About Equality in Marriage Institute Expertise As a non profit organization commited to assisting and supporting men and women through their divorce transition, we will answer any questions -from how to get yourself on your feet after being served with divorce papers, questions to ask your lawyer, how to appeal or modify your judgement and the different ways to end your marriage to how to empower and care for yourself, the benefits of joining a support group and how to manage your divorce process. Please note that we are not lawyers, financial advisors or therapists. The information given is intended to provide you with direction towards resources, websites, and answers that can help you through your transition.
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Expert: Equality in Marriage Institute - 5/17/2006
Question My husband filed for Divorce in Arizona after 27 years, community property state. We had been having problems for quite a few years. Without my knowledge, very valuable classic restored vehicles that were at one time or another within the timeframe of our marriage, these vehicles were title to him or myself. He moved 2 cars worth 5 figures from our house while I was out of state and now they are invisible and in my in-laws names. As are a couple of other less valuable vehicles. He says he signed them over to them for debts we owed. He has had them, always at oure house, where he put considerably money into the restoration of these vehicles, engines, upholstery etc. I have felt perhaps now that I need to run MVD reports on every vehicle we ever owned to prove what was in our names and then transferred out, but am getting quoted big bucks to do this. To add fuel, my husband and I used our employment and credit background to assist his parents in buying their house in 1988. The house deed was in his and my name until 1997 and then the mortgage went out of our name in 2003. Do I have a legal right to my in-laws house? How can I prove this? We both have attorneys and I have to say that we are at a stand still. His attorney won't address the vehicle ownership issues and this will block further mediation as this is 5 figures worth of an issue. I have exclusive use of the home and he is refusing to pay any of the mortgage or upkeep at this point. I won't be able to hold on much longer, unless my son who is on the Dean's list stops his ASU education and goes to school, tragic at this point. I am filing for spousal maintenance, but don't know how often that is awarded. My husband also submitted a divorce property list that seems to show most of our furniture and personal belongings as being gifts from his parents or his sole and separate property. He took off with considerable tools, guitars, sound equipment, generator, compressors, etc while I attended my grandfather's funeral. Are these vehicles something that are covered under community property laws and don't need to be litigated unnecessarily? Where can I get MVD history/ownership records without paying a fortune? Those records disappeared from house? What would my claim to my in-laws house be if my name was originally on the mortgage and deed, but not anymore. I think when my husband thought things were going bad he started transferring titles and advised his parent's to get our names off of their house. Help
Answer Dear Marcie,
It is certainly not uncommon for assets to "vanish" when one spouse wants a divorce. Unfortunately you are now facing this issue and it doesn't come free. I'll do my best to address each of questions:
1. Spousal Maintenance is dependent on several factors, your age, your work history, your "market value", the length of marriage, etc. Checkout equalityinmarriage.org's page on "Alimony" in their When Divorcing section.
2. The house that is now deeded to your in laws. I'm not a lawyer so I cannot say for sure, but it doesn't look promising if your name is no longer on any documentation.
3. The cars- Perhaps this one needs to go to judge, if you are not able to come up with some other tradeoff of assets. I do not know of any inexpensive way to prove title transfers.
4. When it comes to property such as furniture and such. If you have any receipts, credit card or other wise showing your name you'll want to get those together.
5. One of the best places to read the laws of your state surrounding marital property and alimony is your state's legislative website. Use google and search under "Domestic Relations Statutes + name of your state" They should appear.
