Posted: 10/30/2009 8:18:36 PM EDT
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Since there seems to be an extremely high divorce rate on Arfcom, this seems like a good place to post this. I have a friend going through a divorce and there are no kids involved. He was married for 12-13 years. He had suspicions that his wife was cheating on him, but no proof. She did cheat on him while they were dating. Last year she tried to kill herself, but failed. Things really went downhill after that and they agreed that a divorce was the best solution. He owns a farm and land that is worth quite a bit of money, close to 1 million. He owned the land before he got married. She originally thought that she would get half of the value of the land in the divorce, but that doesn't apply since he owned it before they were married. She charged up over $30k in credit card debt while they were together. He took out a loan against the farm to pay it off for her thinking it would be sufficient for her to leave him alone after the divorce. His and her lawyer have been fighting for over a year now and her lawyer finally contacted his with her demands. She wants $1200 a month for spousal support temporarily and after a few months $1500 monthly permanently. He only brings home a few hundred more than that a month. She also is requiring him to put her on his medical insurance policy since she is jobless and has mental problems. He's supposed to get together with his lawyer next week to plan a counter offer. I have no legal experience, but I don't see how she can legally be entitled to anything. Granted, he did initiate the divorce, but she agreed that it was a good idea. What says the Arfcom populace? |
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Quoted:
I don't think she'd get that much, if she gets any at all. I know she wouldn't here in TX, as we don't do alimony. I think they (judge/courts) have to take in account how much money he makes and his bills. I could be wrong though. Most family court's/judges have "guidelines" and "suggested models" to use in their decision making. Some will use them....many will not. There is no effective relief from piss poor decisions in family court. Thats why piss poor decisions happen. Many levels of the judiciary have higher courts to appeal to. Not so easy in family court. Matters there are seldom the kind that appeals courts will hear as they don't to pertain to issues of the law.....they pertain to issues of "fairness"....a concept difficult to quantify under the best of circumstances. |
Courts all over the USA have found that it does not matter the duration of ownership of private property relative to duration of marriage. He's scrawed. 
Sorry for your friend, that totally sucks about the farm. One of the biggest travesties in current law is the whole concept of alimony and child support. It don't matter if he only makes couple hundred more than she wants, if a judge sez so, he's in deep doo doo. The sad part is that those things were only ever supposed to be a share of actual earned income, NOT a promisory note on future income. It wasn't supposed to be possible for unemployed guys to go to jail for unpaid child support when there was no income. But the law has been interpreted otherwise. Quoted:
I don't think she'd get that much, if she gets any at all. I know she wouldn't here in TX, as we don't do alimony. I think they (judge/courts) have to take in account how much money he makes and his bills. I could be wrong though. 
I used to be a LEO in Texas. It wasn't until I left (escaped) that I realized how much bullshit people actually believe about Texas without knowing the first thing about Texas. For example: "we don't do alimony" "here in TX." Have you actually read the law? Not only does Texas do alimony, but in this instance if this happened in Texas, she would be guaranteed alimony: (2) the duration of the marriage was 10 years or longer, the spouse seeking maintenance lacks sufficient property, including property distributed to the spouse under this code, to provide for the spouse’s minimum reasonable needs, as limited by Section 8.054, and the spouse seeking maintenance:
(A) is unable to support himself or herself through appropriate employment because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability; |
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Quoted: Courts all over the USA have found that it does not matter the duration of ownership of private property relative to duration of marriage. He's scrawed. Sorry for your friend, that totally sucks about the farm. One of the biggest travesties in current law is the whole concept of alimony and child support. It don't matter if he only makes couple hundred more than she wants, if a judge sez so, he's in deep doo doo. The sad part is that those things were only ever supposed to be a share of actual earned income, NOT a promisory note on future income. It wasn't supposed to be possible for unemployed guys to go to jail for unpaid child support when there was no income. But the law has been interpreted otherwise. Quoted: I don't think she'd get that much, if she gets any at all. I know she wouldn't here in TX, as we don't do alimony. I think they (judge/courts) have to take in account how much money he makes and his bills. I could be wrong though. I used to be a LEO in Texas. It wasn't until I left (escaped) that I realized how much bullshit people actually believe about Texas without knowing the first thing about Texas. For example: "we don't do alimony" "here in TX." Have you actually read the law? Not only does Texas do alimony, but in this instance if this happened in Texas, she would be guaranteed alimony: (2) the duration of the marriage was 10 years or longer, the spouse seeking maintenance lacks sufficient property, including property distributed to the spouse under this code, to provide for the spouse’s minimum reasonable needs, as limited by Section 8.054, and the spouse seeking maintenance: (A) is unable to support himself or herself through appropriate employment because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability; Out of all the people I have seen get divorced, none of them were granted or "guaranteed" alimony.  YMMV though.  |
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Quoted:
I don't think she'd get that much, if she gets any at all. I know she wouldn't here in TX, as we don't do alimony. I think they (judge/courts) have to take in account how much money he makes and his bills. I could be wrong though. Federal law (supposedly) says that they cannot give more than half your gross to the spouse between alimony and child support. Yet I have heard of this happening where the woman, even working two full-time jobs, got alimony and child support (one for a child that was not his before that marriage) that totalled 75% of his income before taxes. Just to go to work each day cost him 3% more than he made on his base salary. He couldn't quit as it would mean that he would have to go back to court. Moral of the above story: Never get a divorce in UT, with your hostile spouse getting the man-hating divorce attorney whose FATHER is the family court judge AND try to be your own attorney. |
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It's threads like this that truly make me wonder why we don't hear of more spouses out and out disappearing.
(No, it ain't right) Still, when you do the math, it'd be a whole lot cheaper to hack him/her up, stuff the parts in a freezer chest and dump them 75 miles off the Jersey coast. Even contracting out the job fore, say 25K would be one hell of a deal. I just wonder why we don't hear more of this going on. Actually, it speaks well of the human race. |
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10-12 year marriage I could see a judge making him pay some support to her for awhile, depending on his income and what debts were generated during the marriage. A permanent order sounds pretty ridiculous. Obviously I have no idea how things work in your state. |
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Quoted: My understanding is that unless there is a prenup on the farm, it will be considered a "marital asset" and subject to division along with all the other marital debts and assets. IANAL Varies by state law, if it was owned before the marriage maybe not. Really unless you are an attorney in that state there's just no knowing, although you can google around and find the basics on most states |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
My understanding is that unless there is a prenup on the farm, it will be considered a "marital asset" and subject to division along with all the other marital debts and assets. IANAL Varies by state law, if it was owned before the marriage maybe not. Really unless you are an attorney in that state there's just no knowing, although you can google around and find the basics on most states Yep. Should have stated this was from my own experience in my state - my bad! |
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In most states, Alimony is not given unless one party has a huge wage-earning potential more so than the other (usually limited to folks earning over $100K per year). Your buddy does not sound like he fits in this category.
And then only when the other terms of the divorce would otherwise reduce the quality of living of the bitch spouse that has the lesser earning potential. Check state laws. Then check case decisions (which are laws enacted by judges for all intents and purposes). YMMV |