what does a BK that's off my credit history and a divorce half to do with buying a house back from my father?? Doesn't seem like rocket science to me? I'm trying to avoid attorney's. A mortgage broker I'm consulting with said I just need to be able to qualify for a mortgage and based on my yearly income and being at my current job for 20 years now should be satisfactory along with credit score of 680. This isn't some legal battle where im looking for a victory? I'm not sure what you are referring to about a gift in relation to creditors and ex wife? I just removed my name from the title. Please explain estopped? not sure of that verbage
I know a painter that will say you can paint your house green if you own it. How does that relate to who owns the property? The reason you need an attorney is because you have been peddling baloney for a decade and now you want us to think it prime ribeye. It's not. Since you don't seem to like to answer simple questions, this is probably my last post. I don't know how long it will be, I'll start writing and then stop. I don't know where it will go--an adventure for both.
Father advise me to quit claim the property to him(2004) so he could refi the property(lower rates).
Father was on the original title which made him a co-owner. He did NOT have to be on title because he co-signed, you both just decided to do so. (The reasons could be many. Some nefarious--especially with a person with bad credit.) At this point, look up two legal terms:
1. Quit claim
2. Resulting trust
The legal theory you are grappling with that I have mentioned already is a resulting trust. Father holds the property for you for some reason. There are multiple problems with this. We shall ignore the statute of frauds and the fact you quit claimed 1/2 to father and not the whole property (As dad was already co-owner.) and the problem related to what the purported trust actually holds. We shall only look to the creation of the trust itself. Trusts are old law and there is amazingly little that is needed to create a valid trust. One of the few requirements is it cannot be for an improper or illegal purpose. Here, let me count the ways:
1. California is a community property state. Some of the money paid for the property gave wife either equity ownership (If paid from joint account.) or right or reimbursement (If paid from a separate account with community/earned funds.). I find it unlikely there was a separate account with separate funds that was paying the rent/mortgage/baloney. The divorce should have included this asset. I am uncertain as to if the OP thinks he has a resulting trust for the whole property or just 1/2. Either way, wife had some rights to it.
2. The bankruptcy must include any assets/liabilities the OP owns or is responsible for. Was it included? Were the purported rights in the trust included in the BK? I suspect not. Now, that does not mean the creditors were harmed by the lack of inclusion, it's just that it had to be included.
3. Father treated the whole property as a rental. One does not rent to an owner. The father, if this was a resulting trust, committed tax fraud. He should not have been depreciating the property. He should not have been deducting expenses except for investment interest on schedule A for the 1/2 that he owned. (None if the purported trust is for the whole property.)
Because the OP made legal claims to the reality of the situation in 1 and 2 above, even though the statute of limitations may have run, he would probably be legally estopped (prevented) from making a contrary legal claim now. Something about having cake and eating it too as a legal principal. As to 3, I see no legal way to unwind the situation as father's return may have materially understated and the IRS will be able to go back six years. Again, actual numbers would help. But, even there, tax fraud is an improper purpose. Just as the potential fraud to the divorce or the BK.
Now, about the refinance in father's name, who got the extra money? I don't know if it is that important, it is just one of the fuzzy facts missing.
Some questions to the OP:
1. Who paid the down payment on the house?
2. Were you married when the house was bought?
3. How much of the house do you think you own? Why?
4. How much do you want to borrow to buy the whole/half house now?