| questioning fairness of separation agreement
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?Ohio
I received a dissolutionment of marriage in October of 2004. At the time, my ex-husband hired a lawyer, and he drew up the initial paperwork as far as the separation agreement and the parenting plan. I took the papers to a lawyer to have him check over things and make sure everything was "fair." He said he had no problem with them, so I went with the flow because I didn't know any better. I never really thought the terms were fair, but I figured, 'Hey, I paid a lawyer to look at these. He would tell me if they were trying to get too much, right? What do I know?' But now, as I am swamped with bills, I'm sitting back thinking things didn't go like they should have, and I'm wondering how hard it would be to go back and contest the separation agreement, and if I am right in questioning it.
My ex and I had quite a bit of debt when we separated. We had over $10,000 in credit card bills (between 2 major cards), a mortgage on the house (around $40,000), a home equity loan, and a car loan (one for about $1500 because the other car had already been payed off.) Not counting other smaller debts (ex, computer payment.) When he had his lawyer draw up the papers, they said that I was responsible for: the two major credit cards (that were over $10,000 between the two), the mortgage (because I was the one that would continue to live here), and the home equity loan (which was around $8000 at the time.) The only debts my ex had was a credit card he had taken out himself after we had decided to split up that had probably less than $1000 on it, the computer payment that had probably somwhere between $1000-$1500 left on it (he decided that he wanted to keep the computer even though we had gotten it because I wanted to continue my schooling and was looking at online classes), and he would pay I think $5200 towards the home equity loan. My ex and I both made about the same amount of money in our jobs. Why was I getting all these bills??? Well, supposedly since I had the newer car (a 2000 compared to his 1996) and the blue book value was $5000 more than his car, and I was keeping most of the home assets, this was supposedly the fair thing to do.
Now, some of the other terms of the separation were that if I didn't make him split his 401K with me, he wouldn't make me split mine with him, and when I sell this house, he has to sign a quit claim deed saying he has no rights to any of the profits. He also said it was fair that he didn't have to pay as much because I was keeping a lot of the house assets, and these were things he would have to replace later. First of all, he quit his job and moved to another state, so he had full access to all of the money in his 401K, which was around $20,000 ( so whatever he did owe me, he has already been able to pay off). Somehow, he refinanced something on the car that he drove, and was able to get another couple of thousand out of it (even though when we got married, the car was 2/3 of the way paid off- by MY parents.) He was moving out of state and moving in with a friend, so he had no need for most of the things in the house like furniture, appliances, etc. The few things he took with him, he chose, and didn't ask for anything else. He took a dresser (which wasn't even his- I bought them before we even got married), the computer, a brand new piece of exercise equipment (over $500), a small chest freezer (which was a present from my parents), his car, and other than that, just personal items. But that's what he chose. He didn't want anything else because he didn't need it. He STILL doesn't need it because he is still living with the friend. I don't even know if he is paying the friend rent or anything even close to what I am paying for living expenses.
So my question is this. Doesn't it sound unfair all of the bills that I have compared to the ones he had? They said that because I was keeping a lot of the assets of the home, that was figured into what I had over what he had. But what do I really have? Appliances that are probably at least 10 years old that were hand-me-downs from our parents, and a set of china that just gathers dust? With the value of things depreciating so quickly, I don't think it was fair for him to go through and estimate value on all these things at what they were when they were bought and say that 7 years later, they should still be worth that. He says that he will have to replace all of it for himself, but almost a year and a half later, he is still living with the friend. For all I know, he could live there for years. And when my daughter does go and stay with him, either his friends wife or daughter watch her, so he doesn't have to pay child care expenses. I have over a hundred dollars a week in daycare and babysitters, and only get $91.00 a week in child support.
Do I have something legitimate to go back and contest the papers, or am I just going to have to bite my lip and live with this? |
08-25-2005, 05:34 PM
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