Expert: Cesar - 8/9/2007

Question
QUESTION: Sir, I'm asking this question, because someone mentioned that there was a change in the law in the State of California concerning a "quit claim" that I signed during my marriage of 6 years. My question is, first of all, has there been a change in the laws recently, and second of all, my soon to be ex-wife lied to me and had me sign a quit claim on our home, and her reason was that my credit score and debt to income ratio disqualified our attempts to attain a second on the house for home improvements. I signed the paperwork under diress, as I was recouperating from 4 heart attacks in 2002. Now we're divorcing and she's making every attempt to make sure I'm not entitled to any of the equity in the home. Since our seperation in Dec. 2006, she's extended the HELOC another $20,000.00. I understand that all debts after the date of seperation are hers and hers alone. I want to know if I'm entitled to any of the equity still in the home. We used our last home sale equity to make the down payment on the current home. I was on title on that house for a short period of time, however, she "homesteaded" the home, and from what I understand, that in itself removed me from any rights to the home. I want to know what the laws are concerning the quit claim paperwork I signed, and am I in fact not entitled to any of the equity that's in the home at this time. Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.  Robert D. Hughes

ANSWER: Dear Mr. Robert:

I am not a lawyer and I have not been in the US for the last two months. I do not know if the laws changed in the last two months since I have been out of the country those two months. Maybe by searching over the Internet by using the keywords

1) "Quit claim" and "new law" and California
2) "Quit Claim" and "changes" and law and California

or something like that you will be able to obtain information about that. It is a time consuming search, but you might want to do it. I ran the first query and I chose a lawyer's website who gave information about something else (bankruptcy and divorce). Some of those websites might have some information about different things about your case, but it is very time consuming and it would be very difficult to find answers to all of the details of your case. It will take forever. You might as well try to get some free advice from different lawyers, but in general they do not make themselves available unless they see that you are interested in hiring them, otherwise they will charge a consultation fee. I do not know if you would instead want to talk to advanced law students about your case to save some money. Your case is a somewhat complicated since your wife has been very smart and has done quite a bit about the money that could be obtained from this marriage. She might be mad at you and want to take revenge.

Normally, when a person signs a Quit Claim is giving up all rights. It will be hard to prove that you were misled or what you are pointing out. That could take several court appearances and the use of a lawyer, all of which is very expensive and would take a big bite of the money you might get back if you were to get some of the equity back, but I do not know how much equity you are talking about.

I do not know about the debts in a Heloc being only hers. It seems like you are separated, but have not been officially divorced. If so, you might as well owe that money, but maybe you could claim half of if from hers in the divorce court.

Remember that in California there is the law about equal ownership and you could use that in your favor. You might try to dispute the Quit Claim and try to use the California law about equal ownership in a marriage.

The homestead normally protects the owner from debtors. I doubt that she could use it against you since you are the husband still. It seems strange that she would be able to use it against you after the divorce, but I am not a lawyer. You should ask a lawyer about that.

In any case, I think that you should take action before the divorce is final. Just to have some more tools/power in your favor. Another option is try to avoid, cancel, or delay the divorce if you find out that it would be convenient for you. She might get exasperated and accept better conditions for you. You might ask some money for you otherwise you could threaten her with putting blocks/delays or with cancelling your acceptance to the divorce. If not divorced you will be able to still live in that house and give her a hard time. At some point she might give up some of her rights in exchange for you to allow the divorce to end sooner. I wonder what is the reason for the divorce and if you could try to negotiate things in better terms by using some of the tools at your disposal (like other rights you might have, like in regards to visitation of children, etc.).

There are memberships to legal services that you might consider using. One of them is called Prepaid Legal Services. They provide some advise if you become a member. The membership is not expensive. It is like a membership fee of like $30 and a monthly of $10 to $20. Those lawyers will call you back after their work hours to answer your questions. The give a free one time legal letter and provide some defense appearances in court in civil cases such as yours.

In any case you at least have the right to half of the contents of the house, half of the price of the cars, etc. Make sure that an inventory is made. Also of the money in bank accounts, anything obtained after the marriage. You should mention the Heloc during the divorce hearing and try to get half of it from the sale of the home if it is sold. You might even give her a hard time if she tries to sell the home. Just ask lawyers such as the ones in the AllExperts website for advise. Mention my suggestions and see what they say.

Normally, during a divorce the belongings cannot be sold until the settlement has taken place. But in a separation she has more rights, including getting that Heloc. You also have rights like selling the whole contents of the house and the cars that you can sell without telling her. Then give the money to someone else (I wonder if in a trust) so that she will not be able to claim it from you in court. That is a nasty action, but it will be your payback for her actions against you.

