• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Equitable distribution

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

nicksc2009

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

I am seperated for 3 years and still have not been divorced. Constantly taking me back for alimony and child support. We supposedly worked our the equitible distribution and she would be civil with support.

Well, wrong ! I have averaged about 240K per year and give her 5K per month for her and two kids.

* I purchased a house for her 800K in cash so she would have no morgage

* I paid off all the credit card bills so we would have no debt.(200K). and her school loan(Teacher Now)

* I took 300K for the whole deal and put this on a house which is worth 700K

* Paid for my first son's college in cash for 70K

We filed sepratly in 06 and Jan 1.... I sold the buisness(Jan 1 2006) at no profit as they assumed my debt and assets. I also had a forgivness of debt of around 470K(Important). Since then I work for the company and have a 5 year contract.

My questions:

1). We never settled equitible distributioin? What am I intitled to?

2). Selling the buisness we incurred about 120K in taxes that was as a result of the forgivness of debt(470) and not paying enough taxes on the money we took out of the retirement fund. Is she responsible for this as well.

Paying for these taxes is really hurting and I cannot afford the 5 K per month.
as mmy company is now taking mandatory furlough's and my income is now down by 40% !!! But the reccomendation from the court was that I still pay?

Instead of looking at my recent pay stub history they are basing this on previous income statements...This is not reality !


4). I am going to court this week and am behind about 7K total for this year as a result of the furloughs. This proceeding will be in front of a Judge and I want to make them understand that debt incurred form the marrige and the crazy equitable distribution is unfair for alimony which she does not desreve at all. I have no issue paying child support AT ALL !

HELP!
 


nicksc2009

Junior Member
By the way...already up to 60K in lawyers fees which I now cant afford anymore since I gave her all the money ! The tax liens have also stalled any ability to borrow so I now represent myself...

HELP!!!
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
By the way...already up to 60K in lawyers fees which I now cant afford anymore since I gave her all the money ! The tax liens have also stalled any ability to borrow so I now represent myself...

HELP!!!
You're making a major mistake. With your income level and the amount of assets involved, representing yourself is incredibly foolish. Get a good attorney. Find the money somewhere. If nothing else, find an attorney who will agree to be paid from assets - there are plenty of assets from what you described.
 

nicksc2009

Junior Member
Ive tried many after this lawyer bowed out for lack of payment. I actually was charged $ 9,000.00 dollars for the month of June alone ! My case was in august and he would not show up. Ive always paid in cash but with the furloghs its really tough.

So can anyone at least answer these questions:



). We never settled equitible distributioin? What am I intitled to?

2). Selling the buisness we incurred about 120K in taxes that was as a result of the forgivness of debt(470) and not paying enough taxes on the money we took out of the retirement fund. Is she responsible for this as well.

Paying for these taxes is really hurting and I cannot afford the 5 K per month.
as mmy company is now taking mandatory furlough's and my income is now down by 40% !!! But the reccomendation from the court was that I still pay?

Instead of looking at my recent pay stub history they are basing this on previous income statements...This is not reality !


4). I am going to court this week and am behind about 7K total for this year as a result of the furloughs. This proceeding will be in front of a Judge and I want to make them understand that debt incurred form the marrige and the crazy equitable distribution is unfair for alimony which she does not desreve at all. I have no issue paying child support AT ALL !


It's been three years with hopes of some reasonable actions. Can I go after equitable distribution?
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
You don't 'go after' equitable distribution. That's the rule the court uses for distribution of marital assets.

Start with a Google search. Enter 'pennsylvania divorce asset division', for example. The first hit was:
Pennsylvania Property Division FAQ's — DivorceNet
which is a pretty good description.

In short, you first separate out separate property - that is property that belongs only to one of you (an inheritance which was never co-mingled, money you had before you were married which was not co-mingled, etc). This is not subject to division and belongs to one person.

Just about everything else is marital property - equity gained during the marriage. That will be divided by the court using the 11 criteria listed on the above page. Some courts keep it close to 50:50 and others can vary quite a bit from that.

Marital debt is treated differently. If the debt goes with a house or car, then the debt usually stays with the person who keeps the asset (although they are still responsible for reimbursing the other party for any net equity). If it's general marital debt (like yours appears to be), then each party is responsible for 1/2.

Child support will be based on a formula that depends on your income, her income, how many nights per year the kids spend at each home, who pays medical, and other factors. It will be based on CURRENT income, not past income (usually). However, if she could show that you artificially reduced your current income in order to reduce your support obligations, the court could use the historical figures. Again, that doesn't seem to be the case here. You can find a copy of the calculator with Google or here:
Pennsylvania Support Calculator

Alimony is at the discretion of the judge. It will depend on your income, her income, how long you were married, and other factors. A very, very rough rule of thumb is that alimony is unusual in most states for marriages under 10 years and may be something like 1/3 the length of the marriage if the marriage is over 10 years. The amount would be intended to minimize the disruption in standard of living between the parties, but would almost never be over 1/2 the difference in incomes.

I'm confused though. First you say that you haven't gone to court and you're voluntarily paying her $5 K per month. Then you say that the court expects you to pay $5 K per month. Which is it? Is there a court ruling or not?

