Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: What are my rights as a joint owner

You are probably best negotiating a buyout of his share of the property. His debt to you may provide some incentive for him to do so.

The credit card debt is probably not secured to the property now, but if he gets judgments against him for this debt it can be, so you may have incentive for negotiation with him.

As a co-owner, unless you've agreed otherwise, you each have equal right to access the property, so even if the locks were changed, he'd have to have access.

Re: What are my rights as a joint owner

In any situation regarding title to real estate, there is usually enough money at stake to warrant seeing a lawyer, but here are a few pointers.

First, how is title held. You are probably shown as 'tenants in common,' but you might also be joint tenants.

Either way, each of you has an equal right to occupy and possess the property. You can't lock him out, and he can't lock you out. An exception would be if you had a domestic violence restraining order. You might consider this.

Next, remember that ownership and liability on the loan are separate concepts. It appears here that you are co-borrowers as well as co-tenants, but that isn't always the case.

Next, it may be important who made the down payment and whether you had any formal agreement between you regarding the house purchase. You may have superior rights in the house, absent any agreement to the contrary, if you paid more than 1/2 of the down payment.

Next, there is a particular kind of legal action (lawsuit) for use by a co-owner against other co-owner(s) when they can't agree about possession, use, management, etc. of property. It's called a 'partition' action. When brought successfully, the plaintiff can force a sale of the property by a court appointee, after which the net proceeds are divided after paying off the mortgage and other expenses. partition suits are expensive and time-consuming, but most disputes are settled by the parties (through one owner buying out the other or by an agreed-upon sale prior to court order) before trial and court action.

Next, using money given to you for a particular purpose for some other purpose can be embezzlement, and is probably fraud, and you might want to consult a lawyer about the latter and mabe the district attorney about the former. The bounced check is also a matter for the D.A.; most counties have a special detail or procedure to handle bad-check prosecutions under Penal Code section 476a.

You should be aware of possible threats to your credit from unpaid property taxes and utility bills as well as the mortgage. Make sure the property insurance is paid up.

Check with the credit reporting bureaus from time to time to make sure there is no incorrect unfavorable information on your record.

Although using the equity in the house to obtain credit would theoretically require both owners to sign, at least with reputable lenders, there is always the possibility that someone this unscrupulous will forge your signature, deed a 1/4 interest to his new girlfriend, etc., so you should make periodic checks of the recorder's office to look for new liens, deeds, etc. If you file a partition suit, your attorney can file and record a 'lis pendens' (notice of pendency of litigation) that helps to protect your interest by giving notice to the world that some aspect of title or possession is contested.

Re: What are my rights as a joint owner

I assume you are tenant's in common or joint tenants. You will need to partition the property, i.e. force a sale to a third party (which can be you) or force him to sell his interest to you. Any judgments against him recorded in the county in which the property is situated become a lien on the property. You had better act to protect yourself.

You probably will be best served with the assistance of a lawyer. You can contact us if you wish us to be of assistance to you.