Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
My husband and his imprisoned father bought the Santa Cruz mountain land our home is on in a Joint Tenancy. His father paid almost 50% down payment and my husband paid off the rest of the mortgage last year, and has been paying all of the increasing property taxes over the years. It is rustic land, with no amenities except for what we have been able to afford to pay for out of our pockets. Since we have been married in 2003, I have been in school for a new professional career and this year I have been working on starting and building my business, while my husband has been paying most all our home expenses with his income during this 6 year time. We jointly bring in about 60k a year. I am now beginning to see the results of my professional education, but it is slow going. I owe my husband money I borrowed to complete the expensive program, and we agreed upon debt payment terms, to begin in 2010.
Meanwhile, my husband's income has not been enough to continue to remodel and expand our living space from a 1 room studio cabin, nor improve the rustic home, and I am having doubts about whether we will ever have a finished indoor bathroom! His response is that I now need to "step up" and put in a good amount of money out of my pocket to pay for these improvements, on top of pay back my loan.
Before I started school, I did contribute to the mortgage payments and improvements,and realized, after being separated for 2 years while married, that I would not be able to walk away with anything for my contributions since my name is not on the title. Basically I have no ownership equity or rights, to my knowledge. Furthermore, my father in law refuses to respond to my husband's requests to quitclaim or accept a reasonable offer of buy out, so even if I could afford to pay him off in full, he would not accept.
At this point, with no bathroom, bedroom or real house in sight for years without use of my husband's equity, or without ownership of the property with my name on the title, I need to know what rights I have should we get a divorce. Or stay married, for that matter! Other than wait for another decade to pass for my father in law's death and trust that my husband will then add my name to the title, what can I do to claim any rightful ownership of this beautiful land I've called home for the past 10 years?? And if there is nothing other than to try to get a loan to put in his father's share of the property value, then what do I walk away with should we divorce? Is there any financial security in my putting any money into this property without my name on the title?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I'm not really in a position to give you a complete answer or a recommendation, but here are a couple more pieces to the puzzle:
1. Do you understand joint tenancies? When two people own property as joint tenants, upon the passing of the first to die, the other joint tenant "automatically" succeeds to the interest of the deceased joint tenant. A joint tenancy interest is not inherited or inheritable. Also, a joint tenancy can be broken and turned into a tenancy in common rather easily by either of the joint tenants, without the permission or even the knowledge of the other joint tenant.
2. A spouse may acquire a partial interest in the separate property of the other spouse when community funds are used for principal payments on a loan on the property or to make major improvements. This is called a "pro tanto" interest. Further, the earnings of either spouse during marriage are community funds. Therefore, every principal payment either of you has made on your mortgage has given the marital community, of which you are half, a little sliver of interest in the property. Over time, this could become significant.
3. There is a legal process whereby unhappy co-owners of property can force a sale of the property and a division of the net proceeds after paying off the loan, taxes, selling commission, etc. This is a lawsuit for "partition." Probably not what you want at this point, but keep it in mind.
4. Is there any kind of written agreement between your husband and his father regarding the property?
5. Resolving questions about a spouse's interest does not necessarily have to be in contemplation of divorce.......the issues will arise also upon the death of either spouse, which is a good reason why even happily-married couples should resolve and document their property affairs while alive and well and in charge.
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