Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Final divorce decrees are supposed to divide the (former) marital property evenly. Each former spouse is supposed to get HALF of the assets and be burdened with HALF of the debts.

You need, first of all, to go back and re-read the property settlement that is either part of your final decree, or is a voluntary contract between the two of you and judicially incorporated into the final decree.

It is very possible that someone is not complying with the marital settlement agreement or the court's decree dividing the assets and liabilities.

As a general proposition, whether in a divorce case or otherwise, one cannot claim "part of the house" without owning some legal or equitable interest in it, and your name being on the mortgage has nothing to do with ownership of a legal or equitable interest. Being liable on a loan is a totally separate deal from being an owner of the collateral for the loan.

It is also possible, especially since there are children, and the divorce decree may require postponement of the sale of the family home. This just reinforces the point that you need to pull out the final decree or marital settlement agreement and see exactly what it says. The judge should not have left anything to doubt.

In the first line of my last paragraph, I meant to write "that the divorce decree...." rather than "....and the divorce decree." Overly hasty in clicking the send button!