Legal Question in Family Law in California

The court has no jurisdiction over the mortgage company to order the mortgage company to refinance the loan. There is some ambiguity in the fact that the judgment states the you will both own the house, but he quit claimed the house to you. It could go either way but based upon the limited facts you have given I would suggest that the judge will not make any order as long as you are current on the mortgage. Good Luck, Pat McCrary

Without seeing your MSA I can't really say what a judge would do. That is going to be the central issue - what the reasonable expectations of the parties would be based on the MSA. It also depends on whether the MSA was turned into a final judgment. I am not, however, as confident as Mr. McCrary that a judge would not order the property sold. Since co-owners have the right to force a sale of property in a regular business arrangement, it is unlikely that a judge would refuse to order that in a family law court unless there was a clear and unambiguous reason and understanding that the property would not be sold. The only situation where that happens regularly is where a sale would disturb the habitual residence of the children, and the parties agree the house does not have to be sold until they get out of school or reach a certain age.