Need Advise for Son

[sinder81]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? iD
My son is in the US Military. He was married on 2/17/07 and deployed in August 2008. His wife packed up all their belongings and moved back to her home state of Idaho. He is currently stationed in California, but a resident of the state of Idaho. She left him at mid-January and filed for divorce the first of February. She took everything they owned and left him with not even a pair of underwear for when he returned from IRAQ. She did leave his truck, tv, stereo and dog. Now in the divorce community property she wants 1/2 the cost of the tv, stereo, truck and dog. She also wants him to give her half the money he was paid each month while deployed to IRAQ. However, she maintained the checking account and his checks were direct deposited into the joint account until December when he discovered she was thinking about leaving him. Now to make it more confusing...he opened a new checking account on December 1 and pulled all the money out of their joint account and put in his "personal" account. He did however put 3/4 of the money back. But she wants him to pay the entire amount back to her that he took. They also have a "car" that is still financed and she wants him to be responsible for all payments on the loan and she will keep the car.

I guess I don't see how any of this could be fair. He has been trying to settle with her, but she wants $$$$$. He hired an attorney but it doesn't seem that the attorney is very aggressive. Unfortunately my son can't afford to hire another attorney at this point and her attorney is being paid for by her grandparents. She lives with her parents, is working and going to school. Now she has contacted my son's command and wants back pay for the past 7 months that they have been separated in addition to all the money she originally asked for in the divorce complaint. That equals another $6000.

Every month that she delays the divorce is more money he has to pay her...via the military rules.

He wants to take over full debt on the car which is $15000, have possession of the car and give her some cash to finalize the divorce, but doesn't feel like she will do it because she wants $$$$.

What can he do???? Is he going to get screwed before this is all over....What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[mistoffolees]

The general rules are the same for just about everyone:

The person who keeps a vehicle will become responsible for any debt on the vehicle. If the value of the vehicle is greater than the debt, they have to pay the other person 1/2 the equity.

Each party is entitled to their own personal property (clothing, items they had before the marriage, etc). If the other person destroys or takes personal property, the judge can order them to pay the value.

Other personal property is divided. If the two people can't agree on how to do it, the judge will do so - or order it sold and the proceeds split. If for some reason one person ends up with more of the personal property than the other, they have to give the other 1/2 the difference in value. So add up the personal property he got, subtract it from what she got, and she owes him 1/2 the difference.

Personal property is valued at fair market value - which is far, far lower than they paid for it. Typically, something like what you'd get for selling it on eBay or in a garage sale.

There's no law that says that a spouse has to give 1/2 of their income to the other spouse (and even if there were, it would work both ways). If a spouse wants to keep his paycheck to himself he can do so - right up until the point where a judge orders him to pay some amount of support. HOWEVER, the military may have other rules that require a military person to support his/her spouse - I have no idea whether that's the case or not. He can find out from his JAG.

He was wrong to take out all the money from the joint account. Even after putting 3/4 back, he could be held responsible for the remaining 1/4 - unless he can show that it was used for living expenses or legal fees.

If he's not happy with his attorney, he should call the attorney and ask why he's not doing what he wishes. There may be a very good reason and it may not be incompetence or laziness. The process just takes longer than you might think. If he really thinks that the attorney is no good, then it's probably cheaper to start with a new attorney than to stumble along with a bad one.