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divorce statute of limitations?

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chicabear

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?
New York State

My divorce was final in July of 2002. I waived my rights to nearly everything because our biggest problem was the importance of money - VERY important to him, not so much for me. We had substantial investments and insurances that I gave up completely. A year ago, he submitted a form for me to sign and obtain a gold medallion - it was for change of ownership of an investment fund. When it took me a couple of weeks to get to, he threatened taking me to court etc. I signed, mailed, done. Or so I thought. I recently received anther request for that same accout signature, the account supposedly is "associated" with the one mentioned in the divorce agreement. Upon examination of records sent to me by the investment company, it IS indeed part of the summary number listed in our divorce agreement. BUT... my ex is being way beyond nice and even offering to pay me to sign the documents this time - no threats of court - none of this being like him at all.

My question: is there a statute of limitations in obtaining the signatures for divorce items? After I gave everything up, he spread horrible rumors around town about me, so I'm not so inclined to just give this fund up if I do not legally need to this time around.
Thank you.
 


Ohiogal

Queen Bee
If you were to give up that account in your divorce then yes there is a SOL -- statute of limitations. It called a reasonable period of time. Because YOU have not done so YOU are in contempt of the divorce decree and truthfully he could be suing you for contempt of the original court order. he is being overly nice to get you to sign off on this account by offering to pay you. I would just sue you for contempt, have you pay my attorney's fees, pay fines to the court and/or go to jail until I got your signature for free.

if it is listed in the court order SIGN THE PAPER. Or hopefully next time your ex will wise up and you will find yourself on the WRONG END of a lawsuit.
 

chicabear

Junior Member
thank you, BUT...

Thank you for your reply, BUT...
If you had read my post closely, you would see that I DID indeed sign the first request - within two days. It concerned me however, when I received a second request for the same signatures because the investment company would not accept the first one based on the wording of my ex's request and the account numbers listed. He is NOT by nature a very giving person, and certainly not nice when it comes to money. So when I received the second request, accompanied by a monetary offer, a huge red flag was raised. The only reason I am considering my options at this time is because he treated me quite meanly after the papers were signed - and I did nothing wrong to deserve it other than wanting children. We were married for seven years and he kept pushing it off so that he could "get a little more ahead" - between us, we brought home just under $125K per year - no reason on earth to still not try to have children. I am now re-married to a sweet blue collar worker and I'm a stay-at-home Mom, so the additional money would be a Godsend if my ex did not dot the i's and cross the t's - and it would serve him right for being the nasty person he is. And yes, a reasonable amount of time to send for the signatures would have been nice - but 5 years??? Give me a break.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Thank you for your reply, BUT...
If you had read my post closely, you would see that I DID indeed sign the first request - within two days. It concerned me however, when I received a second request for the same signatures because the investment company would not accept the first one based on the wording of my ex's request and the account numbers listed. He is NOT by nature a very giving person, and certainly not nice when it comes to money. So when I received the second request, accompanied by a monetary offer, a huge red flag was raised. The only reason I am considering my options at this time is because he treated me quite meanly after the papers were signed - and I did nothing wrong to deserve it other than wanting children. We were married for seven years and he kept pushing it off so that he could "get a little more ahead" - between us, we brought home just under $125K per year - no reason on earth to still not try to have children. I am now re-married to a sweet blue collar worker and I'm a stay-at-home Mom, so the additional money would be a Godsend if my ex did not dot the i's and cross the t's - and it would serve him right for being the nasty person he is. And yes, a reasonable amount of time to send for the signatures would have been nice - but 5 years??? Give me a break.
What Ohiogal was trying to tell you was that it perhaps wasn't his responsibility to send for the signatures, but was perhaps your responsibility to effect the transfer in a timely manner. In other words, depending on how your orders were worded, it might have been your responsibility to make things happen rather than his. If so, you could be held in contempt.

However, his offer to pay you money tends to make me think that this particular account might be something that really wasn't covered properly under the divorce....which means that you might still own half of it...or that he simply needs the money fast enough that he is willing to give you something in order to get your signature quickly.

You have the divorce paperwork in front of you, we don't. So you either do what he wants or you consult a local attorney.
 

chicabear

Junior Member
the time issue

thank you LdiJ for the insights.

all paperwork was my ex's responsibility, part of the deal with my not asking for much of anything. I guess the question I have is this: Is there a certain amount of time that he has to finalize everything from the divorce date - or is there an "expiration date" upon which he forfeits anything he hadn't previously taken care of? I know I'm possibly reaching, but this is SOOO out of character for him, and he has so much money that there would be absolutely no reason that he would be trying to rush it because he needs quick cash.

i'm only here asking because i can't afford a lawyer right now - so thank you all for your advice.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
thank you LdiJ for the insights.

all paperwork was my ex's responsibility, part of the deal with my not asking for much of anything. I guess the question I have is this: Is there a certain amount of time that he has to finalize everything from the divorce date - or is there an "expiration date" upon which he forfeits anything he hadn't previously taken care of? I know I'm possibly reaching, but this is SOOO out of character for him, and he has so much money that there would be absolutely no reason that he would be trying to rush it because he needs quick cash.

i'm only here asking because i can't afford a lawyer right now - so thank you all for your advice.
No, there is no "expiration date" unless your orders state one (which would be highly unusual)

He probably just has a reason why he needs to do this in a hurry, and is therefore trying to induce you to hurry.
 

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