My response:
This is going to take some work on your part; however, a person "not heard from in five years" is presumed to be dead. [Ca Evid § 667; see Liberty Transport, Inc. v. Harry W. Gorst Co., Inc. (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 417, 441-442, 280 Cal.Rptr. 159, 173-174]
To obtain full and complete information about a missing parent/spouse, the California Child Support Automation System, CPLSCR and the FTB are required, to the extent necessary, to utilize the Federal Parent Locator Service, and may request (and shall receive) identifying data from all state departments, boards, bureaus or other agencies. [Ca Fam § 17506(c)]
You must be able to demonstrate due diligence of your efforts to locate your spouse. Once you obtain a "presumption of death" certificate from the above, then you can file a Petition for Probate to obtain orders from the court to have the property placed into your name, alone. In probate cases, "a person who has not been seen or heard from for a continuous period of five years by those who are likely to have seen or heard from that person, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained, after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead." [Ca Probate § 12401; In re Starr (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 487, 495, 128 Cal.Rptr.2d 282, 287--presumption not applicable if missing person's absence is capable of a satisfactory explanation other than death; Conservatorship of Geiger (1992) 3 Cal.App.4th 127, 133, 4 Cal.Rptr.2d 252, 255 (same test)]
Good luck to you.
IAAL

