Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: How much is she entitled too?

You seem to have made a mistake and now are in a tough spot. The law recognizes gifts, and under most circumstances a properly-made gift conveys good title and cannot be revoked.

I assume from the facts you give that the 'putting on deed' was done by a written instrument which was notarized and recorded.

Your co-owner may be either a joint tenant or a tenant in common. Either way, she has the same rights you have to occupy the property. Specifically, each of you, for the time being at least, has the right to possess the entire property along with the other. A possible exception is that you might be able to obtain a domestic violence stay-away order.

There are at least two possible rays of hope here, possibly more. One is if you had any kind of understanding, hopefully in writing, that you could have the property back if she ever left you. Since you don't mention it, it probably doesn't exist. The other would be fraud, i.e. did you make the gift in justifiable reliance on her representations, which were untrue at the time made and intended to induce the gift?

If for any reason you could disprove a gift, either because of a contract or fraud, it would be relatively easy to convince a court to set aside or modify the deed.

Next, even if you can't reclaim the half interest in the house, you may have a 'Marvin' or 'palimony' type action for restitution of the benefits you conferred on this lady. You might be able to recover some of the payments, implied rental value, etc. on the theory that there was an understanding to share expenses and she hasn't paid her share. Of course, the actual facts would have to be reviewed carefully to see what the understanding was and what can be proven to a court.

Finally, the way to unwind unhappy co-ownership situations is through a so-called partition action. This type of lawsuit asks the court to order a property divided, or more often these days, sold and the net proceeds divided. The division is not necessarily 50-50 and can reflect the equities of the situation between the co-owners.

A careful professional analysis of your facts is recommended, as you seem to face an uphill battle to un-do this situation.

Re: How much is she entitled too?

If you can't negotiate something with her, you'll need to file a partition action, likely. This would force a sale of the house and the money you've paid for upkeep, maintenance and payments would likely be taken into consideration.

All this is required because you've added her name to the deed, which is a gift, and gifts can't be undone unless the giftee obliges.

In the future, see an attorney before making this kind of gift--there are other ways to show your love and protect your interests.