Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Real Estate

I have many questions before I could render a full answer to your question. Yes you can be sued, nothing prevents someone from suing you!! Hopefully you reduced your agreement with your co-owner to writing. Even if you did not, you could prove in Court that you had an agreement by the fact that you paid the downpayment. It appears your co-owner wants to encumber the home, You do not have to sign anything that you do not want to sign, let that person encumber their portion of the home!!

Re: Real Estate

First, you can't be forced to sign anything, and if you did sign something under threat, duress, compulsion, etc. it would be void. However, you would have to prove that you were "forced" to sign in defense of any lawsuit over the document.

Whose name is on the mortgage? If both, does the note read "I promise to pay......" or "We promise to pay......?" Whose signatures appear on the note and the deed of trust? The answers to these and similar questions will determine which of you, or both, is liable for half, or perhaps all, the mortgage payments.

How is title to the property held? Are you joint tenants or tenants in common? Do you have a written or oral agreement of any kind describing the rights and obligations of each? If it is oral, what kind of proof do you have of the agreement's existence and its terms? These and other similar questions will determine the outcome of any lawsuit over ownership of the property.

There is a doctrine called "purchase money resulting trust" that gives some legal power to the person who provides the down-payment money and/or whose credit is relied upon by a lender when two unrelated people become co-owners of property.

You can be sued for back payments, but the other party won't necessarily win; you may have good defenses such as your agreements to share expenses and the statute of limitations. If you are sued or threatened with suit, see a lawyer immediately. The issues are complex and will only get worse if you ignore them or apply home remedies.