…… In *great* need of prayer, advice, etc.

(admin, please move to more appropiate place if deemed necessary, thanks.)

Hi, all. First off, I don't feel completely comfortable asking for prayer, etc for myself, but I'm at the point of losing sleep with all my worrying about this.

Perhaps someone will be able to calm my fears, which is all I wish for at this point.

Situation in a nutshell-

Divorced in January 2010- the x left after 17 years of marriage to 'date' a gal he met at our church.

In February, the x offered to sign the deed to the rental house over to me in lieu of alimony if I paid the back taxes owed on both homes (marital/rental).

In March, I received $11,000 check from Social Security, back pay for my disability. Back taxes were paid by me out of this money, he signed warranty deed over to me end of March. This was done outside of the divorce agreement.

Children and I moved into 'our' house middle of May, at which time I went looking for my deed in order to file it at the courthouse. Deed was... gone.

Last week, my son, 17 sent me an email from school which was a listing of my house, up for sale. The x has it up for sale.

Before I moved from marital home, the x was in and out on weekends while I worked, primarily I assumed, to see the children. It was during one of these weekends that I'm presuming he found and took my deed.

The relationship between the x and I is absolutely nill. He is very hostile and just plain nasty so I simply do not speak with him at all. Any communication regarding the children is done between he and them alone, by his choice. I only included this information to preclude any questions such as 'why don't you just ask him if he took the deed', etc.
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So, that's it, and I am at a complete loss as to what to do.

Besides prayers, which are so greatly appreciated, does anyone have any words of advice to offer? I'm scared beyond belief at times.

Thank you for reading. I'm off to walk the dog.
Blessings~

call you lawyer, as fast as you can.

You need a good attorney...quickly.

So sorry you are going through this. I went through a very nasty divorce so I know just how awful it can be. The good news is eventually things fall into place and life goes on. But sure can be awful while in the middle of the mess. And that is the reason you need someone with some clout on your side. Let a good attorney fight the battle.

Willow

Sorry to hear this. I strongly recommend the following steps:

1) prayer
2) lawyer
3) more prayer
4) seek support from friends or maybe a support group
5) more prayer


Repeat at necessary.

Best wishes.

My first thought is...

Go to a Real Estate Attorney immediately and have him file a "Lis Pendens" notice at the recorders office tied to the legal description of the property.

That will cloud the title on the property making it much more difficult to sell.

Hopefully that will give you time to get your lawsuit filed.

That what I would do anyway.

P.S. I am not a lawyer so take my free advice for whats its worth.

Also, here is a good free legal advice forum.

http://forum.freeadvice.com/

Is your name on the deed, or only his? If your name is on there, in most states, he is not going to be able to sell it out from under you.

If your name is not on the deed, as others have said, you need to talk to a lawyer immediately.

Do you have anything in writing regarding your agreement to receive the house for paying the taxes?

If you did not record that deed he probably destroyed that deed and you have no proof whatsoever you own those houses. Especially since this "transaction" was done outside the written divorce agreement and final decree. Sorry for your loss and your current and upcoming financial mess.

You will be in my prayers. Like the others said, see an attorney quickly.

How awful of him to do this. I'll be keeping you and your children in my prayers.

I'm very sorry for your situation. As others have said please consult an attorney.

Keep your head up. While it may be quite dreary now understand that better days will come.

Praying for you and your family.

hoss

Prayers sent up.

Get a lawyer, and make sure you have ALL of your receipts for everything that you paid for, including the back taxes.

Find that deed, or find out what happened to it. Who knew where you put it after you got it?

Loup

My prayers for you, SweetSunflower and your children. After all you've been through, this last act of trechery and deceit is not something you need.

Several on here have given sound advice: Lawyers cost money, but in this case, it would be money well spent to save you property!!

Praying for you.

Yep Lawyer up first, hire a hitman second. Kidding about the second part.

If he still goes to church call him and ask him to talk some sense into your husband.

