Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Pay it off, or get the other person to refinance in their name only.

The lender probably wouldn't allow one of two co-borrowers to simply bow out of the shared liability. Maybe, if it were your wealthy Uncle Max, but no bank or savings and loan is going to excuse one of two co-borrowers from the duty to re-pay. The only way to cease to be obligated on a loan is to pay off the loan, either with your funds or by having the co-borrower refinance in his/her name alone.

Lenders seldom release a debtor from a mortgage obligation. You can ask, but there is really no benefit to them to release you. Thus the response by Tim is correct. Get the other joint tenant to refinancy or ask the bank to remove you, of get the loan paid off.

The other question is whether your name on the mortgage creates any significant liability. If the loan was non recourse, or if it qualifies as a purchase money mortgage, you may have no personal obligaton anyway.

This gratutious response does not create an attorney client rlationship. The advice provided herein is generic and may not apply to your specific factual circumstances. An attorney client relationship is created only upon execution of an engagement letter hiring me or my firm.

If you signed a promissory note on an existing joint tenancy, then the lender is not going to release you until the property is in the other owner's name and has been refinanced. Even in that situation, the lender may still say no, and be well within their rights to do so.

Nice try. You don't, unless you buy your way out of it with the lender.