Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
joint title on deed
I married a man about 3 years ago and I sold my house and I moved into his house. I was added to his title of his house as Mr & Mrs. joint tenants. Well the honeymoon is over ... lol.. The equity I received from my home I put into our home to fix it up in the amount of over 20K... Now my husband tells me because he bought the house years ago that I have no rights to it. All I want is my $$$$ I put into it and I would be happy to divorce hin and leave. Some people say I have rights to half of the house some people say he is right and to just walk away with nothing and to sigh the quite deed. Please help me. I'am 50 years old and to old to start over ago .. I just want my $$$ so I can buy a small condo and start my life over. Thank you
ps. I'm using my friends email address not my at home.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: joint title on deed
Your husband is wrong.
You may be entitled to some unknown share of the property, including increase in value, if any, since you "bought into it"
Re: joint title on deed
When two people own property as joint tenants, each has a 1/2 interest.
If it were as tenants in common, some other percentage could be possible, but with joint tenancy, each joint tenant holds absolutely the same interest as every other joint tenant.
I agree with Mr. Roth that you should not sign a quitclaim deed or do anything else that might prejudice or compromise your rights; instead, get your own divorce lawyer, and in the process of inverviewing possible lawyers, make sure she or he has some experience in handling real property ownership disputes.
If his equity in his house was worth a lot more than the $20K you put in, he might have had a claim for more than 50% BUT by making you a joint tenant he made you a gift of his excess value and cannot now retract that gift.
Re: joint title on deed
YOu need a divorce lawyer. If you jointly own the house you have a strong argument that 1/2 of the equity is yours. Do not quitclaim the property. Get a lawyer.
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