Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I'm not a divorce specialist, but here's my understanding of the way it works. I assume that the house in question was held as community property, or if otherwise jointly owned that you and he agreed to include it in the dissolution proceeding.

A final and complete judgment in a California dissolution of marriage (i.e., divorce) case should dispose of all legal issues, including termination of marital status, division of assets and liabilities, providing for care and custody of minor children, and related matters. The principle regarding property matters is that assets (such as a co-owned house) and liabilities (such as the mortgage on the house) will be divided either (a) as the parties agree, or (b) equally, at least to the extent possible. "Equal" means that the net amount of assets minus liabilities received or borne by each is pretty much the same. Judges prefer that divorcing couples work out their desired split of their marital assets and liabilities in a marital settlement agreement, which then becomes part of the judgment. Otherwise, the judge will have to do it for you.

So, I'd say that, with the help of your divorce lawyer, or the court staff assigned to assist those who are representing themselves, you should first of all make sure that you and your (soon-to-be?) ex-husband have worked out a complete plan for dividing both assets and liabilities, or if you can't agree and need the court to make rulings, that that is going to take place.

In a properly-handled dissolution of marriage proceeding, by the time of the final judgment the ownership of, and liability for any loans on, the (former) family residence should be fully provided for in said judgment, even though the actual sale, or transfer of title, of said residence probably hasn't occurred.

Finally, I believe that most regulated mortgage lenders are very cooperative in carrying out the terms of a marital settlement agreement or judgment of dissolution insofar as re-doing the loan documents to reflect the outcome in court.

Not unless he refianances.

Mr. Selik is correct. Mr. Whipple is dead wrong in his final conclusion. Yes the whole divorce process includes tallying up and allocating all community assets and debts such that it comes as close as reasonable to a 50/50 net split. That does not address your question. The answer to your question is that there is NO way to protect yourself from the financial impacts of a loan you are on during a marriage until that loan is paid off, either in cash or through a refinance loan that is taken out in only your ex-to-be's name (or more likely your ex by the time the refinance occurs). This goes for credit card debts as well. ALL debts must be paid off one way or another, before you are safe, because the creditors who extended credit to both of you, or to one of you during marriage making it a community debt, are under NO obligation to follow your marital settlement agreement or judgment as to who pays what. They can always come after either one of you on any community debt until it is paid off.