He picked up a new girl at church and is trying to sell a house from under his ex-wife and kids after lying to you. He sounds like a real scumbag. Look at the bright side, at least you don't have to be joined in you union with this morally and spiritually bankrupt piece of $h!t anymore.

Do you still have record of paying back taxes on both homes? I would think that would prove a deal was struck.

LoupGarou said:

Prayers sent up.

Get a lawyer, and make sure you have ALL of your receipts for everything that you paid for, including the back taxes.

Find that deed, or find out what happened to it. Who knew where you put it after you got it?

Loup

Click to expand...

Yes.

Prayers

Prayers sent! Remember you are not just fighting for yourself - you are fighting for your children. Be FIERCE!

Thank you all for your kind words. It's amazing how much better I feel simply knowing that there are others to pray for my situation.

Before heading to bed, I want to clarify a couple of points:

The only 'proof' of payment I have is the statment from my bank showing 'back property taxes paid in the amount of $xxxx.xx to XXXXXX County Treasurer on such and such date'. It's fairly vague.

Yes, I realize an attorney is my best hope.

I have been disabled since 2006, after a diagnsosis of Multiple Sclerosis about 10 years ago, approved for Social Security Disability in December 2009 and on a very, very fixed income; the home I currently live in is completely paid for, meaning no rent/mortgage to pay on my part other then the typical utilities, phone, etc, all of which have been manageable with the small amount of $ I earn working part time. Heck- my car remains in a shop here in town where is will stay until I come up with the $ for the transmission it needs (read_impossible!) I'm so thankful to live on a bus line which enables me to at least work!

Anyway. While my financial issure are my own personal concern and not something to be shared w/others, I wanted to simply offer a glimpse as to why being able to afford an attorney is completely out of the realm of possibility for me.

I have tried to contact legal aid wrt this problem. Unfortunately, I've learned that if the person I am considering bringing legal action has ever contacted them for anything, it is a conflict of interest and they are not able to offer me help. And it appears that that's exactly what the x has done.
I suppose I must give the devil his due though; I certainly never expected him to be able to navigate his way around the legal system so throughly in his attempt to head me off at every pass.

Again, though. I do thank you for the kind words of encouragment. They are so very much appreciated and just knowing that I am no longer carrying this burden alone, so to speak, calms my spirit more then I can say.

Blessings~
Ami

The taxes being paid after the divorce might be the detail that saves you. I have no idea how it would play out, but hopefully that's enough financial interest in the property. (Don't slow down in your efforts, but maybe thats something that could keep your hopes going)
Have you talked to your divorce attorney? Hopefully there was something in the record that makes this real easy for you.

There are many many free legal aid groups, keep going down the list calling until you find one that hasn't been contacted by your ex. Even if they aren't local, they might have someone in the area they could refer you to.
-Don't know if there are any in your area, but I want to say I remember someone I knew having to use a legal aid group that specifically targeted women in family/divorce matters. If it comes down to it, you might call one of the womens advocacy groups for abused women and they might point you in the right direction.

There are lots of people out there to help, hopefully you can find one of them. Don't give up.

Try calling the law schools in your state. A lot of them have legal-aid type clinics run by the students (with oversight by licensed lawyers of course). Hopefully your husband hasn't already thought to contact them.

Good luck.

HD

Praying for you and your family.

You may be able to get a copy of the deed from the clerk of courts. You are now living in the home so that does back up your story as you have possession.

Did anyone know about or witness this agreement that would give you a notarized statement as to the details of your agreement with ex? Your 17 year old may be able to do this if he was aware of your agreement and also witness that the deed was stolen. Talk to anybody who had knowledge of what you were doing.

You should also be able to contact the tax office for verification the taxes were paid and when and that verifies your receipt from the bank and is another proof of this agreement with him.


How is he on child support etc...DSS can help with that and perhaps even child services at DSS if you and the children are facing being homeless. You may get some good advice there on how to handle this. It is an emergency situation for you and your children.

