Gifting Money to Buy a Home, then Breaking Up

My question involves a relationship in the state of: Ca

After my mother passed away she left me some money to buy a home. Since I had previously gone bankrupt and could not buy a home in my name, I gifted a large sum of money to my boyfriend of 4 years to purchase a home for the two of us with the intent that we would be together. Two months after moving into the house he broke up with me and is now living there with his new girlfriend. I want to sell the house and get back the money I gifted to him. He is refusing to sell. What are my options?

Apparently, you do not have any. You freely admit the money was a gift.

You need to look up the definition of the word "gift."

if the money was in fact a gift and there was no contract your options will be quite limited.

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What are my options?

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Take this as a lesson learned the hard way and never, ever buy property with someone you're not married to or don't have an explicit contract with.

You GIFTED him the money. That means it's gone. It ceased to be yours when you gave it to him.

If you make an unconditional gift, once you complete your gift the subject matter of the gift (whatever it is you gave away) belongs to the other person. If there are more facts you have not shared which might suggest that this is something other than an unconditional gift, please share them.

Thank you for your response. It was not a conditional gift. I thought I could trust him after 4 years. I thought we were getting married. I thought wrong.

He must be quite an actor....

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Quoting California Civil Code, Sec. 1590.

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Where either party to a contemplated marriage in this State makes a gift of money or property to the other on the basis or assumption that the marriage will take place, in the event that the donee refuses to enter into the marriage as contemplated or that it is given up by mutual consent, the donor may recover such gift or such part of its value as may, under all of the circumstances of the case, be found by a court or jury to be just.

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So... if you believed that marriage was going to occur, and the relationship was broken off by your ex, you can potentially build a case under that statute.

OP, please talk to some attorneys in your area, and see what they have to say. Get a few consultations, tell your story and listen carefully to what they are telling you. You may have some recourse.

Does "assumption of marriage" constitute an engagement? We were not engaged.