willsy2000
recently joined
Reged: 02/13/09
Posts: 2
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i married 2.5 years ago and bought a house with money raised by sellinga house i owned before my marriage. i put all the money into it. we are now getting divorced and my wife says she is entitled to half the equity despite not putting anything into it. we have a 21 month son who we are going to share custody of. my question is wether my wife is likely to get half the equity if we went to court??? i realise she should get some but half seems unfair???. i appreciate any feedback. thankyou. also it sould be known that the equity in the house has not increased since we married due to the current housing market. we live in connecticut.
Edited by willsy2000 (02/13/09 01:40 PM)
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matart1
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 09/01/05
Posts: 2798
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what will be helpful in your case will be a paper trail - can you show documentation that the purchase of the home was bought with proceeds from a house you had already sold..??
had your wife worked at all during the marriage and was the mortgage paid from a joint checking account or was the house bought outright..??
these may sway what wife is or is not entitled to or may not since I also see this concerning state you mentioned -
Dividing the Property
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Connecticut is a pure "equitable distribution" state, which means that all property of the spouses is subject to distribution in a divorce. A court will consider the following factors when dividing assets:
Length of marriage
Causes for divorce
Age, health, station, occupation, amount and source of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of the spouses
Opportunity for future acquisition of capital, assets and income
Contribution of each spouse to the acquisition, preservation or appreciation value of the assets
Value of homemaker's services
Courts often attempt to restore the spouses to their pre-marital financial state when the marriage lasted only a short time. The property distribution is closer to a 50-50 split when the marriage lasted a long time.
It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth, and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see a Connecticut divorce lawyer can save you a lot of time and money.
http://research.lawyers.com/Connecticut/Divorce-in-Connecticut.html
mind you it was a fairly quick check about the state but some others mentioned about the same thing.
good luck.
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Life is a long lesson in humility.
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willsy2000
recently joined
Reged: 02/13/09
Posts: 2
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my wife worked as a school teacher throughout our marriage. i had a small mortgage which i paid monthly. i also paid off her 20k college loan when i sold my first house to buy our marital home. thankyou for the information you have given me.
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finz
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/17/08
Posts: 6495
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It is certainly cheaper to divorce without getting lawyers involved, but if you have a large investment to protect, it will probably be worth it to have legal representation.
Good luck
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shortmarriage
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/07/08
Posts: 1773
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"what will be helpful in your case will be a paper trail - can you show documentation that the purchase of the home was bought with proceeds from a house you had already sold..??"
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The post from matart1 is great advice. You definately need a paper trail showing the monies that you received from the sale of your first home, owned prior to the marriage. You will also need a paper trail of where that money went.
If you made the down payment, and continued to pay the mortgage on your own, then she may only be entitled to 1/2 of the appreciation over the course of the marriage. And in this economy and with only a 2.5 year marriage, that may be nothing at all.
You also may be able to recoup the $20k that you paid out for her student loans. If I were in your shoes, I would certainly check into that!
Are you using an attorney? Many attorneys offer a free consultation. It would be worth it to dicuss your case with an attorney in your area.
Here is some information I've found on short marriages and divorce......
"In general, a short marriage is one where the financial affairs do not become so commingled that they cannot easily be restored to premarital situation."
"In a general way, the dissolution of short marriages calls forth the image of King Solomon and his sword: a swift cut that attempts the restoration of spouses to the economic position they occupied before the marriage."
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