Legal Question in Family Law in California
I bought property outright, paying it off in full with money inherited from my mother. My boyfriend and I moved onto the property together, and I supported us both. When I ran out of funds, my boyfriend (who later became my husband) found work and had began to support us. He refused to pay the property taxes for a number of years. Then he intercepted a notice the county sent to me. It stated that the balance must be paid within two years, or the county would seize and auction our home. He began paying the current bills, but only paid the delinquent portion at the end of the allotted time using funds he borrowed from his brother-in-law. I realize that the debt would be a community debt. What I don't know is whether his payment of property taxes would confer to my husband an interest in what had been mine alone. This is important now, because he is pressuring me to sell half of the property. In fact, he has already accepted a cash down payment, and gave the buyer a receipt that he alone signed. Perhaps he did not want the buyer to see my two black eyes. Is this fraud? Will he be awarded an interest in the property by the divorce court? How certain is this answer? Is there room for interpretation, or is it cut and dried?
1 Answer from Attorneys
He may or may not have a reimbursement claim in a divorce but he has no claim to the property itself and he has committed a fraud on the purported buyer. Even if he had been paying the mortgage payments he would not acquire an ownership interest in the property, only a reimbursement claim.
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