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It is common for California married couples who buy a home or other real estate to take title as joint tenants (usually to avoid probate if one spouse dies), but to regard it as community property. What happens when one of the spouses declares bankruptcy? Can the bankruptcy trustee seize the jointly owned property to satisfy the bankrupt spouse’s debts, or can the trustee only reach the debtor spouse’s 50 percent share?

Let’s say you own a ranch and, to make some extra cash, you sell the rights to extract oil, coal and other minerals that might lie under your land. Then you do some digging, and uncover a fossilized dinosaur skeleton.

Many property owners and tenants today are wondering about the legal implications of the Covid-19 virus on leases and real estate contracts. These issues can be complex, often involving paragraphs of dense legalese. Valensi Rose has prepared this plain-English summary of key areas in which the pandemic (and government efforts to deal with it) may affect leases and real estate contracts.

If you are trying to figure out a fair rent for a Saks Fifth Avenue store in San Francisco, wouldn’t it make sense to take a look at other Saks stores, including the retailer’s flagship location in New York City?

A proposed California law moving rapidly through the legislature aims to aid restaurants, bars, entertainment venues affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it would be devastating to the commercial landlords who provide their retail space.

It may be true that good fences may make good neighbors, as the poet Robert Frost declared. But a bad fence, a shared driveway and disgruntled neighbors can be a recipe for litigation, as a recent appellate court decision demonstrates.