To me this really is a crime...the magistrate may be able to help if he stole something from your home. Might not hurt to contact them and see if you can get a warrant for theft in order to get before a judge and have him stop the sale while this is being sorted out~ you don't need a lawyer to get a warrant and have him locked up.


I would contact as someone said above the pastor of that church and share this with him just so others know how terrible this person is treating his wife and children.


hope that helps and I will be praying~ blessings T

All I can say is that we are soooo very lucky to be on this site where we can get good advice (and prayer) from reliable people.

praying for you....

Prayers for peace and strength. Trust in Him, miracles do happen.

If the house is listed for sale with a realtor, contact that person and let him know he will have a real problem completing the sale, as you don't intend to move because YOU own the house.

That will complicate matters enough for the realtor that he won't want to be involved if he will lose his commission.....repeat with successive realtors......

good luck.

If he doesn't want you to have the house, sue him for the alimony he now owes. Contact HIS lawyer and let him know scumbag lied and the divorce agreement is being changed by you, if he won't honor his commitment.

There has to be a paper trail somewhere for the paid taxes at the County level.

Maybe let the new girlfriend know what she might expect (but maybe she is the one putting him up to it??)

If you can find some legal help fast,

do it. A thought: Since it's been less than a year, you may be able to Petition the court to RE-OPEN the divorce, perhaps saving some filing fees. He has reneged on a deal that was supposed to make it a slam dunk disso. You will have to get an attorney to help you, since it will now be a contested disso; but the fact that you paid the back property taxes will work in your favor.

Worked as a legal assistant for many years. If ANYONE knows first hand about this deal between you and your husband, get them to prepare and sign Affidavits attesting to the facts. It will make re-opening the case pretty easy, and believe me, unless he's bought the court, this set of circumstances will really PO a judge. Looks bad on their records if they don't make it fair.

If you need assistance on the Affidavits, PM me. I know you are busy and depressed about this whole thing, but fight, fight, fight it. He's counting on you being so flummoxed and so poor that you don't do anything to fix it. IF you have witnesses, and your record of paying the taxes, and IF you cannot get legal help, contact the media... I know many of us don't want to air our laundry in public, but as a last resort publicity may help you a lot.

Lawyer for sure and then head over to the church. If this has been your church home and this is where your husband started dating...the church has a responsibility to you... in the way of church discipline.

If they are willing, get the church involved to put some muscle into your prayers. How well it does depends on the strength of the church and their understanding if church discipline.

I'm sorry you have to go through this. Such betrayal.

MamaDel

On second thought, I really hope your ex isn't reading this message board.

Since that possibility exists, I'm deleting my post and sending it in PM to you.

I hope everyone will be careful to not give her ex any information he could use.

Mrs.Cw

So sorry you have to go through this. Sending prayers for you.

Thought I'd give an *update* before turning in for the night-

Hi again, y'all~

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU very much for the prayers that so many of you offered regarding my situation!.

Indeed, He is gracious.

I will begin by stating that my home is absolutely no longer on the market. As I understand it, the X was days away from closing on both houses- mine, and the marital home (his), when the buyer backed out and the realtor essentially informed him that he would no longer be involved. In fact, I actually met the gentlemen who was going to buy and it was soon after I explained exactly what the x was attempting to do to myself and our children that he withdrew his offer.

The x does still have the marital home up for sale.

So, my next and final project regarding this issue is to file is to ammend the divorce paperwork to include verbiage relating to my house and I will also request that the judge compell the x to re-issue the deed to me so that I may file it at the courthouse.

While I fully anticipate smooth sailing from here on out, I will wait until my court date is over and I hear the subsequent ruling before I fully relax.

Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.
xoox

I'm still praying that all goes quickly and smoothly, so that you can be relieved of this worry.

I am pleased that things seen to be working out.

Don't know how much your lawyer is into this, but Don't be lulled into a silence.

Keep this on the front burner untill everything is brought to a close.

Be as wise as the serpant and as harmless as the Dove.

Prayers continue.

lw