Does 8 year boyfriend have claim to girlfriend's house?

Does 8 year boyfriend have claim to girlfriend's house? If he substantially contributed to the mortgage pay down or improvements to the property he may have an equitable lien.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Maria, you're on News 96.5, go ahead.

Maria: I bought a house eight years ago and my boyfriend has moved in with me after that. He's been in the house with me, although the deed and everything is in my name. I have a trust for three children. If something should happen to me, does he have any claim on the house since he's lived there for eight years?

Attorney Tom Olsen: I would say the answer is absolutely not, Maria. Maria, the only way I might change my mind about that would be, let's say for example, that one day he wrote you a check for $50,000 and said, "Here, Maria. Go use it to pay off the mortgage." Or one day he put $50,000 and added a screen room to your house. Those kinds of things might give him a special equity in your home, but just the fact that he's lived there in and of itself is not going to give him any claim to your house.

Maria: All right. He does put money into the house in the sunset repairs, is that a major thing? He does pay for stuff because he lives there. Should I change it?

Attorney Tom Olsen: I agree, but he also should be paying rent. If the value of the rent balances out with what he's paying to do some repairs here and there, that's not going to get him anywhere.

Maria: Okay. He pays the utilities and everything like that, but that doesn't give him claims on the house?

Attorney Tom Olsen: In my opinion, the answer is no, Maria.

Maria: Okay, thank you.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Okay, bye-bye.