Marriage of Ettefagh

Semrin (plaintiff) and Vahid Ettefagh (defendant) married in 1972 and moved to Vahid's native Iran in 1977, separating in 1996 when Semrin returned to California and filed for divorce; Vahid's father, Hashem Ettefagh (defendant), was joined as a party. A central dispute was whether real estate acquired by Vahid during the marriage, either gifted to him alone or purchased by Hashem with title placed in Vahid's name, was community or separate property; evidence showed Hashem purchased the properties with his own money and transferred title to Vahid, and Vahid testified no community funds were used. Both parties agreed the property was presumptively community property since acquired during marriage, but Semrin argued Vahid needed clear and convincing evidence to rebut that presumption, while the trial court applied a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard and found the properties were gifted to Vahid and thus his separate property; Semrin appealed.