-death transfer of a specific gift has a
right to the property specifically given, to the extent the property
is owned by the transferor at the time the gift takes effect in
possession or enjoyment, and all of the following:
   (a) Any balance of the purchase price (together with any security
agreement) owing from a purchaser to the transferor at the time the
gift takes effect in possession or enjoyment by reason of sale of the
property.
   (b) Any amount of an eminent domain award for the taking of the
property unpaid at the time the gift takes effect in possession or
enjoyment.
   (c) Any proceeds unpaid at the time the gift takes effect in
possession or enjoyment on fire or casualty insurance on or other
recovery for injury to the property.
   (d) Property owned by the transferor at the time the gift takes
effect in possession or enjoyment and acquired as a result of
foreclosure, or obtained in lieu of foreclosure, of the security
interest for a specifically given obligation.



21134.  (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if after
the execution of the instrument of gift specifically given property
is sold or mortgaged by a conservator or by an agent acting within
the authority of a durable power of attorney for an incapacitated
principal, the transferee of the specific gift has the right to a
general pecuniary gift equal to the net sale price of, or the amount
of the unpaid loan on, the property.
   (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, if an eminent
domain award for the taking of specifically given property is paid to
a conservator or to an agent acting within the authority of a
durable power of attorney for an incapacitated principal, or if the
proceeds on fire or casualty insurance on, or recovery for injury to,
specifically gifted property are paid to a conservator or to an
agent acting within the authority of a durable power of attorney for
an incapacitated principal, the recipient of the specific gift has
the right to a general pecuniary gift equal to the eminent domain
award or the insurance proceeds or recovery.
   (c) For the purpose of the references in this section to a
conservator, this section does not apply if, after the sale,
mortgage, condemnation, fire, or casualty, or recovery, the
conservatorship is terminated and the transferor survives the
termination by one year.
   (d) For the purpose of the references in this section to an agent
acting with the authority of a durable power of attorney for an
incapacitated principal, (1) "incapacitated principal" means a
principal who is an incapacitated person, (2) no adjudication of
incapacity before death is necessary, and (3) the acts of an agent
within the authority of a durable power of attorney are presumed to
be for an incapacitated principal.
   (e) The right of the transferee of the specific gift under this
section shall be reduced by any right the transferee has under
Section 21133.



21135.  (a) Property given by a transferor during his or her
lifetime to a person is treated as a satisfaction of an at-death
transfer to that person in whole or in part only if one of the
following conditions is satisfied:
   (1) The instrument provides for deduction of the lifetime gift
from the at-death transfer.
   (2) The transferor declares in a contemporaneous writing that the
gift is in satisfaction of the at-death transfer or that its value is
to be deducted from the value of the at-death transfer.
   (3) The transferee acknowledges in writing that the gift is in
satisfaction of the at-death transfer or that its value is to be
deducted from the value of the at-death transfer.
   (4) The property given is the same property that is the subject of
a specific gift to that person.
   (b) Subject to subdivision (c), for the purpose of partial
satisfaction, property given during lifetime is valued as of the time
the transferee came into possession or enjoyment of the property or
as of the time of death of the transferor, whichever occurs first.
   (c) If the value of the gift is expressed in the contemporaneous
writing of the transferor, or in an acknowledgment of the transferee
made contemporaneously with the gift, that value is conclusive in the
division and distribution of the estate.
   (d) If the transferee fails to survive the transferor, the gift is
treated as a full or partial satisfaction of the gift, as the case
may be, in applying Sections 21110 and 21111 unless the transferor's
contemporaneous writing provides otherwise.



21139.  The rules stated in Sections 21133 to 21135, inclusive, are
not exhaustive, and nothing in those sections is intended to increase
the incidence of ademption under the law of this state.