3 replies to this topic

[MistyB_8337]

My husband and I were married in July 2004. At the beginning of our marriage we bought 14.57 acres of property, with a down payment of approximately $10,500 in which he paid $5,000 and I sold stock and used the money to pay the remainder. One year later he had an auto accident and was confined to the home for a period of 8 months, I took care of him. He went back to work and eventually the case was settled. He gave me the check to deposit into my personal bank account and we decided I was to get a cashier's check in the amount to pay off the property, which I did. Now my question is, after 8 years of sporadic domestic violence, I have filed my second EPO on him and am contemplating divorce and am also wondering if I am entitled to a portion of the value of the land.

[adjusterjack]

The simple answer is that you probably have a marital interest in the value of the property.

How much depends on a variety of factors, not the least of which is whether you are in a community property state or not, how much of the settlement was based on income as opposed to medical, whether an issue can be made of commingling of funds, and how you agree to divide other assets and debts.

In other words, you will probably need a good divorce lawyer to protect whatever interests you might have.

[pg1067]

My husband and I were married in July 2004. At the beginning of our marriage we bought 14.57 acres of property, with a down payment of approximately $10,500 in which he paid $5,000 and I sold stock and used the money to pay the remainder.

What was the source of the money that "he paid"? Did you own any or all of the stock that you used for the down payment prior to your marriage? In what state is this property located? How do you hold title?

Now my question is . . . if I am entitled to a portion of the value of the land.

Absent some sort of legally enforceable agreement with your husband to the contrary, yes (assuming that you do file for divorce and that, in the court's property division order, the court orders you to sell the property or your husband to buy out your interest). How much of an interest you have depends on your answers to my questions above and on the laws of your unidentified state.

[MistyB_8337]

I live in Kentucky. The source of the money for downpayment was my own personal stock that I owned, prior to marriage, in NS Railway and Harley Davidson, which totalled about $5500. He paid for the other half of the downpayment via bank loan for $5000. We financed the property (August 2004) and he used money he earned at Arch Minerals to pay monthly payments of approximately $550...in July 2005 he had the car accident and was laid up at home for the next 8 months, where I took care of him. He hired an attorney while he was in the hospital just after the accident. Short term disability was his income for those 8 months at home, and I guess it was a couple of years later when the case was settled. He paid off some bills and gave me the money to payoff the property. I deposited it in my account and later got a cashier's check to pay off the property, around $52,000.