separate property

[memyselfandi]

can a person claim separate property reimbursement (for using traceable inheritance distributions to a home) (contributions were made to a joint tenancy titled home) and then when the inheritance is gone and house payments are needing to be made take out multiple HELOCS which paid house payments, property taxes, living expenses etc. and still get to claim all separate property reimbursement?

[Coronita]

Shouldn’t these questions be directed to a divorce attorney?

Seriously, 1 email to your attorney…Maybe $75 for that email.

I don’t think I would trust the opinion/advice on folks on a blog imho especially when it comes to legal matters.

[barnaby33]

Somewhere indexed in the bowels of google, there is an answer. Probably even a good one. It is not here.
Josh

[memyselfandi]

the reason I asked the question here was another topic on this forum was closely related and prompted me to ask the more indepth question.

[memyselfandi]

my attorneys are telling me that the separate property is separate property but the HELOCS are community debt. Just trying to figure out if it is still separate property reimbursement if the HELOCS were used to pay for the house and property taxes. Thanks for any info.

[UCGal]

[quote=memyselfandi]my attorneys are telling me that the separate property is separate property but the HELOCS are community debt. Just trying to figure out if it is still separate property reimbursement if the HELOCS were used to pay for the house and property taxes. Thanks for any info.[/quote]

My understanding (which could be complete crap – so take it with that understanding) is once funds (or debt) is comingled – it’s joint.

So inheritance/separate property – even if joint funds are used on it – is separate. Debt, in both parties names, is joint.

I was told that if a person receives an inheritance, while married, and puts the money in a joint account – it’s now joint property – so half the spouses…. However if it’s kept separate, it stays separate.

Real life example. I inherited some money from my dad. We used it to build a granny flat on our property. I cannot claim the amount put into the granny flat is MINE alone – since it is a jointly owned property. I gave up that separation when I chose to use the money that way.

Yours is kind of the reverse. It sounds like HELOC (joint) funds were used on a separately owned property. That didn’t change the status of the ownership of the separately owned property… and the HELOC is joint debt.

But definitely ask an attorney…

[njtosd]

I don’t know the answer to this question, however, it would be interesting to know who applied for the home equity loan and whether there was any community property left over after the theoretically separate property was removed. If it is spouse 1’s contention that the equity is his/hers, it would not seem that spouse 2 could sign a loan agreement identifying that equity as collateral.

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