T
twowheel69
Guest
What is the name of your state? CA
My parents recently divorced after 37 years of marriage (she wanted it, he didn't...He had been verbally and mentally abusive to her for quite some time). My father is a probate/estate planning attorney so he took it upon himself to draw up the divorce papers even though he doesn't specialize in that area of law. My mom hired an attorney (at the kids' advice) to look over the papers to make sure nothing funny was going on. Well, they sold their house and divided up the proceeds and my mom subsequently bought a new home while my dad moved into an apartment. Since they lived in the home they sold before Prop 13's passage they qualified for the property tax increase exemption. Herein lies the problem. My mom claimed the exemption on her new home and has since found out that only one of them can claim the exemption. My dad just bought a townhouse and will soon find he won't get the exemption which will end up costing him about $2K/year. He was ignorant to this fact when he drew up the divorce papers and no mention was made of it in any of the papers. My mom and us kids are inclined to say too bad for him for a number of reasons: 1. He who represents themself has a fool for a client...Here's what YOUR divorce papers say, you didn't mention it, now all is signed and sealed, and 2. He extorted about $10K from my mom throughout the divorce by playing on her desire to get it over with, making her buy him out of items that everyone knew were given to her as gifts over the years and making her pay him $3K to make it acceptable for him to agree to sell the house on an offer that was $6K less than he wanted. He's not only cheap, but vindictive so we all know this will explode in the near future. Can he successfully sue her for the difference? What are the legal ramifications for her?
Thanks in advance,
Dave B
My parents recently divorced after 37 years of marriage (she wanted it, he didn't...He had been verbally and mentally abusive to her for quite some time). My father is a probate/estate planning attorney so he took it upon himself to draw up the divorce papers even though he doesn't specialize in that area of law. My mom hired an attorney (at the kids' advice) to look over the papers to make sure nothing funny was going on. Well, they sold their house and divided up the proceeds and my mom subsequently bought a new home while my dad moved into an apartment. Since they lived in the home they sold before Prop 13's passage they qualified for the property tax increase exemption. Herein lies the problem. My mom claimed the exemption on her new home and has since found out that only one of them can claim the exemption. My dad just bought a townhouse and will soon find he won't get the exemption which will end up costing him about $2K/year. He was ignorant to this fact when he drew up the divorce papers and no mention was made of it in any of the papers. My mom and us kids are inclined to say too bad for him for a number of reasons: 1. He who represents themself has a fool for a client...Here's what YOUR divorce papers say, you didn't mention it, now all is signed and sealed, and 2. He extorted about $10K from my mom throughout the divorce by playing on her desire to get it over with, making her buy him out of items that everyone knew were given to her as gifts over the years and making her pay him $3K to make it acceptable for him to agree to sell the house on an offer that was $6K less than he wanted. He's not only cheap, but vindictive so we all know this will explode in the near future. Can he successfully sue her for the difference? What are the legal ramifications for her?
Thanks in advance,
Dave B