Xi v. Xi (In re Estate of Xi)
| Decision Date | 19 August 2019 |
| Docket Number | B286213 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Estate of YANG HUA XI, Deceased. BUWEI SHI XI, Petitioner and Appellant, v. GONG HUA XI, Objector and Respondent. |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BP150625)
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Clifford L. Klein, Judge. Affirmed.
Ritt, Tai, Thvedt & Hodges and Warren O. Hodges, Jr.; Kathryn M. Stanton for Petitioner and Appellant.
LTL Attorneys, James M. Lee, Alexander H. Hu, Timothy S. Fox and Blake Guerrero for Objector and Respondent.
Appellant Buwei Shi Xi ("Buwei") and Yang Hua Xi ("Yang Hua") were legally married from 1988 to 2011, when Yang Hua died intestate. In 1985, three years before they were legally married, Yang Hua purchased the Hollywood Premiere Motel (the "Motel"), taking title as "a single man." Under California's laws of intestate succession, if the Motel were community property, Buwei would inherit all of Yang Hua's ownership interest in the Motel. (Prob. Code, § 6401, subd. (a).) If the Motel were separate property, Buwei would inherit 50 percent of Yang Hua's ownership interest in the Motel, and Yang Hua's father, Yu Lin Xi ("Father"), would inherit the other 50 percent.1 (Prob. Code, §§ 6401, subd. (c)(2)(B), 6402, subd. (b).) As of April 30, 2012, the Motel was appraised for $3,300,000.
On June 3, 2014, Buwei filed a spousal property petition (the "Petition"), asking the court to determine that although Yang Hua took title to the Motel as "a single man," the Motel was really community property, because Buwei was Yang Hua's putative spouse at the time of the purchase (i.e., she had a good faith belief that she and Yang Hua were married in 1985, even though they were not legally married until 1988).
Gong Hua Xi (Yang Hua's brother) objected to the Petition, claiming that Buwei was not Yang Hua's putative spouse. After holding a trial on the matter, the trial court denied the Petition on the ground that Buwei failed to meet her burden to demonstrate she was a putative spouse at the time the Motel was purchased.2
On appeal, Buwei contends: (1) Gong Hua lacked standing to object to the Petition; (2) the trial court used an incorrect standard to determine whether Buwei was Yang Hua's putative spouse; and (3) substantial evidence failed to support the trial court's finding that Buwei was not a putative spouse. We affirm.
Buwei testified to her background and the circumstances surrounding her marriage. She was born in Shanghai, China in 1949 and lived there until 1984. She came from a relatively wealthy family and had educated friends. Buwei herself completed at least one year of high school, took some accounting courses, and worked in an accounting department at a factory.3
Buwei and Yang Hua met in 1981. After a typical courtship, the couple became engaged in 1982. Around that time, Yang Hua was about to graduate from college, and had an opportunity to emigrate to the United States. They decided that Yang Hua would go to the United States first, and Buwei would follow. Believing that obtaining visas to come to the United States would be more complicated if they were already married, they decided not to get married until they were both in the United States.
Yang Hua left for the United States on March 5, 1983. Buwei arrived 16 months later, on July 13, 1984.
Buwei testified that when she arrived in Los Angeles on July 13, 1984, Yang Hua picked her up at the airport, took her back to the motel at which he was working and living, put a ring on her finger, and told her they were married. Surprised, Buwei asked whether Yang Hua had arranged everything, and he answered that he had processed everything.4 Buwei asked nothing else.
Buwei understood that in Shanghai, where marriage was common, people would be required to complete some paperwork and procedures to get a marriage certificate. While Buwei testified she did not know how to do these things, she did not claim to be unaware of the requirements. Buwei further testified that in Shanghai, it was unacceptable for a man and woman to cohabitate without being married. She testified that she expected she would live in a separate room from Yang Hua until they were married.
Two friends of Buwei testified that in 1984, they received letters from her, stating she had gotten married.5 One of those friends and a third friend testified that before 1988, they visited Buwei and Yang Hua at the motel where they lived and worked, and either were told the two had married, or assumed they were married, based on their cohabitation. One friend further testified he would not have stayed at the motel with Buwei and Yang Hua had the two been unmarried, and it was his understanding that cohabitation before marriage was unacceptable and illegal in China. However, the two other friends both testified that had they discovered Buwei and Yang Hua were cohabitating while unmarried, they would not have cared, and would have remained friends with her. Buwei's expert in Chinese culture acknowledged that cohabitation before marriage occurred in China, even when it was against the law.
