Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

A living will is something similar to a Health Care Directive in other states.

A living trust is an estate planning device for avoiding probate and will not provide creditor protection or protection in a divorce.

However, if you have never made mortgage payments on this house from community funds (such as your salary), as a gift from your parents it should be your separate property and not subject to division in the divorce. It is worth your while to consult a qualified lawyer who specializes in family law and dissolutions.

Your question is really a family law question and it sounds like you are going through the divorce without an attorney representing you. I would urge you to have an attorney review all of the documentation and facts. I agree with the previous answer. The real issue is whether there is any way that the house can be seen as community property rather than as your sole and separate property. A gift or inheritance would not be community property and if you do not live there, then your parents probably pay for the upkeep (taxes, utilities, etc...). So it doesn't sound like community resources have been used for this asset.

I agree with Ms. Cusack. A living will is a term that lay people use for a health care directive. A health care directive is something that you use to tell your doctors when you want to be resuscitated when you become incapacitated.

A transfer into a living trust is not going to avoid community property issues. Normally, an inheritance that a spouse receives is that spouse's separate property. Problems arise, however, when funds are commingled, title is placed in both spouses' names, or community property is used to reduce mortgage payments or pay for improvements.