Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Lawfully put a name on deed?

First, a minor technical point. You don't add names to deeds. A deed is a single use, one-time instrument used to transfer property, and when signed, delivered and recorded, it's work is done and adding anything to it would be ineffective, a forgery, or both. What you really are asking about is adding someone to TITLE. (By the way, someone can be added to title by means of a deed, but it would be a brand new deed created just for that purpose.)

OK, back to what you need to know about this. The short answer is "possibly."

To start, when couples live together who are neither married to each other nor registered domestic partners, there is no community and no community-property rights or anything similar can arise. Therefore, the ex-girlfriend has no rights in the house arising out of just living there. She probably isn't even a tenant, and therefore probably isn't entitled to a formal eviction process. The ex-boyfriend could presumably just treat har as an unwelcome guest and order to leave, and after reasonable advance notice she'd become a trespasser and perhaps the police would cart her off, although as a practical matter they are usually very reluctant to get involved and would call it a "civil matter" (whether they'd be right about that is doubtful, but just the same it would be difficult to interest the cops in helping).

On the other hand, we can't automatically jump to the conclusion that the ex-girlfriend has no claim on the house whatsoever. If the house was purchased during their relationship, and she made some contribution to the down-payment, she may have a beneficial interest in the house to the extent of her share of that down-payment, including any earnest money deposit and closing costs, but not mortgage payments.

There is also a remote possibility of a valid ownership claim arising if the two of them had a business partnership, even an informal and unwritten one, concerning the house as an investment or fixer-upper deal where each would share in any profit made on a future resale.

I would have to look at the particulars of the relationship to rule in, or rule out, her chances of bringing a successful legal action to get "on title."

So, the lawyer who is advising the lady may be right, or may be blowing smoke, or may have a slim chance, or may not have the foggiest idea what he or she is talking about. If you are a party to this situation I would be willing to review the details for free if you contact me directly.