On December 10, 1985, Yang Hua purchased the Hollywood Premiere Motel. Title to the Motel was taken in the name of "YANG HUA XI, a single man." Buwei testified that she was unaware at the time that this was how title was taken. She also testified that some of the down payment for the Motel consisted of money she had brought from China, as well as proceeds from sales of paintings she had brought over.
Buwei testified it was not until 1987, when an immigration attorney told Buwei and Yang Hua they were missing a marriage license, that she understood a marriage required a license in the United States. On February 18, 1988, she and Yang Hua had a wedding in a church, with a wedding dress, tuxedo, and a pastor, and thereafter obtained a marriage certificate. Yang Hua's family attended this wedding, as did the couple's former boss.
After the legal marriage, title to future properties purchased in the United States by Buwei and Yang Hua reflected the fact of their marriage. In 1995, they purchased the Huntington Motel, and took title as "YANGHUA XI and BU-WEI XI, husband and wife, as Joint Tenants." In 1997, they purchased the Winchester Apartments, taking title as "YANG HUA XI AND BU WEI XI, HUSBAND AND WIFE AS JOINT TENANTS." And, as noted, in 2003, they purchased two condominiums. One was taken in the name of "YANG HUA XI, a Married Man as his Sole and Separate Property" and the other was taken in the name of "BU WEI S. XI, a Married Woman as her Sole and Separate Property."
Prior to the legal marriage, there was no property purchased as husband and wife.
After Yang Hua's death in November 2011, Buwei and Yang Hua's family were involved in litigation in China over disposition of real property owned by Yang Hua there. Among other things, the Chinese court found that Buwei and Yang Hua were married on February 18, 1988, a finding Buwei did not dispute in the Chinese litigation.
On March 26, 2014, Gong Hua petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court to be named the administrator of Yang Hua's estate. Father also nominated Gong Hua to be administrator, as did Yang Hua's mother.
On April 23, 2014, Buwei objected to Gong Hua's petition, and submitted her own petition to administer Yang Hua's estate.
On June 3, 2014, Buwei filed a Spousal Property Petition, asking, among other things, that the Motel be deemed community property. Gong Hua opposed the Petition, and Buwei replied to the opposition.
On April 15, 2016, Buwei and Gong Hua stipulated to Buwei's appointment as administrator of Yang Hua's estate. On August 3, 2016, the trial court ordered Buwei to be appointed administrator of Yang Hua's estate. Trial for Buwei's Petition was set for March 13, 2017.
On March 6, 2017, the parties filed a Joint Trial Statement. The caption of the Joint Trial Statement lists Gong Hua as "Respondent." Under the heading of "Names, ages, relationships, of all persons relevant to the proceedings, and names of counsel," the parties listed Gong Hua as "brother of decedent and family representative in this action on behalf of [father] Yu Lin Xi . . . ." The same document also listed "Yu Lin Xi, age 95" and stated that "Mr. Xi currently resides in China and due to his age is unable to travel."
Trial on the Petition was held on March 13, 14, and 15, 2017, and concluded on May 16, 2017. Both sides filed posttrial briefs. In Buwei's posttrial brief, she stated that should her Petition be denied, Yang Hua's interest in the Motel "will go to [Yang Hua's] 90+ year-old and infirm father . . . and, upon his death, to [Yang Hua's] siblings . . . ." Buwei also argued, for the first time, that Gong Hua lacked standing to oppose the Petition.6
On July 21, 2017, the parties made oral closing arguments to the court. Prior to oral argument, the trial court, on its own motion, appointed Gong Hua as guardian ad litem for Father.
On August 11, 2017, the trial court issued a proposed statement of decision. In it, the trial court stated that "This tentative decision will be the statement of decision unless within 15 days a party specifies controverted issues or makes proposals not covered in the tentative decision." Gong Hua proposed certain modifications, but the record reflects no such proposals or objections from Buwei.
The trial court issued its...
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