For more information you may call me at:(818) 206-0481. Best if calling after office hours. Mention that you asked me a question at AllExperts.

Best of luck,

Cesar

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your input. The demise of the marriage was infedility on her part. She's angry because I wouldn't stand by and let her carry on like the whore she is. As far as the HELOC, the paperwork says any debts incurred after the date of seperation are the sole debtors and not a part of the settlement. She was a millionare at one time with substantial stock in Broadcom. At one point the stock was a $287.00 a share and split three times during the marriage. She had a significant amount of money, that she's currently trying to hide. I'm asking my attorney to sebponea ALL documents pertaining to her holdings during the marriage. I'm aware that acquiring half the equity from the family home is going to be difficult, because of the "quit claim", however, we spent a lot of money on furniture, appliances, and other ammenities to include a property in Mexico, which I'm demanding half of the purchase price. I know how trivial this sounds, but she tried to keep me from seeing my son of this marriage, and she's doing all she can to hide any and all assets from the marriage, and I want her to pay me dearly, since she had me extricated from the family home with threats of false calls to the police for domestic violence, just to have me arrested, and try and diminish my creditability, and lose my job. That's why I'm not in the home, and she had the nerve to offer me $20,000 to walk away. I warned her while she was cheating on me that her "infidelity is going to get real expensive" and I intend to carry out that threat to the utmost. Wish me luck. THank you again for your time. I'm going to burn her as hard as I can. Robert

Answer
Dear Mr. Robert:

I know of a divorce between a lawyer and a wife. He was making a lot of money and had a lot of assets that he tried to hide from her. It was a divorce that lasted for several years because she knew he hid some money and she kept on trying to get more money than she had already received because she did not get much money out of it. During the later years he asked her to allow him to give her the money when he died since he was pretty old. It looks like she accepted. In his final days he asked for her company since she is a nurse and she did not want to since he had another lady. Anyways, when he died the other lady ended up with the money.

I know that infidelity is a big cause for divorce. I was thinking that the one with the most money were you. Now I understand why she wants to keep you from having any of the money: she wants to keep it for herself and that is normal.

In divorces the worse of each other comes to the surface. It does not need to be that way, but that is what happens.

She will probably try to destroy documents that will affect her, but the records of the stock transactions still remain at the companies where she held the accounts.

Since she is using domestic violence as a weapon then you will have to remain away from her. Not show up at that house. Arrange for visitation legally in a way that is safe for you.

I see that this fight will continue to be ugly. Since both of you are going to get divorced I think that the solution is to first try to arrange for peaceful agreements that will be convenient for both of you. Ask her for her best offer indicating that 20,000 is way too low and that you have the right to half of her assets, but you are willing to accept less: say a third of it, but that if she does not accept then you will go for 50%. You probably know approximately how much she is worth and will know how much she will be willing to offer if she raises the offer. I suggest you to come to an agreable deal that does not involve lawyers because at the end both of you will endup almost broke, you being the fist to go broke. I just remembered that the law says that it is 50% of the assets obtained after the marriage or that get included into the marriage. If she can prove that some of those assets (such as a home) were purchased prior to the marriage then she will be able to exclude them from the list of things that she will have to give you 50%.

I usually go into relationships such as a marriage with the thought that might not last forever. Therefore I do not expect that the other person will love me until I die. There are a lot of temptations out there and being with the same person for a long time might become bothersome and even unbearable. It could have happened the other way: that you were the one cheating, but in this case she was the one. Hardly anyone has the strength to overpower what their heart wants. A person might be married to someone, but could fall in love with someone else without wanting to, or simply is the type of person that does not care for the other and likes to cheat. Once that happens it is best for the marriage to end. Her failure was cheating without ending the relationship she had with you.

I have seen people that cheat throughout the marriage and even have children with other people, but when the spouse cheats get really angry and ask for a divorce as if they had not done themselves.

Think of this marriage as a temporary event that has reached an end. It is time for both of you to go separate ways and have in common the child that will both continue to raise.

Eventually, the little love that you might have for her will diminish enough for you to go into another temporary relationship that hopefully will not end the same way, but be prepared if so happens. Normally, after divorces people take a long time before they are ready for another relationship. That is an effect the divorces cause. In some occasions the divorcees may even think in going back together.

It is a great idea that you get information about her assets. It will help you in your case. If her holdings are much more than the price of the house then you are in great shape even if you do not get anything from the house, but estimate how long can you keep on fighting her in court.

I wish you the best.

Cesar