Non registered domestic partners in CA - real estate rights

N

Natalia Slastina

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
My ex and I are general partners in a business I started, we lived together for 9 years but were not registered as domestic partners nor married. He bought the house we lived in for 8 years prior (I paid half the rent), and I gave him $$ towards downpayment. The house is in his name. I also invested many hours to help renovate after the purchase. Do I have any rights in regards to the house? thank you!
 
Natalia Slastina said:
My ex and I are general partners in a business I started, we lived together for 9 years but were not registered as domestic partners nor married. He bought the house we lived in for 8 years prior (I paid half the rent), and I gave him $$ towards downpayment. The house is in his name. I also invested many hours to help renovate after the purchase. Do I have any rights in regards to the house? thank you!
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So he bought the house 8 years prior to you moving in? Then what you were paying was rent; he was using the rental income from you to pay his mortgage. Unless of course, as zddoodah points out, you have a contract with him to the contrary.
 
shadowbunny said:
So he bought the house 8 years prior to you moving in? Then what you were paying was rent; he was using the rental income from you to pay his mortgage. Unless of course, as zddoodah points out, you have a contract with him to the contrary.
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No he bought the house 3 years ago, one year before we broke up. We rented it together for 8 years before the purchase, and paid 50/50. I loaned him $ for the downpayment, and after he bought it spent about 2 months renovating.
 
You were paying rent. If you truly "loaned" the money for the down payment, then he needs to repay the loan. Of course, I'm pretty confident that you signed a gift letter with the lender for the down payment, so it's going to be a bit hard for you to argue that it was a loan. In essence, the question is this: Were you lying then or now? (do a web search for "unclean hands")
 
Natalia Slastina said:
I loaned him $ for the downpayment
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You can sue for repayment of the loan (assuming he isn't paying in accordance with the terms of the loan). Do you have a signed, written loan agreement? If not, do you feel confident that your ex will agree with you that the money for the down payment was a loan and not a gift?
 
Your relationship status does not factor in to this. Had you married or registered as domestic partners you would have a different mess on your hands.
As it is you may as well be two strangers with an oral agreement at best.

If you are looking to recover some funds it will most likely happen through an amicable agreement, not by legal action.
 
mightymoose said:
Had you married or registered as domestic partners you would have a different mess on your hands.
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For what it's worth, unless the OP and ex were a gay couple (which doesn't seem to be the case based on the OP's screen name and the reference to the ex as a male) or at least one of them was 62 or older, registered domestic partnership status was never available.

mightymoose said:
If you are looking to recover some funds it will most likely happen through an amicable agreement, not by legal action.
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Concur.
 
mightymoose said:
Hmm... I didn't catch the screen name. Thought it was a same sex couple.
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I don't usually give much thought to screen names, but the OP posted the exact same thing on another site using a different feminine name. That said, my assumption that the OP is a female certainly could be wrong.
 

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