If you contributed to your son or daughter’s down payment and your name ended up on the title, you are a co-owner of that property under California law. A partition action is the legal tool that lets you recover your down payment, end your exposure on the property, and get out cleanly when the arrangement no longer works.
You don’t lose your rights as a co-owner just because the property is your child’s primary residence and they make the mortgage payments. California treats title as the deciding factor in ownership. As long as your name is on the title, you have a statutory right to end the co-ownership and recover your financial contribution.
Being on Title Makes You a Co-Owner in a California Partition Action
Record title controls ownership. If your name appears on the title, you are a co-owner of the property. This is true regardless of how much you contributed to the purchase price or whether you have ever occupied or entered the property.
Most parent-child co-ownership arrangements fall into one of two categories:
- Tenancy in common, where each co-owner holds a separate, transferable interest that passes through their estate at death
- Joint tenancy, where ownership passes automatically to the surviving co-owner under the right of survivorship
Which form you have changes your options if the arrangement falls apart, and it matters for estate planning. A Talkov Law attorney reviews the deed to confirm exactly what you signed up for. If the deed does not match what you and your child agreed, it can be corrected. The proof has to show what the two of you agreed, not just what you privately intended, as the California Supreme Court held in Machado v. Machado. In Demetris v. Demetris (1954) 125 Cal.App.2d 440, a father who paid more than half the price had a mistaken joint tenancy deed reformed and was repaid his extra contribution (see our summary of Demetris v. Demetris).
Being on title also comes with exposure you may not have planned for. If your child defaults on the mortgage, the lender’s foreclosure can affect your interest. If the property generates rental income or capital gains, you may owe a share of the tax. These are reasons parents often want a clean exit once the original purpose of the contribution has been served.
Either way, the right to end the co-ownership is the same. Under California Code of Civil Procedure section 872.710(b) (CCP 872.710(b)), partition “shall be as of right unless barred by a valid waiver.” Your child cannot block your exit by refusing to cooperate.
You Can Recover Your Down Payment as an Offset in a California Partition Action
The most common parent concern is recovering the money put in upfront. California law handles this through partition offsets.
California Code of Civil Procedure section 872.140 (CCP 872.140) provides that
The court may, in all cases, order allowance, accounting, contribution, or other compensatory adjustment among the parties according to the principles of equity.
California Code of Civil Procedure 872.140
That language is the statutory hook for partition offsets and accounting.
In practice, the court can credit you for:
- The down payment you contributed at purchase, treated as a capital contribution
- Any mortgage payments you made on the property
- A proportionate share of property taxes and insurance you paid
- Any repairs or capital improvements you funded
Documentation matters. Bank statements, wire transfers, cancelled checks, and the original purchase escrow file all support your offset claims. An experienced partition attorney pulls those records together and presents them to the court as a single accounting at the end of the case.
A California Partition Action Is the Cleanest Way to Get Out and Recover What You’re Owed
When you decide the arrangement is no longer working, a partition action is the cleanest path out.
Under California Code of Civil Procedure section 872.210 (CCP 872.210), any co-owner with a qualifying interest can file. Filing accomplishes three things at once:
- Triggers a lis pendens that clouds title and protects your interest from being transferred without your consent
- Forces a resolution through either a buyout or a partition by sale
- Sets up the accounting under CCP 872.140 so your down payment and other contributions are recovered before any proceeds are split
In a parent-child arrangement, the most common outcome is a buyout. If the child can refinance the property in their sole name, they pay the parent’s contribution at closing and the parent comes off title with their money back. If the child cannot refinance, the property is sold and the proceeds are divided after the parent’s offsets are paid first.
This is especially valuable in intra-family partition situations, where emotions make direct negotiation difficult. The statutory framework gives the family an objective path forward that does not depend on either side capitulating. Compared to letting an informal arrangement deteriorate, the case timeline is predictable and the financial outcome is enforceable.
Protect Your Down Payment with a California Partition Action
You did not gift the property when you helped your child buy it. You bought into it. A California partition action protects the financial contribution you made and gives you a statutory path to recover it when the arrangement no longer works.
Talkov Law can help. With 12 full-time partition attorneys and experience in over 650 partition actions, our team handles every step of the process. Call (877) PARTITION (727-8484) today or contact us online to get started.
