"HOMESTEADING" A HOUSE

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ILLUSTRATIONS: DAVE KLUG

A little-known exemption could keep your home out of creditors' hands. — By Jean Vernon

Q: My husband has asked me to research the law to find out how to "homestead" our house. He says this is a procedure where by you make your home safe from seizure as part of your assets, as in a court judgment, for example. In searching law web sites and even the law library I found nothing under this heading. Have you heard of this? Is it called by another name? Do you know anything about it? Where I can get information about it?

—Jean Damon
McKinleyville, CA

A. It is no wonder you are having difficulty obtaining information on the homestead exemption. California does not have a legislative phone number for citizen information on civil laws, at least that I could find.

The homestead exemption was enacted by many states to protect the family home against being sold by creditors. State laws differ, but all essentially set a monetary amount that a family will retain after the home is sold to repay debt. Naturally if the debt is less than the homestead exemption the creditor probably can't force the sale of the home. Most states limit this action to unsecured creditors; secured creditors, like mortgage holders, still have rights to the property as provided for by law. In some states the homestead must be filed with the county. Elsewhere it is an automatic exemption. Every few years most legislatures raise the homestead exemption amount to reflect current economic conditions.

The homestead exemption laws are complicated. You may call the California Association of Realtors at (916)444-2045 and ask their legal department for information on the subject, or try their web site: http://www.car.org . Go into the legal section, where there will be questions and answers regarding the homestead exemption. Your own legislator's office may be able to provide you with copies of the civil law for the homestead exemption. Good luck.

Hello Jean l have a situation where I share an easement road with my neighbor to the south. My lot is #3, his lot is #2. The easement is actually owned by the neighbor to the east. There is a Declaration of Covenant which states "Any owner or subsequent purchaser of lots 2 and 3 shall bear the responsibility for 50% of the financing, construction and maintenance of such private road contained within the above referenced short plat .... Owners of lots 2 and 3 within the above referenced short plat, who are served by such private road, may sue and recover from any owner of any lot within the short plat (lots 2 & 3) which is similarly served who refuses to participate in the road construction, financing and maintenance. Such owners who refuse to share the costs under the percentage set forth above shall be liable for any damages resulting from such refusal, plus costs of suit and reasonable attorneys fees."