Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Who owns house after divorce

You would not be required to "give half" of the house to your husband. However, in the event of a divorce your new husband would be entitled to reimbursement for any contributions made by the community to the house. This would include all payments made to satisfy the mortgage(s) on the house made from community property funds, maintenance costs paid with community property funds, etc.

If you were to die and title to the home were still in your name alone, and you had no will or trust, your new husband would likely be entitled to an undivided one-half interest in the property, while your children would share an undivided one-half interest.

Re: Who owns house after divorce

To the extent community funds are used to make payments on the equity portion of a mortgage on your separate property (the house you mention), the marital community acquires a so-called "pro tanto" interest in the house. This would be very tiny at first, but as the years went by, the community interest could become quite significant. Of course, you are 1/2 of the community, so your total interest (separate property + 1/2 the community property) would never be less than 50% even when the mortgage was fully paid off. This is called the Moore-Marsden Rule after two famous California cases in which the principle was expounded, developed and applied.

In your will or trust, you can dispose of all your separate property and your 1/2 of the community property as you wish; you cannot direct the disposition of a spouse's 1/2 interest in community property.