Am I allowed to have any of our property?

My husband of 4 years and I are divorcing. My job has required me to travel for the last 2-3 years. That, and the last time I was "home", I found my self in the middle of our bedroom floor in a chokehold- so, no, I have not lived there since May 07. He claims that I have made no contributions to the property that we bought 3 months after we married. I am not on the mortgage, but I am on the deed. It was his choice that I not give him any money towards the house or utilities. However, I did carry him on my benefits throught my job, ie health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance and pretax medical spending account. He is self employed, so we also pay all the income taxes for him as well. I had 500.00/ month extra deducted from my pay to help offset some of that expense as well as using all of the travel tax deductions from my job, which were considerably more than his. I also found out that he had refinanced the house without my knowlege and is now claiming that the value of the property has gone down over 25% since we bought the house 4 years ago, 
but he refuses to produce the recent appraisal. 

While I was living there, I was continually verbally and emotionally abused, isolated from my friends and my children and on two occasions, physically abused- I left him after the second incident. I cannot afford to retain an attorney, nor can I afford to travel from where I now live back to Missouri to contest his proposed settlement. Is there anyone who can direct me?

Well in a sense you cannot afford not to use some legal backup.

Why do you assume his views of anything are correct. If you are on deed you have a presumption of owning a share--BYW is it TIC or JWROS or TBE as to deed? Did you know that if its JWROS you can most likley unilaterally convert it to TIC which creates a 50/50 presumption and sell your 50% to the big biker down the street or merely rent it out?

So why do you allow your share of home to go to waste?

It may be that your share in the  home is worth MORE than his share if it is true that as you post it you rshare is NOT encumbered but his share is.

BTW wwhat do you think home is worth at a open sale value?

Why when he assaulted you did you not press criminal charges?

What is this dude going to put into the pot as to child support. If he is self employed that leaves a lot of room as to creative accounting as to his income? Or does he expect you to pay him CS?

bowzerkitty63:

I am on the deed.

That's your biggest leverage.

He can't sell the house without your signature so your signature is potentially worth a lot of money, no matter what he tells you.

bowzerkitty63:

I also found out that he had refinanced the house without my knowlege

Can't imagine how any mortgage company would allow that without your signature.

I suggest you visit the county recorder's website where the property is located and run a search for recorded documents in your name and his and see if you can figure out what happened. You might be able to view and print out the documents on your computer. If not, you can order them for a few bucks.

bowzerkitty63:

is now claiming that the value of the property has gone down over 25% since we bought the house 4 years ago,

Unfortunately, that's probably true, as it is all over the country.

Check out http://www.zillow.com/ and put in the address of your house. It'll bring up an estimated current market value along with approximate values of other nearby homes as well as recent sales in the neighborhood.

bowzerkitty63:

I was continually verbally and emotionally abused, isolated from my friends and my children and on two occasions, physically abused- I left him after the second incident.

If you never called the police and you never got counselling for battered women, you would probably have a hard time proving the abuse (unless you had witnesses).

bowzerkitty63:

I cannot afford to retain an attorney,

You can't afford not to have an attorney.

If you don't get some sort of legal help, you end up with nothing.

I suggest you contact some attorneys where you used to live in Missouri and see what they can arrange about money.

You can also contact the people at the following website and see what kind of help you can get:

http://www.laawstl.org/

There also appear to be many other resources for victims of domestic abuse in Missouri:

http://www.google.com/...=

What do TIC, JWROS and TBE mean?

As far as not pressing criminal charges- kinda hard when he was a cop for 18 years, and you are scared to death of him, and you still love him and think he will change. Not to mention the absolute shock that it even happened. I did get counselling within a couple of months after it happened. I also know that he confided with at least 2 other men that he had hurt me.

 As far as child support- gotta have kids with the guy to get support. The children I was referring to are the children that I had from a previous marriage.

 As far as the value of the property- when we bought it it appraised at 130,000.  We cleaned up the tornado damage, put the original, non-damaged part of the house on a foundation (it had just been sitting on wooden piers on the ground), we also put the outdoor wood burning furnace on a concrete foundation- it had also been on the ground. We made improvements to the interior of the house and enlarged the lagoon. We also built a cabin on the bank of the creek and built a 350- 400 yd shooting range. Now he says that the house and 16 acres are only worth 115,000. I have trouble believing this. I want proof- proof he doesn't want to show me.

As to the abuse-

 My kids witnessed it and were victims themselves. I also know - from his mouth- that he confided in at least 2 of our friends that he had hurt me- as a guise of getting help. I did also receive counselling shortly after the  last incident.

Is it possible that he could have refinanced without me since I was not on the original mortgage?

"TIC" is tenants in common; "JWROS" is jointly with right of survivorship and "TBE" is tenants by the entirety.

Oh, thank you.

 It is owned jointly with right of survivorship.

You should have your own appraisal done.

How about this for a view of your interest in the home--as a male and/or  as a cop he is likely to die before you do, if he dies before you do you get the home free and clear in your name alone--now whats that worth?

If you do a one sided flip of the title (without his consent) into a tenant in common situation (mechanics vary by state but its not hard) then your presumed share is 50% and your share is free and clear of his debt--now whats that worth?

Hint if the home is worth say 140,000 and only his share is encumbered then in an economic sense  your  share looks like $70,000? (Now true , most folks don't  want 1/2 a home--but then again if he has a bimbo there she may not like presence of 3 snakecharmers who come to use your 1/2 )

Its a bit unusual that a lender would go along not once but twice w/o your signature on note--and it would not be safe to rule out that your signature was forged. I think you want to get copies of the deed and both notes--they are public records at courthouse  --and any friend in area  or copy service for legal docuements can get them for you for a modest cost--

He need NOT share his recent appraisal with you and for that matter I'd NOT trust any appraisal he uses now ---my guess is I can swing the appraisal value on a home in my area by  40% either way by careful selection of buddy to do the appraisals . And if you bought the property when it was distressed and you repaired /improved a lot of stuff  I suspect it may be worth a decent amount MORE in any case even in a down market  . And as an aside, to get the refinance I'll bet hubby stated or an appraisal was made to induce the mortgage showing a HIGH value --and were your  attorney to compel production of the recent mortgage application I'll bet that information comes out of woodwork!

My experience is Zillow can be way off if local sales or assessments are wacky and in my county local assessments are way wacky in many cases--way high or way low --a useful starting point but not necessarily final answer.

.

Attorney consultations are apr $100-200.  I don't think you can afford NOT to talk with one.

Thanks Aduster Jack!

You've actually provided some really good advice that I could use....:)