Divorce in California : Home value divide

This is a very broad response, as I do not know the full facts here but as a general rule, you would keep the appreciated value from between 1999 and 2009. Between 2009 and 2014, your partner contributed to the mortgage payment, upkeep, etc. and consequently, to the increase is value. Your partner has a cash value interest in the home, not a right of ownership of the property. This is often a very complex problem, and it’s likely there will be some need for "tracing" money that came from either your account, your partners account, or a general account owned by the two of you. Usually, the partner that keeps the house must "buy out” the other partner, or sell the entire property to the other partner( who is "buying out" you.) The Court may order the house sold, if one or both partners do not have the money to buy out the other person. DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS YOURSELF. There are formulas and special software to calculate this kind of thing and you might need the services of an outside professional in accounting, etc. This requires an experienced Family Law attorney, as there are large sums of money here to be assigned.

I agree with Attorney Morinelli. The house belongs to you, was purchased as separate property and title remains in your name only. The community does likely have a financial interest in the home (each party with an equal interest in the increase in value caused by community efforts and/or principal pay down on the loan) if community funds were used to pay down the principal on the home's loan and/or for improvements or community labor and effort was used for improvements that caused an increase in the value of the home. There are forensic accountants that work as experts in divorce cases that can calculate the community's interest in the home's increase in value due to community contributions from 2009 to 2014 (since the loan was paid down by $50K arguably from community monies and possibly some increase in value is due to community contributions). Of course, if the loan was an interest only loan or the payments were made from a separate property source (like passive rental income from the home or separate property investments, inheritance, etc.) then the community may not have an interest in the asset. Did the value go up from $350K to $500K due to market conditions only or were their improvements made to the property during the marriage? If the increase in value is only due to market changes and fully passive, then that minimizes the community's potential interest. If their upgrades/improvements made during the marriage with community labor or monies that created the $150K increase in value, then that too would create a potential community interest in the increase in value of the home attributed to those contributions. I recommend you speak with a local and experienced family law attorney and/or a forensic accountant to help you evaluate and calculate any community interest/exposure. Not sure that this helps as much, but at least it gives you some insight on the information you need to gather for a proper analysis and calculation. I know you didn't include reference to any pre-nuptial/premarital agreement, but for anyone reading this BEFORE they marry, a pre-nuptial agreement could have addressed and preserved your home as your separate property and included waivers of any community interest due to payment toward the principal, etc. If you own property or a business or have children from a prior relationship, speak with a family law attorney BEFORE marriage to discuss ways to minimize the issues that arise when and if a marriage ends. If you wait until after the marriage ends, then you still have options and rights, but it does get more complex with Moore-Marsden analysis and 2640 reimbursement claims, and the like. Not impossible, just more complicated.

I don't do calculations on but the general principle is that the house is your separate property but your spouse has gained a community property interest because the mortgage/loan on the house was paid from CP funds. I can't tell you the exact issue here as there might be other credits or reimbursements involved. So any CP interest gained would be divided between the parties.