I have an aged family member in Florida who is in a recent bad marriage predicament.

He's got serious memory issues and got himself married after recently being widowed.  He now wants out.
Not sure if the new bride is a deliberate scammer but it feels this way.  Oh and he got married without telling any family.  We found out two weeks later. 

He called for help today.  

Q's
Power of attorney for one of his children?
Selling a house that was bought entirely with the proceeds of his pre new marriage house.  The new bride he thinks is listed on the deed.  

Marriage is 8 mo

hells bells this sucks from afar. 

He really needs to consult a local Attorney. If you really want to help him, make some phones calls. Believe it or not there are some really good attorneys out there. Reach out to the Legal Aid Society in your area. I am assuming he has limited funds.

I agree whole heartedly.  He had his will revised after he was widowed so I know he had an attorney.   I told him to find that paperwork and call him first thing Monday.  Pending that start I will find an attorney for him.  His only assets were the old house and his pension.  Maybe a few thousand in the bank.

He says his memory is horrid to the point  he quit driving.   He liked the power of attorney idea and discussed this months before getting married again along with a medical PoA.   The good news he wants to come back to NY to be closer to us.  We tried to get him to do that before all this.


I'm not worried about losing half the house if it must happen, just glad to get him out of there.  He's lost and lonely.  

I was just curious if he could protect his assets in such a recent marriage.  He may have even entered into marriage incompetently.  His words not mine.


I will likely move him in with me for the time being.

You are a good son.  Family is so important these days.  Your Father is in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks I wish I did more earlier.  We talked then and he said he was happy.   Hard to tell your old man he might be making a mistake, especially when he Already did it.

I got the room in my house.   He'll have to relearn NY winters.   He won't like that.

IANAL and just throwing this out off the top of my head.

An attorney may propose that you suggest a divorce and make her a good offer just to walk away under threat of a long drawn out annulment proceeding??

I did some quick research on annulment in Florida.  Link below.

http://www.divorcenet.com/resources/annulment/annulment-basics/florida.htm

When I was divorced, she left me for another guy and didn't want the house. I wanted to keep it but, could not afford to buy her out.  We had the house appraised and I paid her one half of the equity over a five year period.  We where young and did't have much equity in the house.  Just putting that out there to show that sometimes you can be creative.

Thank you for that.

Interesting reading that.   It might be a possibility to go that route.  They say the burden of proof
Is High though.

Yep, the burden of proof is high, but she does not know that... yet.

If she really is a gold digger, she may be tempted to walk away for a relatively small amount of money, so she can do it all over again.

Let her know what there IS going to be a divorce, the only question is how long it is going to drag out.

Offer her some amount of money that she thinks is a windfall.  Some people will do anything for 10k.  Signing papers does not take a lot of effort on her part if she thinks she is getting a quick return on investment.  Let her think that this could drag on for years or she could have some cash in her pocket next week, if she just packs her bags and leaves.

He needs to move out now, "separate" and call a real life lawyer. Every day that goes by only digs the hole deeper.

Where in Florida is he? I'm an attorney here. Happy to put him in touch with one of he's in my AO.

Props lets help the old guy ...maybe knock on the front door. Lol