Divorce, house, etc (not me) (non aviation)

MarcoDA40

MarcoDA40

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Marco
Completely off-topic but I've got a question:

Husband-Wife have been married 27+ years
Husband gets a mistress in another country
Husband leaves the US to "vacation" for 2 weeks, Wife does some secret agent sh*t and finds out about this other woman and the real reason husband went to another country was to be with mistress.
Husband never came back from vacation, pretty much left wife overnight for mistress. They're still married.
Husband-Wife have a business and a house "together".
Wife finds out both house AND business are BOTH under his name ONLY. She's not included, all the paperwork is his name only.

Question:

What can the wife do? Can she fight for half, or is half already hers by default? Or does she have nothing?
He cheated on her and LEFT THE COUNTRY literally overnight to go live with is mistress.. he left everything behind.. now he wants to return and sell everything and go back to said country.


Can wife fight any of this? What can she do? As it stands now, she has NOTHING and he is threatning to essentially leave her out in the street (he didnt say it like that but thats essentially what would happen)

I'm sorry if i wasnt very clear,

thanks in advance
 
I never understood people who could do something like that.
 
MarcoDA40 said:
Completely off-topic but I've got a question:

Husband-Wife have been married 27+ years
Husband gets a mistress in another country
Husband leaves the US to "vacation" for 2 weeks, Wife does some secret agent sh*t and finds out about this other woman and the real reason husband went to another country was to be with mistress.
Husband never came back from vacation, pretty much left wife overnight for mistress. They're still married.
Husband-Wife have a business and a house "together".
Wife finds out both house AND business are BOTH under his name ONLY. She's not included, all the paperwork is his name only.

Question:

What can the wife do? Can she fight for half, or is half already hers by default? Or does she have nothing?
He cheated on her and LEFT THE COUNTRY literally overnight to go live with is mistress.. he left everything behind.. now he wants to return and sell everything and go back to said country.


Can wife fight any of this? What can she do? As it stands now, she has NOTHING and he is threatning to essentially leave her out in the street (he didnt say it like that but thats essentially what would happen)

I'm sorry if i wasnt very clear,

thanks in advance
Click to expand...


Unless he's done something pretty tricky with his property, I do believe when she sues for divorce she will be able to claim some of what he has gained during the marriage as marital property. She needs a divorce attorney, stat.

If nothing else, she can make it pretty tough on him to sell any real property. That's assuming the property/business is in the U. S.. If it's not, that all depends on the laws of that country.
 
Her strategy will depend on whether her state is a "community property state" or not.
 
I would guess he probably covered his assets before he left. She needs a lawyer to freeze his assets,if it not too late.
 
Also depends on the business. A family friend is a divorce attorney.
He once told me a case that displayed how tricky some people can be. Husband and wife, jointly ran the company, the house and company was in his name.
The company was an insurance brokerage, they had agreements in place for all employees to not be able to steal customers.
Except she was not an employee but an officer in the company. When he announced he was leaving for his mistress, in the space of a week, she created a new company with a new name, moved all the customer contracts using a provision on the contract to the new entity, met with a divorce attorney and filed for injunctions to prevent him from selling the house. Negotiated she would get the house, he could have the company. Signed the divorce agreement within two weeks.
The ex-husband was so busy with his mistress that he did not notice there was nothing left in the company, and ended up with only the cash in the company bank account.

Tim
 
And this, folks, is why I stay as far away from anything resembling family law as possible. Family law disputes make even the nastiest corporate/business disputes seem tame.
 
The wife just now finds out her name isn’t on the house or business?

Did she go to the house closing and sign papers? No? First sign.

Did she sign any of the papers creating the business, i.e. incorporation documents? No? Second sign.

Two signs that she should have seen and recognized but failed to. Sure, hubby is a low life scum but she should have known.
 
She needs a female bulldog lawyer. Once she digs her heels in and wait it out she'll get whatever she wants. If he is smart he'll pay up move on and revel in that fact that that's the best mil or so he ever spent.
 
You really need a lawyer.

The house will depend on whether it was paid for with pre-martial money or not. If the husband owned the house before marriage and had it paid in full, it could be deemed pre-martial property. If it was paid for during marriage, typically the portion that was is split in some manner.

The business is another weird one. Again, it depends on the state, but potentially she could be entitled to earning like any other job even if not ownership of the business itself. It depends on her involvement in the business and the state law in question.

However, as a practical matter a judge has some discretion in many matters and can make things fair within the limits of the law.
 
CC268 said:
I never understood people who could do something like that.
Click to expand...

While on the surface I agree with you, you just never know what life was like for him. I have know a few people, men and women, who I would have applauded for doing just this. Dont know in this case.
 
MarcoDA40 said:
Husband-Wife have been married 27+ years
>snip<
Husband-Wife have a business and a house "together".
Wife finds out both house AND business are BOTH under his name ONLY. She's not included, all the paperwork is his name only.
Click to expand...
In 27+ years she never looked at the paperwork for the house or business they supposedly owned together? I don't think he could have changed the ownership recently without her knowledge and signature.

Agree that she needs a lawyer, and it depends on the state.
 
Mike Smith said:
While on the surface I agree with you, you just never know what life was like for him. I have know a few people, men and women, who I would have applauded for doing just this. Dont know in this case.
Click to expand...

Yea...true. I have friend who’s wife is totally nuts
 
Keep in mind nowhere in here did she really indicate they owned the house together. They "had" it together (could be lived in it together). It is very not-normal for a married person to not have both people on the deed. Many mortgage companies won't even allow it. It could have predated the marriage.

Everskyward said:
In 27+ years she never looked at the paperwork for the house or business they supposedly owned together? I don't think he could have changed the ownership recently without her knowledge and signature.

