Final Decree Filed w/o my signature

[whattheheck?]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Can a Final Decree of Divorce be entered by the judge with out the wife of said Decree ever signing anything?

Final Hearing was 2 months ago but I was never give a Final Decree to sign by my husband.

How did this happen? Default due to time?

ThxWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[mistoffolees]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Can a Final Decree of Divorce be entered by the judge with out the wife of said Decree ever signing anything?

Final Hearing was 2 months ago but I was never give a Final Decree to sign by my husband.

How did this happen? Default due to time?

ThxWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Yes, it can happen without one party's signature. Ask for a copy of the court records to see what happened.

 

[whattheheck?]

But wouldn't he had to have shown a good faith effort to contact me in order to give me the final decree before a judgement would be entered without my signature? I just want to make sure what the judge ordered 2 months ago in terms of debt/asset distribution and child support was in there correctly. I know he didn't like what the judge ruled and I want to make sure something totally different didn't get filed.

I know I need to be at the courthouse first thing Monday morning to get a copy, but until then I was just wanting a professional opinion on how this might have happened without me.

Thank you for the prompt reply.

 

[mistoffolees]

But wouldn't he had to have shown a good faith effort to contact me in order to give me the final decree before a judgement would be entered without my signature? I just want to make sure what the judge ordered 2 months ago in terms of debt/asset distribution and child support was in there correctly. I know he didn't like what the judge ruled and I want to make sure something totally different didn't get filed.

I know I need to be at the courthouse first thing Monday morning to get a copy, but until then I was just wanting a professional opinion on how this might have happened without me.

Thank you for the prompt reply.

Presumably you never showed up for a hearing (you may or may not have been notified). Check the records.

If he knew where to find you and didn't make an effort, then you may be able to get the property issues reopened. A lot will depend on what actually happened, though.

 

[whattheheck?]

I picked up my final decree on Monday and I thought all the orders from the judge were in there. I was happy, it's finally all over. Or so I thought.

On the page for the Division of the Marital Estate, where the debts that the judge ordered my Ex to pay it was written as:

"Agreed Debts to Respondent, Jane Doe" then lists them. They way that reads to me is that the decree ordered ME responsible for them not him. Some of the debts were not divided 50/50, some went to him 100%, I know if they were all split equally this wouldn't be an issue.

That's why I think I should have been able to see a copy before it was filed with the courts. But that's neither here nor there.

How do I fix this?

 

[Ohiogal]

I picked up my final decree on Monday and I thought all the orders from the judge were in there. I was happy, it's finally all over. Or so I thought.

On the page for the Division of the Marital Estate, where the debts that the judge ordered my Ex to pay it was written as:

"Agreed Debts to Respondent, Jane Doe" then lists them. They way that reads to me is that the decree ordered ME responsible for them not him. Some of the debts were not divided 50/50, some went to him 100%, I know if they were all split equally this wouldn't be an issue.

That's why I think I should have been able to see a copy before it was filed with the courts. But that's neither here nor there.

How do I fix this?

what is wrong with it? How much debt are you responsible for? How much is HE responsible for? What debts are SECURED debts? Those should be 100% the responsibility of the person who got the property securing said debt. If the unsecured debts are relatively equal then do you really want to fight it? To fight it by the way you will need a transcript of the final hearing. Did you attend said hearing?

 

[whattheheck?]

All of the debts that were listed were in my name (Ex had bad credit), some were utility bills he left me with (I moved shortly after he left because our lease was up and I could no longer afford the rent on my own to stay), some were for purchases we made, but were debts I would have never taken on being by myself, I was counting on having both incomes to pay them off, so that's why I fully expect him to pay his half.

Total he was ordered to pay me, roughly $6K. Which if I leave the decree as it stands, not only will I have my portion of the debts, but I'm getting stuck with his half too!

As we were both ProSe, it's obvious from the wording of the decree that he had some sort of legal help, but I'm going back and forth between whether this was intentional on his part, hoping the judge nor I caught it, or whether he was just that dumb.

But if it was just a wording error, I would still have to get the transcripts (yes, I was at the hearing) or can that page of the decree be corrected and we're still done?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Zigner]

Would have been nice if you actually answered the question:

How much debt was HE ordered to be responsible for?
How much debt were YOU ordered to be responsible for?

All of the debts that were listed were in my name (Ex had bad credit), some were utility bills he left me with (I moved shortly after he left because our lease was up and I could no longer afford the rent on my own to stay), some were for purchases we made, but were debts I would have never taken on being by myself, I was counting on having both incomes to pay them off, so that's why I fully expect him to pay his half.

Total he was ordered to pay me, roughly $6K. Which if I leave the decree as it stands, not only will I have my portion of the debts, but I'm getting stuck with his half too!

As we were both ProSe, it's obvious from the wording of the decree that he had some sort of legal help, but I'm going back and forth between whether this was intentional on his part, hoping the judge nor I caught it, or whether he was just that dumb.

