Living well is the best revenge.
Bravo to you Cell Guy. Well played.
Anyone else a little worried about Cell Guy? It’s going on four days, and no word.
When you are married she has a right to the accounts. My aunt ,emptied the accounts, sold the boat and spare car before she told my uncle she wanted out. Judge told him, she had a right to sell it.
That is why you put a dead halt on the process immediately. I am sure the home is in both names .
Forget amicable, that is not guiding her. Protect yourself now.
People are egging Cell Guy on, but this type of action is unlikely to end well for him, unless he gets out soon. Likeliest scenario as I see it is that the ex returns and blows a gasket, and then files for a restraining order, alleging violence by Cell Guy.
I say take your stuff and leave. Fight over the assets later.
I’m curious, when you get divorced are you going to sell the house completely and split the money or is she going to buy out your half or have you considered buying out her half?
I’m sure you have a great lawyer, you’re not responsible for any debts she’s incurring until you get divorced, right? You’re legally separated?
No need to worry my friends. I am alive and well.
While it was great to be back in the house I have moved out. It just doesn’t feel like my home anymore and I wasn’t comfortable being there. I have my things and I have no worries that she’ll come after me for taking them because she was there when I took them. Yes, she came back on Sunday. There was no yelling or screaming and things went pretty well. We even made some progress. We sat down and divided up the marital property in the house and I’ve removed my share. We have an inventory of everything that I took that is signed by both us along with a mutual friend who acted like as a third party observer.
Nothing else has changed. She does not want to meet before our court date next week and I’m fine with that. I’m just happy that I got my things back.
You’re doing well, Cell Guy. Hold your head high.
Done and done. A request for her to pay all of my attorney’s costs and fees is in the pre-trial motion.
6 years.
The pre-trial motion asks that she sell the house and any equity be split equally. There won’t be any equity–the house is under water. I cannot afford the house on my own. She can, so I really don’t care if she keeps the house. The important thing is to get my name off the mortgage. If she’s able to do that I will gladly sign a quit claim.
And in case I haven’t said before, Thank You everyone for your concern. It’s trying right now but I know it will eventually be over and I’ll be in a better place when all is said and done.
She will need to get a new mortgage in order for you to get off of the title. That will be tough if the house is under water. There is no way the old mortgage holder will take you off of the loan. It isn’t in their interest to have one fewer person to sue if things go wrong. You should probably stay on title until you are off the hook financially. IANAL but you should probably discuss this with yours.
Wow, sounds like things are shaking out pretty well for ya Cell Guy. I’m sad you can’t stay in the house but the amicable sitting-down-signing for everything sounded really nice and mature. Sounds like you’re headed towards a peaceful resolution.
I agree with this 100%. I just went through this. We were lucky enough to be able to sell the house via short sale. Just remember that removing your name from the title does NOT remove you from financial responsibility for the mortgage. If she wants to keep the house, she needs to refi it in her name only, so that you’re released from liability. And it sounds like that isn’t possible. Make sure you discuss that with your lawyer.
Agreed. Do NOT sign any kind of quitclaim until the house is refinanced. If that’s a problem because of the house being underwater, wife has the option of using her own cash if she wants to keep the house, so that there’s enough equity to refinance.
However, if the place is truly underwater, then Cell Guy is just at much on the hook as the wife is.
Say the mortgage is 200,000 and the value is 160,000. Each of them is underwater by 20K. That has to be accounted for in the division of property - they have 80,000 worth of house apiece, but 100,000 worth of debt apiece, so each needs to chip in 20,000 to make things equal. The divorce lawyers should be up-to-speed on that sort of situation.
In the end, if wife wants to keep the house, do NOT in any way release yourself from ownership until the mortgage is sorted out, otherwise they could come after you for the money.
I wasn’t as clear as I wanted to be in my last post. I meant to say that if she can refinance and get my name off the mortgage I will gladly sign a quit claim. Until that happens I’m not signing a thing. Luckily my lawyer is on top of everything. Without her I don’t know where I’d be right now.
Sounds good - I was a little worried, too, that you were willing to walk away from half a house just to be finished with all this garbage. Go, Cell Guy’s lawyer!
(I think if you walked away from any equity in the house that is due to you, that would be one of your future regrets.)
Cell Guy, you’re my hero. Reading the first page I thought this was going to be another thread where a guy let’s himself get completely whipped by his ex. I was smiling ear to ear when I read about you in your house eating dinner. High five! Good job to your lawyer, too. It’s always great to have someone aggressive in your corner.
The pretrial conference was this morning. Our lawyers met with the judge in chambers and hashed out a settlement proposal which the judge approved. After they met with the judge my lawyer presented it to me. We had discussed what I was looking for earlier this morning so I knew what to expect. I approved the proposal so all we’re waiting on is for the ex to approve it.
Her lawyer acknowledged that it’s going to take some salesmanship to get her to approve it but he thinks she’ll approve it eventually. He did mention to my lawyer and the judge that once the divorce is final she plans on moving to live with Mr. Online. The house will be on the market next week to help get a start on this move. Getting this divorce finalized is the next step.
If the ex approves the proposal I will be in great shape. I gave up some things in the proposal but so will she. In the end I think it’s a very fair and equitable proposal. I’m trying to not get too excited about it since in the past any excitement has been followed by bitter disappointment. Right now I’m keeping a positive outlook and hoping for the best.
Curious how you guys agreed to handle the gap in whatever you sell the house for and what your mortgage balance is? Did you each agree to write a check for the 1/2 that difference (plus commission, etc) or did one of you agree to take that financial hit alone?
I don’t want to get into too many details, but let’s just say that if she agrees to the proposal I wouldn’t have to worry about that issue. As I said before, I gave up some things and she gave up some things. In the end it’s a fair and equitable proposal.
And for those wondering, when I saw my lawyer this morning I heard the theme to “Jaws.” She earned her money today.
Well, good luck in getting a quick and equitable settlement hammered out before the attorneys end up with all the money.
Thanks for the update.