Legal Question in Family Law in California
If one spouse pays the entire mortgage, does that spouse own the entire house?
My father moved to CA with his new wife and bought an expensive home. The bigl down payment came solely from his assets. Both my father and step-mother earn about the same amount each month in retirement benefits, but now theyhave a trust with the new home as the sole contents, which states that upon BOTH their deaths it will be determined which party paid in what monies for the house (including interest, tax, ins, etc.) and upon the sale of the house, a pro-rata portion of the net proceeds of the sale shall be distributed between her son (as her heir) and me and my two sisters (as my father's heirs) based upon these payments. She has already told me she is making the house payments out of her pension, while 100% of my father's income is used for everything else...Will 100% of all the mortgage payments made belong solely to her, or will my father's portion of the estate automatically be credited with 50% of the payments no matter whose bank account the mortgage checks came out of?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: If one spouse pays the entire mortgage, does that spouse own the entire hous
This is a bit of a sticky situation. Whoever the trustee is after your father's death, and will probably be the wife, will initially make the determination and then anybody who doesn't agree with it will probably have to go to court to have reviewed or changed. If your father is willing to talk to you about it you might suggest that the consider amending the trust to clarify the matter now while he is still around.
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