Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Property Sale

For starters, there is no "common-law partner" in Caifornia. The way the law stands now, there is either a marriage between a man and a woman or a domestic partnership between same-sex couples.

That being said, there is no community property rights for your situation, unless you fall under one of the above mentioned agreements.

So the first question I have to ask is, how is the property titled? How was the down payment made? Who made/makes the monthly mortgage payments? Please explain what you mean by fairly represent you. If the property is to be sold, I would think your ex-partner would only be interested in the highest return on the roperty as possible. Is this not the case? Do you fear you will not get your fair share of the proceeds?

The reason I ask these questions is because one of you may have more rights in the property than the other. Of course, the fact that the property is in Canada may make for additional problems; I am uncertain if Canadian Laws would superceed US Laws because the real property is located in their country. I'd have to do some research to find out the answer to this one.

It does sound like you are on title ("My partner cannot sell without my signature") so at the very least you have some control over the property's disposition.

Perhaps having the sale run through escrow holding company and making sure the holding company knows exactly what percentage each of you own so the money is fairly split between the two of you.

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Re: Property Sale

First, I don't know what you mean by common-law partner. Nevertheless, you may find someone in Canada whom you trust to act on your behalf, and can provide that person with a power of attorney.