Hi,

A friend is getting a divorce from her wife, and needs to know if her ex has any right to the house.

The house was purchased 4 months ago while they were married. The wife was put on the title, but is not on the mortgage, and has not contributed at all to the downpayment or subsequent mortgage payments.

Now that the wife is making things turn nasty, and my friend would like to know if her ex has any claim to the property. I'm British and have never purchased property anywhere, so I don't know much about the laws at all, although I have been able to find out a bit about California's "community property" laws.

However, I also heard about a "quitclaim deed". Again, I know next to nothing about this, but is it a way that the ex could be made to relinquish any claim to the home, since she has not made any financial contribution?

I don't know if these details are relevant, but it was the wife that presented divorce papers to my friend. The wife was also unfaithful, if that has any bearing. From what I understand, this girl would tell my friend that she wants out, use it as an excuse to sleep around (turns out she wasn't a true lesbian after all... ), and then get back together. My friend called her bluff this time, and now the wife is mad about it and trying to be as difficult as possible.

Finally, does gay marriage matter at all in this case? I know that gay marriage allows fewer rights to the spouses, such as death benefits and things like that. Is there any "loop-hole" here as a result of their sexuality (with regards to the community property laws, or anything else)? I'm wondering if this could be the one case where having fewer rights could be beneficial!

Thanks in advance,

Tom.

The people on the title are the owners of the property.

Is that your question?

They can be married, single, gay, straight.

My friend knows that her spouse's name on the title means that she's co-owner, but is there any way that she can get around this? To all intents and purposes, my friend bought the house herself, but put the wife on the title as a show of "good will". To a lay-person such as myself, it seems obvious that my friend should have the right to the house, but I know that the legal reality is somewhat different.

I should have also mentioned that my friend cannot afford to buy the wife out of her claim, which is what the wife wants. That's why we're looking into the possibility that the one-sided payments may affect the situation.

Gay marriage is a long shot, but it just crossed my mind that perhaps the law was a little different, as it appears to be in some other areas of life.

Once a person is placed on the deed they have ownership of the property. The fact that they may not have contributed anything is immaterial. That would be the mistake of the other party on the deed.

The only way gay marriage comes into play is if there are different rules on community property for gay marriages.

Do you happen to know if there are any?

It doesn't matter. Being on the deed makes community property issues moot.

Ah OK. Thank you both for your help.

Like I said earlier, I have no experience or legal knowledge of this issue so posting here has been a big help, even if it's not what she's going to want to hear!

I love this part of gay marriage, yes, unlike before, where they were just two parties, when they file for divorce, one or either party can file for division of property, not just house, but bank accounts, retirement plans and more. In fact one party can even file for spousal support in the same reasons as men/women relationship.

So yes, they hire an attorney and fight it out in divorce court.

Hi,

A friend is getting a divorce from her wife, ...

So what would the friend be called in this relationship? Husband? Wife (2)? And who gets first dibs on the title "wife"?

As far as I know, they're both "wife". Playing the role of husband doesn't count ;)

Her partner is more femme, but neither is a "bull dyke" by any means.

Some of the actual statue may have to be re-written as these hit courts, but many laws in gay friendly states are doing , man/wife but in filing it is one would be perhaps the respondent.

By the way, what is the quitclaim deed? I'm still waiting to hear back about whether one was signed when they bought the house, but if this is the case, what does it mean? I've heard the term, but know absolutely zero about what they do.

By the way, what is the quitclaim deed? I'm still waiting to hear back about whether one was signed when they bought the house, but if this is the case, what does it mean? I've heard the term, but know absolutely zero about what they do.

They probably received a warranty deed. A quit claim deed means that the grantor (the one selling) doesn't warrant (guarantee) that he/she has good title to the property. Thus quitclaim deeds are usually just used to clear up technical problems in title, and so forth.

Ah. I was kind of hoping it'd be similar to a pre-nup, for example, since the spouse wasn't going to be the one paying anything, perhaps she might have signed something during the purchase to say "in the event of a separation, I give up any claim to ownership of the property". As if anything could be that simple!