Agree that she needs a lawyer, and it depends on the state.
Click to expand...
 
Agree with others, depends on the state.

Freeze assets. If he is still out of the country, file for abandonment and have hubby deemed mentally incompetent by a court in absentia.

Didn't happen to me, that happened to a friend of mine that was working out of the country 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off. He was unaware anything was wrong until he came back and tried to use his credit card. Wife took it all to go live with her boy friend. Really bad thing. He eventually beat the incompetent and abandonment part, but during that time he had to borrow money from parents and friends.

Absolutely evil woman. Even his in laws helped him financially and went against their daughter in court.
 
CC268 said:
I never understood people who could do something like that.
Click to expand...
That's cause we don't have pictures of the mistress and DW, the you may understand, just kidding. but I have heard this scenario more than once.
 
She should have him declared dead and then she gets everything (in most states). If that doesn't work she should have all his property declared abandoned to her.
 
pj500 said:
Keep in mind nowhere in here did she really indicate they owned the house together. They "had" it together (could be lived in it together). It is very not-normal for a married person to not have both people on the deed. Many mortgage companies won't even allow it. It could have predated the marriage.
Click to expand...
I don't know how "not normal" it is to have only one person on the title, but to have never seen the deed to something you think you own jointly...?
 
It most frequently happens after marriage with a pre-existing house one person owned partially or in its entirety. There generally isn't many good reasons to add the spouse to the title, unless there's a refinance event or sale/purchase. However, there's no indication in the OP's post that joint ownership was believed. Indeed, they "had" it together (lived in it together?). That's to say I have a rental/vacation home with the spouse, but I know it's hers. She owned it prior to marriage, and still does. I never paid for it.
 
strangebird said:
That's cause we don't have pictures of the mistress and DW, the you may understand, just kidding. but I have heard this scenario more than once.
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It's scary cause this seems to happen on a somewhat frequent basis.
 
She needs to lawyer up, now.

Change the locks, too (that means passwords, bank accounts where possible, credit cards and debit cards can all be cancelled.)
 
Another thing to ponder is his future plans for his mistress and where they plan on living. Does he plan to marry her and bring her to the states? If so, the current wife threatening to drag out the divorce as long a possible would play havoc with the love birds' future plans. Lots of leverage there. I do not believe the mistress would be eligible for a fiance visa as long as the guy is married, no matter if there are divorce proceedings ongoing. Also, any marriage before the divorce is final even if it happens in another country would probably be deemed null and void in the US and could not be used as a basis for immigration. Current wife has some leverage and even a half-assed lawyer would know it. If she doesn't get what she wants, she can just drag it out as long as possible in their state. Future wife might not want to wait it out and will put pressure on hubby to just get it done.
 
pj500 said:
Keep in mind nowhere in here did she really indicate they owned the house together. They "had" it together (could be lived in it together). It is very not-normal for a married person to not have both people on the deed. Many mortgage companies won't even allow it. It could have predated the marriage.
Click to expand...

My wife wasn't on the title to my home until we refinanced here in the past couple of months. Prior to that, she's been living in "our" house since we got married almost 4 years ago. There was no need to add her to the deed as she would have been entitled to half of the equity anyway. Same goes for 2 of the 3 vehicles we own as well as the boat, as they are in my name but only one was purchased prior to marriage. It's isn't abnormal, it's just a function of how assets were purchased. I paid cash for my vehicles, and as such, there is no requirement to add multiple names on the titles.
 
That SC Governor, now a SC US Senator (people actually voted for him again), did that a few years ago. I imagine his wife got her share and more when they divorced. Sanford I think?
 
I 'gave' my wife my Citabria for her birthday a couple years ago. It came with me into the marriage 10 years ago, but it's 'the airplane of her dreams' (that was actually in her match.com profile). In a community property state, who's on the title it just doesn't matter, according to our attorney. :)

That said....divorce sux, and the OP 'mileage may vary'....

Jim
 
My wife wasn't on the title for the house until I added her on during a refinance.

But she is not on the mortgage. So if I default on the mortgage can she be forced out of the house.??
 
Zeldman said:
My wife wasn't on the title for the house until I added her on during a refinance.

But she is not on the mortgage. So if I default on the mortgage can she be forced out of the house.??
Click to expand...

Not enough information to say. In general, if she was added to the title (deed, really, but whatever) after the mortgage was recorded, yes, her interest is subordinate to the mortgage and would be wiped out in a foreclosure. If the mortgage was signed and recorded after she was added to the title, and she isn't a mortgagor, then your lender may have f'd up.
 
Only correct answer for this thread is for the woman to get a lawyer and have a long consult about whether she has a chance of recovery or not.

Let's take it that the guy is a bit of an ass as a given. Okay?
We should also take as a given the woman isn't exactly June Cleaver either. Okay?

So... get them lawyers going!
 
Ravioli said:
Only correct answer for this thread is for the woman to get a lawyer and have a long consult about whether she has a chance of recovery or not.

Let's take it that the guy is a bit of an ass as a given. Okay?
We should also take as a given the woman isn't exactly June Cleaver either. Okay?

So... get them lawyers going!
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Everybody hates lawyers!

Until they need one.
 
DFH65 said:
Not an expert but I believe the answer is it depends on the state. She need a lawyer yesterday.
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yep, and to be clear, the lawyer is to help her get a fair share, not to keep him. his life, if he wants to cash out and start fresh in a new country, let him go. just get a lawyer to write a settlement, sell it all and split the $$ and go on with life
 
Zeldman said:
My wife wasn't on the title for the house until I added her on during a refinance.

But she is not on the mortgage. So if I default on the mortgage can she be forced out of the house.??
Click to expand...
depends on the state, but generally, yes. you secured the debt with the house. there are some weird homestead laws in various states though
 
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