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BangBros said:
Assume the following:

1) California
2) Man buys home in his name, loan is in his name
3) Man gets married
4) Man refi's home and keeps loan in his name, wife is asked to sign quit claim deed by notary?
5) Man and girl make babies
6) Man dies for whatever reason.

Under these circumstances, who gets the house?  The wife, the kids?  I believe my wife will still get the house regardless... so what is the advantage of her being on the trust deed then?

With a revocable living trust you get to skip the probate process.
 
Although you purchased the home prior to the marriage, the line between separate property and community property can become blurred due to commingling of funds/payments.

"Mixed Community and Separate Property ? Commingling
Sometimes things are part separate property and part community property. This is called ?commingling? because the separate property and community property have become mixed together. When property is a combination of separate or community property, it can get very complicated to figure out how to divide it.

A common situation is when 1 party owned a house before the marriage or domestic partnership and then sold it and used the proceeds as a down payment on another house after getting married, or after registering a domestic partnership. The down payment for this new house would be considered separate property (since the money came from selling a house that 1 person owned before the marriage or partnership). But, if the mortgage payments on the new house are made during the marriage or partnership using the earnings of either 1 of you, the equity (value) resulting from paying down the house loan is community property. The result is that the equity in the house is commingled."  (source: www.http://www.courts.ca.gov/1039.htm)
 
BangBros said:
Thank you.

The original deed of vesting read "my name, a SINGLE MAN".  Then I got married.  The loan processor nor my wife, nor the title company cared that I was now married.  So I refinanced again with the same vesting "my name, a SINGLE MAN" even though now I'm married but I acquired the property before marriage.

Someone told me I should've put "Married man, sole and separate property" but then that would require my wife to sign a quit claim deed.  How was I able to get away with refinancing again as a single man?

You can claim it to be separate all you want, but any appreciation it experienced during your married years is going to be dividable. If you don't want that to be the case, you'll have to have her relinquish any rights to it. However, a quit claim can be revoked in cases of undue influence (a bit of a fuzzy term). Even then, nothing is clear cut. Good luck with this ... if you need relationship advise, Panda gives it out for free.

 
BangBros said:
The original deed of vesting read "my name, a SINGLE MAN".  Then I got married.  The loan processor nor my wife, nor the title company cared that I was now married.  So I refinanced again with the same vesting "my name, a SINGLE MAN" even though now I'm married but I acquired the property before marriage.

Someone told me I should've put "Married man, sole and separate property" but then that would require my wife to sign a quit claim deed.  How was I able to get away with refinancing again as a single man?
This is strange.

When we refi'd the notary was very intentional about making sure that the title had the correct vesting on it.

With the backlash from robo-signing, I'm surprised this did not come up during signatures. Was your wife on the loan?
 
Ahh, so you refi'd without her income.

That makes more sense.

Not sure if they have to change vesting, but maybe SGIP can chime in on if the refi is done without putting the wife on the loan, if it's required on the title.

I recall from long ago that even if a quit claim is signed, that may not guarantee anything (just like prenups can be challenged).

 
As mentioned above, regardless of how title is held and whose names are on the mortgage, the appreciation of the house after marriage is likely community property in CA. Also, every dollar spent upgrading, fixing, and paying the mortgage payment, taxes, etc., is likely community property. "Community property" meaning the non-title spouse has an interest in the property.

The community property issue would be resolved at divorce, if not resolved sooner. Your question was about death. If you die without a will (intestate) in CA, survived by a spouse, I believe your estate goes to your spouse. You would need to draft a valid will before death to dissolve your separate property to someone other than your spouse (kids).
 
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