But if it was just a wording error, I would still have to get the transcripts (yes, I was at the hearing) or can that page of the decree be corrected and we're still done?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ohiogal]

The transcripts required would cost you -- most places they average $2.50 - $4.00 a page. Each page equals maybe a minute of court time. If you are lucky. Also are you within the time to object? How long ago was this time stamped?

 

[LdiJ]

All of the debts that were listed were in my name (Ex had bad credit), some were utility bills he left me with (I moved shortly after he left because our lease was up and I could no longer afford the rent on my own to stay), some were for purchases we made, but were debts I would have never taken on being by myself, I was counting on having both incomes to pay them off, so that's why I fully expect him to pay his half.

Total he was ordered to pay me, roughly $6K. Which if I leave the decree as it stands, not only will I have my portion of the debts, but I'm getting stuck with his half too!

As we were both ProSe, it's obvious from the wording of the decree that he had some sort of legal help, but I'm going back and forth between whether this was intentional on his part, hoping the judge nor I caught it, or whether he was just that dumb.

But if it was just a wording error, I would still have to get the transcripts (yes, I was at the hearing) or can that page of the decree be corrected and we're still done?

Thanks for your help!

Odds are that it was not only intentional on his part, but that that is why he didn't give you the opportunity to see it and sign off on it in advance.

Yes, you would need to get the transcripts in order to petiton the court to correct the orders.

However, please keep in mind that you may have difficulty collecting the 6k from him, even if the orders get corrected.

 

[whattheheck?]

Would have been nice if you actually answered the question:

How much debt was HE ordered to be responsible for?
How much debt were YOU ordered to be responsible for?

To answer your question total debts were split roughly 60/40. The 60% to him. But he didn't even list what should have been my portion. Just like I posted earlier: "Agreed debts to Respondent, (my name):" with the companies and amounts (which the majority were 50% of the original debt, with a few to him 100%) and nothing at all listed for the Petitioner. But the way I'm reading it is that the debts and amounts listed are my responsibility, but since those are already mostly 50%, then I get that 50% and the other 50% too! So it seems to me that I'm getting stuck with 100% of it all!

And yes, I know that enforcement will be hard, he's already threatening to have his child support lowered and for my contempt on visitation (that's another issue, he'd actually have to have shown up and I refused to let our child go with him in order for contempt to have taken place. Him choosing not to show up to pick up our son is not contempt on my part. I'm not even worried about it, he has nothing on that.) I would just like to have it in black and white so at some point I could file to have it enforced.

And what about if he did do it intentionally? I could probably never prove it, but wouldn't that constitue fraud of some sort on his part? He'd just get in court and say, "whoops, sorry." It just seems like the judge should have never finalized it without me even seeing the final decree first! I guess that's why all you seniors say, "consult an attorney, most do a free initial consult"

Also, the copy of the decree I got from the courts is not stamped at all. It has the judge's signature stamp on it with the date. It's not a certified copy or anything but the case online shows closed.

Thanks...

 

[mistoffolees]

To answer your question total debts were split roughly 60/40. The 60% to him.

Then what the heck are you complaining about? He is taking on more than the 50% that would normally be expected.

Furthermore, you haven't responded to my first post. Did you ever receive notice of a hearing? If not, then check the court file to see what they did for service. I'm guessing that you were served and chose to ignore it or forgot about it - in which case it was entirely your choice not to show up. If that's correct, then you've got no case, anyway.

 

[LdiJ]

Then what the heck are you complaining about? He is taking on more than the 50% that would normally be expected.

She is the respondent. The debt is 100% assigned to HER in the court order, when the judge ordered it split in court.

Furthermore, you haven't responded to my first post. Did you ever receive notice of a hearing? If not, then check the court file to see what they did for service. I'm guessing that you were served and chose to ignore it or forgot about it - in which case it was entirely your choice not to show up. If that's correct, then you've got no case, anyway.

I think you are misunderstanding misto. They had a final hearing. The judge made decisions. The judge ordered the petioner (her ex) to write up the order for his signature. He did not write up what the judge ordered, he wrote up what he wanted, submitted it to court without allowing her to review it and sign off on it first, and for some reason the judge signed it without checking it for accuracy (not unusual).

Therefore her only option is to get a transcript of the hearing, and submit it to the judge with a motion to correct errors.

 

[whattheheck?]

Yes! Thank you LdiJ, that's exactly what happened. There were no hearings that I missed or chose to ignore, and I have been watching the case online because I would not have put it past him to have filed a final decree with none of what the judge ordered. I'm really leaning to the side that he was just dumb in his wording and isn't smart enough to have put it in there intentionally, hoping to pull a fast one. But who knows? Looks like I have a battle ahead when I truly thought I was done!

Is there a time limit in getting it fixed? I agree that he'll never pay it anyway and so in order to get the money out of him, I will have to wait and file contempt for it in the future. Could I just leave the decree as is for now and then deal with it all at once, or would it be better to clear it up now, then deal with the payment or non-payment of it in the future?

Thank you again for all your advice!