Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Declared Homestead

When you say you "lost," do you mean the co-owner obtained an interlocutory judgment of partition, or that there is a final judgment? I'd guess you're at the interlocutory stage, because prior to issuing a final judgment, the court should receive and consider evidence on matters such as reimbursement.

You don't need to feel bad about "losing" at the interlocutory stage, since this is only a determination as to the plaintiff's right to partition, and since there are few defenses, partition is almost always granted.

At the next stage, you must assert your right to reimbursement, and if you have been representing yourself, this might just be the right time to get a lawyer.

Note that judges often assign the fact finding phase of a partition to a referee.

Your equity is protected to a degree, but only the equity you hold of record (or can prove by other legal and equitable theories). Your homestead might affect the apportionment of the net cash left after the partition sale, but figuring out just how much impact there is due to protection of some of your equity under the filed homestead will be a difficult and somewhat technical task.

Note that the homestead protection, if any, will be against third-party creditors and not per se against the co-owner, but even so, you may end up with a bigger slice of the net proceeds as an indirect result of the homestead as well as your right to reimbursement.