Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Can a ex-husband who has no payment on a home, evict the wife who has made all the payments, becuase his name alone is on the bank loan, but both names are on the deed?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Having your name appear on home-loan documents has nothing to do with the right of possession of real property, and hence does not give rise to a right to evict someone else who is in possession. Being a borrower is not synonymous with being an owner. Sure, there is usually a close connection, but the right of possession does not arise out of the duty to make payments. Perhaps the eviction is based upon some other legal principle ...... but even then, co ownership (names on title, rather than "names on deed" is the preferred terminology, by the way) usually (but not always and at all times) implies an equal right to (co-)possession of the entire property, along with all the other co-owners of record.
Co-owners of property cannot use the unlawful detainer procedure that is called eviction in California. Neither co-owner has the right to exclude the other unless the divorce court issues a residence exclusion order as part of a domestic violence restraining order.