Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Quit Deed by spouse

The first set of facts a lawyer would need to begin to answer your question is the source(s) and relative amounts of the money used for the down payment when you bought the house.

Second, it would be useful to know if there were any discussions between you as to whether any of the money either contributed to the down payment was intended, at the time, to be a gift to the other.

Third, during the time you had the initial loan, how was it paid (from the earnings of either or both of you, I presume), and how much of the loan payment represented equity reduction vs. interest.

If all the down payment came from your husband, no gift was intended, and the loan was interest only, I'd say you had zero interest in the house at the time you quitclaimed it to enable the refinancing.

If, on the other hand, you provided some or all of the down payment, and/or a lot of principal reduction occurred due to loan payments made with community funds (your earnings and his earnings would both be community funds), then you had some legal or equitable interest in the house, even if you weren't "on title."

The effect of the quitclaim is to re-set the ownership percentages at him-100%, you-0%. From this point forward, house payments from your earnings or his earnings (it doesn't matter which) will, to the extent the payments are principal reductions (equity) and not interest, begin to re-establish a community interest in the house. This interest will grow very gradually.

In a perfect world, your husband probably should deed the house from himself to the two of you as tenants in common; this would assure than 1/2 of the value would go to the heirs each of you select. Joint tenancy or community property are less acceptable, but better than his separate property (from your point of view).

Even better, have an estate-planning attorney draw up a trust or trusts to covery your situation and desires. Your situation (separate prior families) is not the most common, but it's sufficiently common that any attorney who does trusts for a living will have the documents you need in his word processor.