Legal Question in Family Law in California

If the house was acquired prior to marriage, and title has been kept in your name, there is a presumption it is your separate property. The community would be entitled to reimbursement for mortgage payments and improvements to the property. If you are claiming that she has not made mortgage payments, you would have to trace the mortgage payments to a separate property source. If you made the mortgage payments with your income earned during the marriage, then the mortgage payments were made with community property, even though you think it was "your" money.

Roach's answer is sort of correct. First off the interest portion of the payment would not be counted as a community contribution to the property, even if paid from community funds. Only payments that contribute to increasing the net value of the property are reimburseable. Likewise only true improvements, not maintenance or repairs, are credited to the community. He is right, though, that if you paid for things out of "your" money earned during the marriage, that was community property you put into the house.