Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: name off loan

You need to think about what the words "name off loan" really mean. When your name is on a loan, it may signify that you are the debtor or one of several debtors, each of whom is (usually) liable for 100% of the debt, at the option of the creditor. Or, you may be merely a guarantor, liable if the primary obligor defaults.

Soooo, "name off loan" is equivalent to "let me off the hook" as an obligor (debtor). Clearly, the lender has no incentive to do this without something in exchange that gives the lender equal or better assurance that the loan will be paid in timely fashion by a debtor or guarantor.

The right to foreclose on the collateral is usually insufficient. The lender wants people on the hook as well.

Another problem for the lender -- in addition to the loss of a person to look to for payment -- is that rewriting and re-recording a loan may cause that loan to lose priority, i.e. what was once a first deed of trust may become junior (fall to second or third, etc.) as a result of being modified and re-recorded. If there are no other loans or liens against the property, this obstacle can be overcome more easily.

The short list of possibilities to be relieved of liability include (1) paying off the loan; (2) refinancing the loan; and (3) negotiating with the lender for a modification of the loan terms in a way that substitutes some other credit or some additional collateral. If this is a good loan for the lender you can use a possible refi as a bargaining point, even if you probably wouldn't.

(In theory the borrowers could also default on the loan, trigger a foreclosure, and oblige the creditor to take the collateral in satisfaction of the debt, but you certainly don't want that approach.)

As for your marriage, unless your new husband takes some positive step to become liable, this pre-marriage obligation won't be a community obligation.