What is the name of your state?I live in Kansas.
This is kind of long, but I think it should be interesting to people interested in extremely shady contracts.
My parents were divorced in 1993. They had a house, and three kids. He worked, she stayed at home with us.
Here is the part of the contract that pertains to the house:
"
The marital residence of the parties located at [] and which bears the legal description [] shall be set aside to the Wife, free and clear of any right, title, claim or interest of the Husband and subject to any and all mortgages, liens, restrictions, reservations, easements and covenants, if any, now of record.
The parties agree that the market value of said real property is $90,000 [figures rounded] and the mortgage balance as of [] 1993 is $52,000 leaving marital equity in this real estate in the amount of $37,000. Husband shall have a lien against said real property in the amount of $18,500 which represents one-half of the marital equity in said property as of the date of the divorce, plus interest thereon accruing at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the divorce until the residence is sold to a third person purchaser or Wife elects to move from said residence and allow Husband to purchase her interest in said property.
Until such time as the residence is sold, either to a third person purchaser or to Husband, Husband's name shall remain on the deed as a joint tenant with rights of survivorship as well as on the mortgage to the marital residence.
The Wife agrees to assume sole responsibility for the mortgage debt secured by the real property listed above payable to [] Savings or any subsequent lending institution which may refinance said property and to indemnify and hold harmless the Husband from any loss, claim, suit of law and/or judgment which the Husband might suffer by reason of the responsible party's failure to meet her obligations as stated herein.
In the event Wife elects to sell or move out of the marital residence at any time subsequent to the execution of this separation agreement, Husband shall have first option to purchase said residence prior to Wife listing the property for sale or contracting with any other purchaser. At such time as Wife desires to sell the real estate Wife shall notify Husband in writing, by certified mail, of her intent to sell the property. Husband shall have fourteen days after receipt of Wife's notification to respond to Wife by exercising his first option to purchase the marital residence. Husband shall notify Wife, in writing, by certified mail, of this intent to exercise his first option to purchase.
Husband shall exercise his first option to purchase said property by paying to Wife a sum which equals the total equity in said property [italics in original] at the time of the sale of the residence [/italics] minus Husband's equity in the amount of $18,000 plus any interest which has accrued thereon from the date of the divorce to the date of Husband's purchase of the marital residence from Wife.
At such time as Husband purchases the real property from Wife, Husband shall refinance the real property to remove Wife's name from the mortgage.
In the event Husband does not elect to purchase the residence from Wife, the Wife shall be free to sell the residence to a third party purchaser and shall pay to Husband the sum of $18,000 plus any interest thereon which has accrued from the date of the divorce to the date of the sale of the residence. In the event the parties sell the residence to a third person purchaser, the parties shall equally divide the costs of any real estate commission and closing costs which accrue as a result of the sale of the residence.
"
So. Read it again if you like. A few facts, so far as I know them:
a) According to county records on the internet, my father's name is the only one on the deed at present.
b) My father was ordered to pay child support, which he has done. It was never increased from the original amount.
c) Another clause award my father the entirity of his retirement plan, then worth about 14k, while another required my mother to pay his, her own, and the children's life insurance premiums, specifying that if they were cashed out the money was to be divided equally. He later cashed out his policy, keeping all of the money.
Now then, a number of questions present themselves to me. If they sound foolishly optimistic, bear in mind that I know very little of the Law.
1. What are the chances of this entire agreement being declared null and void, without the consent of the proverbial Husband, on some basis such as being rediculously unfair, or vague, or the judge and my mom's lawyer being high on PCP, or whatever? If this were to happen, what would be the likely outcome?
2. As I understand it, "rights of survivorship" and "joint tenant" means that whoever lives longest gets full rights to the property. Is this the case? Could my father's new wife, for example, inherit his "lien" on this house? If my mom dies, does he get it all?
3. Would the interest on this "lien" be compound or not?
4. If "Husband" were to choose not to exercise his first option to buy this house, how could my mom then sell it? Since his name is on the deed, would she have to pay him, then get his name removed from the mortage and deed, then list it for sale? Is there no way that she could buy him out and then keep the house? Is she prevented from "moving" out and renting the house?
5. For speculation: What kind of lawyer would allow her client to even read this agreement, much less sign it?
Thanks in advance for any advice - if you know of a great lawyer in the KC area who would take a look at this without charging upfront, please say so.