If there's already a court ruling, then you can go back to court to request a reduction based on a 40% drop in income.

Again, I think you're making a major mistake. Given the types of questions you're asking, I don't think you're going to be able to represent yourself properly. From what you said, you're talking about over a million dollars in assets, 6 figure income, and the potential for signficant alimony and a very biased property division. While cases get out of hand all the time, a good attorney can work with you to keep it under control. Mine cost under $20 K total and I had similar assets and income - and my wife started a custody challenge, as well.

The biggest thing that doesn't make sense is that you bought an $800 K house with cash for your ex and don't have the money for an attorney? Sell the darned house (you'll need a court order for that, but it's not unreasonable), pay off the tax debt, get an attorney, and then she can buy a more reasonable home with her share of the marital assets. If everything you decribed is accurate, you should be able to find an attorney to work with you on that basis.
 
Last edited:

nicksc2009

Junior Member
Now thats excatly what I was looking for. I for sure did this all wrong !

I do have a court order to pay child support and alimony but eqitable distribution nver came up and she surrounded me with countless demads for increases it just got out of hand. Then tuition and the taxes followed and things got out of control. Not to mention I travel 90% of the time.

I am going to to court to prove my reduction in income which should be black and white. How do I address the assets moving foward?

Otherwise, you were a huge help?

You don't have to remeind me what an idiot ive been but my intentions were to do the right thing but it certainly unleashed the greed in my X for sure. Even my children are disgusted by her actions.
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
Now thats excatly what I was looking for. I for sure did this all wrong !

I do have a court order to pay child support and alimony but eqitable distribution nver came up and she surrounded me with countless demads for increases it just got out of hand. Then tuition and the taxes followed and things got out of control. Not to mention I travel 90% of the time.

I am going to to court to prove my reduction in income which should be black and white. How do I address the assets moving foward?

Otherwise, you were a huge help?

You don't have to remeind me what an idiot ive been but my intentions were to do the right thing but it certainly unleashed the greed in my X for sure. Even my children are disgusted by her actions.
If property distribution has not been addressed, then you need to address ALL of it per the discussion above. Find a way to divide all the assets and debts so you each get an equal amount then propose it to the court for property division.

The problem is going to be the house. If she gets the house, she owes you $400 K in cash (plus her half of the debt or any other assets). If she can't come up with that, you're going to have to ask the court to order the house sold so that you can get your share.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
If property distribution has not been addressed, then you need to address ALL of it per the discussion above. Find a way to divide all the assets and debts so you each get an equal amount then propose it to the court for property division.

The problem is going to be the house. If she gets the house, she owes you $400 K in cash (plus her half of the debt or any other assets). If she can't come up with that, you're going to have to ask the court to order the house sold so that you can get your share.
You are assuming that she is sitting on more assets than he is.

Remember that he is living in a house with considerable equity as well, and there are apparently retirement funds also...so she may not be sitting on more assets (in dollars) than he is.

The marital debts were paid off during the marriage, with marital funds...with perhaps the exception of some tax debt...but that wasn't very clear.
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
You are assuming that she is sitting on more assets than he is.

Remember that he is living in a house with considerable equity as well, and there are apparently retirement funds also...so she may not be sitting on more assets (in dollars) than he is.

The marital debts were paid off during the marriage, with marital funds...with perhaps the exception of some tax debt...but that wasn't very clear.
It looks as though she got a home with $800 K in equity. He got a $700 K home with (apparently) a $400 K mortgage, so he has $300 K in equity.

There's $120 K in tax debt - which is marital and needs to be split.

Considering ONLY those assets, she would owe him $310 K (assuming that he takes responsibility for the debt).

Marital portion of retirement funds and other funds needs to be factored in. You are correct that it's likely that there are retirement funds and if they are in his name, it could be used to offset some of the situation. As always, they need to be very careful offsetting pre-tax and after-tax amounts.

But even if there are enough retirement and other assets to offset the $310 K that we know she would owe him, there's still the question of how she's going to afford an $800 K house on a teacher's salary. Even with no mortgage, taxes in PA can be brutal, plus there's upkeep and utilities to consider (an $800 K house in most of PA would be a fairly large home). It is quite likely that that home will need to be sold both to cover her share of the equity AND to create an affordable lifestyle for her. He also needs to consider that the higher her expenses, the more she can ask for in alimony - which is another good reason for asking the court for the home to be sold.
 

nicksc2009

Junior Member
Thanks,

There is no retirement fund as we used the funds to pay off marital debt.

Whats left is asset split. The debt was assumed as part of the sale of my company and the drain of the retirment fund to pay off the debt.

I thought as a result of this she would be civil with me only paying Child support to which I have no issue. I assumed wrong and she is trying to walk away with 80% of the assets and assume nothing of the tax debt.

I would be happy to eliminate alimony and settle a fraction of the debt with her. She is totally under the immpression that this present situation is fair.

I am 100% in agreement in taking care of the family as the bread winner but this is now putting my into a forced bankruptcy situation.

And the house for 800K I was totally against as I warned her that although there would be no morgage the upkkeep is still substatial... With two kids and a 6,000 sq ft home? and no one is hardley there!

I told her last week that when I die I want to come back as her !

Thanks again for everyones help.

nic
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top