Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: grant deed with ex-husband

If she is a joint tenant, then she cannot be made to leave. Why wasn't this dealt with in the divorce? She should file for a partition and an injunction preventing him from coming on the property. Contact me directly.

Re: grant deed with ex-husband

First, I have read the two previous answers and do not necessarily agree with them.

I would start by getting a domestic violence restraining order requiring the ex-husband to stay away. This can be done, I'm pretty sure, even though he is a co-owner and entitled to co-possession, because he is not now in possession.

Second, I would advise the lady to go over the economics of the property very carefully - What the property is "worth" has several meanings here. The house might sell for $1 million, and in a sense that's what it's worth, but if there are $800,000 of loans on it, a sale will net less than $200,000 after commissions, and each owner would get half of that! Any reflection on the value of the house should take into account the value of her current possession and occupancy of the property, vs. having to pay rent somewhere else.

I would consider changing the locks after getting the restraining order. This might be an "ouster" - a kind of impermissible interference with a co-owner's right of shared possession - but I think excusable here because he would lose his rights to "visit" due to the restraining order anyway.

The law provides an escape hatch for unhappy co-owners of property through a special kind of lawsuit known as a "partition" suit. A partition suit asks a court to order the property sold and the net proceeds (after paying the costs of sale including commissions, and the liens and mortgages) divided fairly between the former owners.

The starting point for fair division of the net proceeds, when the property was held in joint tenancy, is 50-50. However, the judge or a referee appointed by the judge can alter the split of the cash based upon evidence that one co-owner is entitled to reimbursement for excess outlays for necessary expenditures such as principal and interest, property taxes, insurance and necessary repairs.

Whether the oral agreement between the co-owners would be given much weight in deciding the allocation of the proceeds after a partition is somewhat doubtful, but it might be. On the other hand, neither co-owner is entitled to charge or collect rent from the other, regardless of which lives there and which doesn't.

All in all, this is a rather complex situation, and the relative herself should be seeking legal and real-estate advice from professionals.

Re: grant deed with ex-husband

This can be complicated, but a forced sale of the property seems necessary. If the joint tenants sell the property, they must equally divide the proceeds of the sale. Because disagreement over the disposition of property is common, courts sometimes intervene to divide the property equally among the owners.