Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: interspousal transfer deed

Please note that I can't give you a 100% reliable and personalized answer without asking several more questions to explore possible, but unlikely, side issues that could affect the answer.

In general, however, a house owned by one spouse prior to marriage remains that spouse's separate property after marriage except to the extent that community earnings (or other community funds) are used to reduce the principal balance on a mortgage.

Community earnings would include the salaries of both of you during marriage,

So, it's very significant whether his or your loans during the period of marriage were interest-only, or rapid amortization, or in between.

In sum, you may have given up nothing, or you may have given up close to 50% of the ownership of the house, but more likely a relatively small amount, but something.

Attorneys who practice family law usually will have a computer program that makes calculating a spouse's so-called "pro tanto" interest in otherwise-separate property, into which some community funds have been invested, relatively easy.

Finally, note that the Family Code requires spouses to deal with each other in business and financial matters with the utmost high standards of candor, good faith and honesty. Misrepresenting the effect of a deed could be an innocent mistake, perhaps brought on by misinformation from his loan broker, but more likely is a deliberate and not altogether innocent breach of the duty of openness and fair dealing.