Every Rule Here Is Quoted, Dated, and Followed by What We Left Out
Program and regulatory figures verified October 10, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
The sourcing rules are the product here. If a rule is on this site we read it somewhere we can name; if we could not, it is in the omissions list.
Who you reach
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. Direct: (480) 296-6513 · mcerto@cfmtg.com.
★★ We are a lender. We are not a law firm, we do not represent any party to a dissolution, we make no attorney referrals, and we take no position on how property should be divided. We are not affiliated with any California court, county assessor, or government agency.
★ Where every rule comes from
| Claim | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| ★★★ A buyout is a limited cash-out; the 12-month condition; the written agreement; 1%/$2,000 cash back | Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★ "No waiting period" when legally awarded; seasoning disapplied when buying out a co-owner | Selling Guide B2-1.3-03 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★ Support as income: six-month history, three-year continuance, lump sums excluded | Selling Guide B3-3.4-02 (dated 07/10/2026) | 2026-10-10 |
| Support as an obligation | Selling Guide B3-6-05 (dated 05/08/2026) | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★★ Interspousal transfers excluded from change of ownership | Rev. & Tax. Code § 63 | 2026-10-10 |
| Community property; equal division; joint-form presumption | Fam. Code § 760, Fam. Code § 2550, Fam. Code § 2581 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★★ Reimbursement "without interest or adjustment" | Fam. Code § 2640 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★★ Davis and Norviel abrogated by name | Fam. Code § 70 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★ Nine limits across 58 counties | FHFA conforming-loan-limit data county file, parsed | 2026-10-10 |
| 34 metros, 19 up / 15 down | Zillow ZHVI metro file, Aug 2026, parsed | 2026-10-10 |
★★★ Why we cite a mirror for California law, and say so
On 2026-10-10 we fetched California's own code site, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, with an ordinary browser user-agent and with crawler user-agents. Every one returned HTTP 403. law.justia.com returned 403 as well.
★★★ California publishes its statutes where neither a reader's tools nor an AI answer engine can fetch them. That is a genuine problem for anyone trying to verify a legal claim online, and it is why so much California content is unsourced.
★★ We therefore quote california.public.law, which prints the verbatim section, links back to leginfo as its source, and carries its own verification date. We would rather cite a readable mirror and label it than cite an official URL that fails for every reader. Every quotation on this site can be checked.
★★ What we deliberately did not publish
- ★★ No rates, no APRs, no payment figures, anywhere.
- ★★★ No legal advice and no division outcome. We quote statutes; we do not tell anyone what their settlement should be, what is community in their case, or how a court would rule.
- ★★★ No Moore/Marsden apportionment, Epstein credits or Watts charges. They are real and relevant, and they are case law we did not read at a primary source this pass. Naming a case from memory is how wrong citations get published, so we name none.
- ★★ Nothing about Proposition 19. Different statute, different rules. Not read, not approximated.
- ★★ No claim that § 63 requires no filing with your county assessor. The statute states an exclusion; assessors administer it. Ask them.
- ★ No jumbo pricing, reserves or loan-to-value figures. Those are investor overlays, not published in one public guide, and anyone stating them as general facts is describing one investor on one day.
- ★ No county property-tax rates or dollar savings: local and unread.
- ★★ No forecast of California prices. The market page describes the twelve months to August 2026.
- ★★ No attorney referrals and no attorney directory. Including on the page written for attorneys
★ That list is the point. A site with no omissions list has either read everything or quietly filled the gaps.
★ One honest caveat about agency rules
Everything quoted from the Selling Guide was read on 2026-10-10. Fannie Mae updates it regularly — B3-3.4-02 carried a date of 7 October 2026 when we read it, three days earlier. ★★ Individual lenders also apply overlays on top. So treat these as the agency baseline on a dated day, and confirm against your own file.
Related sites
We publish state-specific divorce-mortgage guides because property-division law, reassessment rules and loan limits differ by state. Arizona Divorce Mortgage covers another community-property state; Texas Divorce Mortgage covers one with very different home-equity rules.
Compliance
This is not a commitment to lend. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification. Equal Housing Lender. Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. Mike Certo, NMLS #260555.
Corporate: Cornerstone First Mortgage, Inc., 2650 Camino del Rio N, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92108.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs California Divorce Mortgage?
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We are a lender. We are not a law firm, do not represent any party to a dissolution, make no attorney referrals, and take no position on how property should be divided.Where do the rules on this site come from?
Agency requirements are quoted from the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, principally B2-1.3-02, B2-1.3-03, B3-3.4-02 and B3-6-05, each read on 10 October 2026. California law is quoted from Revenue and Taxation Code section 63 and Family Code sections 70, 760, 2550, 2581 and 2640. Loan limits come from the parsed FHFA 2026 county file.Why does this site quote a mirror of the California codes?
Because California's own site, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, returned HTTP 403 to every user-agent we tried on 10 October 2026, including an ordinary browser, and law.justia.com returned 403 as well. We quote california.public.law, which prints the verbatim section, links back to leginfo and carries its own verification date.Why doesn't this site discuss Moore/Marsden, Epstein credits or Watts charges?
Because they are case law we did not read at a primary source on this pass. Naming a case from memory is how wrong citations get published, so we name none and say so rather than approximating.Does this site publish mortgage rates?
No. There are no interest rates, APRs, payment figures or payment examples anywhere on this site.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about mortgage financing during and after a divorce. Not a loan commitment, and not legal, tax or financial advice. Cornerstone First Mortgage is a lender; it is not a law firm, does not represent any party to a dissolution, does not make attorney referrals, and takes no position on how property should be divided. California property-division rules are set by the Family Code and applied by the courts; the reassessment exclusion in Revenue and Taxation Code section 63 is administered by county assessors. Agency requirements described here are Fannie Mae Selling Guide provisions current as of the date shown and are subject to change and to lender overlays. Housing market figures describe the twelve months to August 2026 and are not a forecast. All loans are subject to borrower, property and program qualification.