This is kind of long, but I think it should be interesting to people interested in extremely shady contracts.
My parents were divorced in 1993. They had a house, and three kids. He worked, she stayed at home with us.
Here is the part of the contract that pertains to the house:
"
The marital residence of the parties located at [] and which bears the legal description [] shall be set aside to the Wife, free and clear of any right, title, claim or interest of the Husband and subject to any and all mortgages, liens, restrictions, reservations, easements and covenants, if any, now of record.
The parties agree that the market value of said real property is $90,000 [figures rounded] and the mortgage balance as of [] 1993 is $52,000 leaving marital equity in this real estate in the amount of $37,000. Husband shall have a lien against said real property in the amount of $18,500 which represents one-half of the marital equity in said property as of the date of the divorce, plus interest thereon accruing at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the divorce until the residence is sold to a third person purchaser or Wife elects to move from said residence and allow Husband to purchase her interest in said property.
Until such time as the residence is sold, either to a third person purchaser or to Husband, Husband's name shall remain on the deed as a joint tenant with rights of survivorship as well as on the mortgage to the marital residence.
The Wife agrees to assume sole responsibility for the mortgage debt secured by the real property listed above payable to [] Savings or any subsequent lending institution which may refinance said property and to indemnify and hold harmless the Husband from any loss, claim, suit of law and/or judgment which the Husband might suffer by reason of the responsible party's failure to meet her obligations as stated herein.
In the event Wife elects to sell or move out of the marital residence at any time subsequent to the execution of this separation agreement, Husband shall have first option to purchase said residence prior to Wife listing the property for sale or contracting with any other purchaser. At such time as Wife desires to sell the real estate Wife shall notify Husband in writing, by certified mail, of her intent to sell the property. Husband shall have fourteen days after receipt of Wife's notification to respond to Wife by exercising his first option to purchase the marital residence. Husband shall notify Wife, in writing, by certified mail, of this intent to exercise his first option to purchase.
Husband shall exercise his first option to purchase said property by paying to Wife a sum which equals the total equity in said property [italics in original] at the time of the sale of the residence [/italics] minus Husband's equity in the amount of $18,000 plus any interest which has accrued thereon from the date of the divorce to the date of Husband's purchase of the marital residence from Wife.
At such time as Husband purchases the real property from Wife, Husband shall refinance the real property to remove Wife's name from the mortgage.
In the event Husband does not elect to purchase the residence from Wife, the Wife shall be free to sell the residence to a third party purchaser and shall pay to Husband the sum of $18,000 plus any interest thereon which has accrued from the date of the divorce to the date of the sale of the residence. In the event the parties sell the residence to a third person purchaser, the parties shall equally divide the costs of any real estate commission and closing costs which accrue as a result of the sale of the residence.
"
So. Read it again if you like. A few facts, so far as I know them:
a) According to county records on the internet, my father's name is the only one on the deed at present.
b) My father was ordered to pay child support, which he has done. It was never increased from the original amount.
c) Another clause award my father the entirity of his retirement plan, then worth about 14k, while another required my mother to pay his, her own, and the children's life insurance premiums, specifying that if they were cashed out the money was to be divided equally. He later cashed out his policy, keeping all of the money.
Now then, a number of questions present themselves to me. If they sound foolishly optimistic, bear in mind that I know very little of the Law.
1. What are the chances of this entire agreement being declared null and void, without the consent of the proverbial Husband, on some basis such as being rediculously unfair, or vague, or the judge and my mom's lawyer being high on PCP, or whatever? If this were to happen, what would be the likely outcome?
2. As I understand it, "rights of survivorship" and "joint tenant" means that whoever lives longest gets full rights to the property. Is this the case? Could my father's new wife, for example, inherit his "lien" on this house? If my mom dies, does he get it all?
3. Would the interest on this "lien" be compound or not?
4. If "Husband" were to choose not to exercise his first option to buy this house, how could my mom then sell it? Since his name is on the deed, would she have to pay him, then get his name removed from the mortage and deed, then list it for sale? Is there no way that she could buy him out and then keep the house? Is she prevented from "moving" out and renting the house?
5. For speculation: What kind of lawyer would allow her client to even read this agreement, much less sign it?
Thanks in advance for any advice - if you know of a great lawyer in the KC area who would take a look at this without charging upfront, please say so.
