Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

As I understand homestead protection, it doesn't provide any shelter at all against voluntary liens such as mortgages and deeds of trust. If there is a foreclosure and the house sells for $447K, you'll get $40K less expenses of the sale.

Mr. Whipple is correct. The homestead exemption is an exemption from judgment liens. It has nothing whatsoever to do with your situation.

I agree with the two prior posts.

The homestead declaration does not restrict or limit any right to encumber the declared homestead. �A homestead declaration does not restrict or limit any right to convey or encumber the declared homestead.� (Code of Civ. Proc., � 704.940.)

The homestead statutes are designed to protect the value of the homestead from judgment liens, but they do not impair the right of a declared homestead owner to encumber the homestead with consensual liens, such as a deed of trust securing a promissory note executed by the declarant of the homestead.

If a declared homestead owner defaults on a debt secured by a consensual lien, the homestead is not protected from a nonjudicial foreclosure, that is, the homestead laws cannot be used to prevent a private sale pursuant to a power of sale conferred by the trust deed or mortgage securing the debt, as distinguished from preventing an execution of judgment sale. (Code of Civ. Proc., � 703.010 subd. (b).)