Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Marriage does not automatically convert everything each spouse owns to community property. Only income during the marriage and assets acquired with it, or assets intentionally or sometimes accidentally converted, are community property. the community may also obtain a reimbursement interest in separate property. A good example of that is when community property income is used to pay down the principle on a mortgage on separate property, but maintenance, interest and other expenses do not, only things that increase the net value of the separate property. Under that rule, your spouse has probably obtained a community property reimbursement interest in your home, but not a community property ownership interest. If you both need to be on title to qualify for the loan, you have to decide if you want to make a gift to her of 1/2 your equity in the home. If so, you should be able to do that and put her on record title as part of the escrow for the refinance. The loan documents you sign should just include a deed from [you], a married person who acquired title as an unmarried person, to [you] a married person and [her] a married person as community property [or as joint tenants, which might be preferable for estate planning purposes]. That deed is then recorded just before the new deed of trust securing the loan. If you do not want to make a gift of your separate property equity, then it gets a little more complicated. You would need an attorney to draw up a post-nuptial agreement that the property would be placed in community property title for financing only, and in the event of death or divorce she agrees to quitclaim title back to you or your estate without compensation. You would best use an attorney for that.