Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: petition off a deed

Your use of the phrase "soon to be ex husband" suggests that there is a dissolution of marriage proceeding under way. Further, I'm going to guess that this is a "do it yourself" divorce and you don't have a lawyer (otherwise you would ask your lawyer this question, not LawGuru).

The short answer would then be that the ownership, title, etc. of the mobile home is a property-devision issue that should be handled in court or preferably be part of a negotiated settlement between the spouses that is signed and given to the judge as the parties' voluntary marital settlement agreement.

As you probably know, each spouse is entitled to 50% of the community assets and is obliged to take on 50% of the community debts in a divorce property settlement, and each also retains his or her separate property. The exact means of carrying out a split of the assets and liabilities can be ordered by the judge, but it is perferable for the parties to reach an agreement and present the agreement, in a signed writing, to the court for inclusion in the court's decree.

Now, as to the mobile home. It is probably a mixed bag of separate and community property. Let's say it is still worth $54,000, nothing is owed on it, and you made a down payment of $40,000 from money that was indisputably your separate property at the time, but that the $14,000 of principal that was paid off over time came from money you earned while married. Money you earn as wages and salaries during marriage is community property, and every one of those payments you made gave the community a little bitty bit of interest in the mobile home. Finally, after paying it off, the community owned 14/54ths and you owned 40/54ths as separate property. Since you get 1/2 of the community interest in divorce, the final result is that you should get a credit for 47/54ths or $47,000, and your ex's interest in the home is 7/54ths, or $7,000.

So, your right is to ask the judge to award you full ownership, and give your ex $7,000 worth of something else in the property settlement. It's all part of the big picture of dividing community assets and liabilities.

As far as I know (I'm not a divorce lawyer), the issues of whose checks were used and who paid the rent and utilities is immaterial.