i need some important advice

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Thanks everyone so much for the advice.

I guess the reason i'm in this situation is just because I am nieve. If I would have even known half the problems leaving the house in my name would have cost me I would have NEVER done it. I was just trying to be nice and make the divorce as easy as possible...

When we divorced it was a non contestant divorce.... and I never hired a lawyer. We agreed on the terms of the divorce and I really never thought it would get ugly.

Boy, the lessons you can learn in life. I just wanted OUT!

I'll take the advice given and see about getting a lawyer.



Sara,

What is legal assistance?? And how do I go about finding out if I qualify??

[Pam]

I really hope Cataholic sees this thread. She is an attorney and was helpful to my daughter in a legal matter in the past. Maybe you could shoot her a quick PM.

I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I have no advice myself but just lots of ((((hugs)))) for you and that precious baby who will be here before you know it!

[RedHedd]

What is legal assistance?? And how do I go about finding out if I qualify??

Call your local Bar Association. Most have Lawyer Referral Services, which will provide legal assistance/answer questions for free. They will be able to steer you in the right direction to someone who can help you; maybe even for free.

[Catty1]

I don't know if this is just in Canada....but laywers are supposed to provide some of their work for free. "pro bono" it's called.

Also, calling up the YWCA or a good women's association or shelter might have some really good advice and legal contacts for you!

Good luck!

hugs
Catty1

[Rio&Nickysmommy]

I went through my Divorce over 6 years ago. I basically gave him everything but I did have my own attorney. When you did your divorce since it was uncontested did you both share an attorney? Just curious because if that is the case I would contact such attorney about fixing this problem. It's absolutely crazy that your name would remain on the mortgage. If your name is on all of this you can also be held accountable if something happens to someone on the property. If the intent was for you not to get any money out of the house at all and your husband has complete ownership over the property then I would contact the mortgage company and ask them about getting your name off this paper. If you are partial owner and are entitled to get moeny out of the house. get and attorney and sell that house. Sad but I learned a bit to late myself. In divorce the first one to the bank wins. Regardless what the reasons for divorce yours or his doesnt matter. I am sure you could use what ever money you can get out of it. Regardless of the situation do not feel bad when you have to do what you have to do. I am sure an attorney could fix this situation up for you fairly easy. Don't do it yourself. I know when I went for an attorney I had free consultations. So I would call a few to consult with them. Make sure you know that this consultation is free. Good luck. I feel for you. If you did have an attorney between the two of you I would go to the bar association since that attorney did not act in your best intrest by having you sign papers the way you both did. I brought my first attorney to the bar association and I did get money back from him took a year and a half but I got the money.
RIo&Nickysmommy

[Corinna]

I would pm Cataholic she is good at this stuff . Shes a great lawyer.

[pnance]

I agree, if possible get an attorney and get your name off the house by him either buying you our or just selling it. I've run into this with my roomates. Because housing in CA is so expensive 3 of us went in together to purchase a house. I let them handle the morgage without thinking much about it. Then come to find out they've beem 30 days late on 3 of the payments. I was livid, since they never mentioned it to me, I found out when I went to buy my car. Needless to say I now handle the house payments or anything that pertains to my own credit. Never again will I trust someone else to deal with finances that will effect my own.

[Donnaj4962]

I just thought of another possible way for you to get some assistance. Does your community have "211"??? Our local United Way sponsors this program, which is a number for residents to call when they are looking for assistance and are uncertain where to start. It is worth a try. It may or may not be sponsored by your United Way.

I work for a local non-profit (we serve seniors!) and are a United Way partner agency. We often get calls for people looking for something and they call us! We usually refer them to 211 if we can't help them. I should have thought of this for you yesterday, but I was having a dumb*** attack I guess! Sorry, but I hope better late than never!

[Maresche]

Are the late payments showing up on your credit report? You can get one free a year so it may be worth checking. If it is showing up, you may also want to call the credit agencies and tell them what is going on so they can add a note to your credit report. That way, if you do need to apply for credit at some point in the near future, they'll know why late payments were made.

I agree with the suggestion of checking out a local law school for advice/help clinics.

[Logan]

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem, Sara. I did the same thing. I deeded over my interest in the house, but my name stayed on the mortgage. Thankfully, my ex husband is very responsible with financial matters and always paid the mortgage on time, so it was never an issue for me, but it would have been had I tried to buy another house while he still had that one because the payment would have still shown up on my credit report.

As long as your name is on that mortgage, you will always be responsible for payment, regardless of what your divorce papers say. The same goes for any other joint accounts (credit cards, car payments, etc). In my business (finance), I have found that many people believe that they are not responsible because the divorce decree says that the other party is responsible. Its just not true, unfortunately.

I wish you the best of luck getting this taken care of.

Logan

[Cataholic]

Sara,
I tried to pm you a few days ago about this. It IS a major problem, and one you DO need to address right now. While I feel you could file your own Motion for Contempt, I think, with your current situation, you might be better off seeking an attorney's assistance. If you would like more particulars, email me, or pm me (or call me!!!).

Johanna