Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Unless you have multiple properties that could qualify as your homestead, and you want this particular one to be the designated homestead, there is no point in your filing and therefore no point in your questions, which cannot be answered anyway without more information about any community property interest that may or may not exist in the property.

The basic homestead protection is automatic and does not have to be filed for.

The amount of the homestead exemption is not fixed, and varies depending on the age of the judgment debtor, and family relationship. A judgment debtor may claim a homestead exemption in the amount of $75,000. (Code of Civ. Proc., � 704.730 subd. (a)(1).) If the judgment debtor or his or her spouse who resides in the homestead is, at the time of the attempted sale of the homestead, a member of a family unit, he or she is entitled to an exemption in the amount of $100,000.00. There must be at least one member of the family unit who owns no interest in the homestead or whose only interest in the homestead is a community property interest with the judgment debtor. (Code of Civ. Proc., � 704.730 subd. (a)(2).)

The amount of exemption is increased to $175,000 if the judgment debtor or his or her spouse who resides in the homestead is, at the time of the attempted sale of the homestead: 1) 65 years of age or older; 2) physically or mentally disabled and, as a result of that disability, unable to engage in substantial gainful employment; or 3) 55 years of age or older with a gross annual income of not more than $15,000, or if married, a gross annual income, including the gross annual income of his or her spouse, of not more than $20,000 and the sale is an involuntary sale. (Code of Civ. Proc., � 704.730 subd. (a)(3).)