What is my husband entitled to

[LACook]

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

My husband and I have been separated for over a year. He is 57 years old and lives with his 87 year old dad. His dad takes care of him because he refuses to work. He claims he is a musician. He is trying to get SSI. I own a home that I had when we got married, he has never contributed monetarily to this household. I want to get divorced. I am currently unemployed and working part time. I do have some money in an IRA $16,000 that is from my previous divorce. I am thinking of trying to do it myself. we have no children and have been married for 6 years. Is he entitled to anything?

Thanks!

 

[Ohiogal]

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

My husband and I have been separated for over a year. He is 57 years old and lives with his 87 year old dad. His dad takes care of him because he refuses to work. He claims he is a musician. He is trying to get SSI. I own a home that I had when we got married, he has never contributed monetarily to this household. I want to get divorced. I am currently unemployed and working part time. I do have some money in an IRA $16,000 that is from my previous divorce. I am thinking of trying to do it myself. we have no children and have been married for 6 years. Is he entitled to anything?

Thanks!

He is entitled to the equity that accrued in the last six years. He is also entitled to half the marital assets and half the marital debt. He may even be entitled to some short term spousal support since you state he never contributed monetarily to the household -- hence you did the breadwinning. If you are working part time then you are not currently unemployed.

 

[nextwife]

He is entitled to the equity that accrued in the last six years.

Half the equity.

 

[LACook]

I am only working 20 hours a week to supplement my unemployment. We have no assets. The house is worth less than it was due to the economy here. The only major things we have gotten is his sound equipment and guitars. We have used furniture and I have been unemployed for over a year.

 

[LdiJ]

I am only working 20 hours a week to supplement my unemployment. We have no assets. The house is worth less than it was due to the economy here. The only major things we have gotten is his sound equipment and guitars. We have used furniture and I have been unemployed for over a year.

How can you be collecting unemployment if you have a job? Are people in IL allowed to work (even part time) and also collect unemployment? They are not allowed to do so in Indiana...that one may come back to bite you in the butt...not in the divorce, but you may be forced to pay back some of the unemployment.

However, in any case, he has lived for a year without any financial assistance from you, so he would have a hard time proving a valid reason for alimony even if you weren't collecting unemployment and had a full time job.

Your IRA is premarital, so he doesn't get any of that, and it appears that your home's value has declined during the marriage, so there is nothing for him to get there either.

Just file for divorce and don't make any claims regarding his sound equipment or guitars. Odds are that he won't fight you about anything, and if he does, prove that your house is worth less than it was 6 years ago, which shouldn't be too hard to do, and prove that your IRA is premarital.

 

[mistoffolees]

I am only working 20 hours a week to supplement my unemployment. We have no assets. The house is worth less than it was due to the economy here. The only major things we have gotten is his sound equipment and guitars. We have used furniture and I have been unemployed for over a year.

You can not be unemployed and also working 20 hours per week. I hope you've reported your current working to the unemployment agency - otherwise, you'd be committing fraud.

It really doesn't matter WHAT you have - the response is the same.

You are each entitled to your personal property that you owned before the marriage or purchased with separate funds).

You are each entitled to 1/2 of marital equity in any asset (that is - the difference between equity at the time of marriage and the equity at time of divorce). If that number is zero, then it's zero, but the formula doesn't change simply because you think it's underwater.

You will be able to keep the home since you owned it before you were married, but if there has been any increase in EQUITY, you will have to pay him half. That's not VALUE, it's equity. That is, subtract the current loan from the current value. Is that greater than the value minus the mortgage at the time you were married? If so, you owe him half. If not, you don't - although you could be asked to prove that there has been no increase in equity. The key factor is that you build equity by increasing the home value OR by paying down the loan. It's quite common to increase equity even when the home value is declining.

Of course, you would still need to be able to afford the home expenses plus any support you might be ordered to pay or you'd lose the house, anyway.

Really, if those concepts don't make sense to you, get an attorney.

 

[LdiJ]

You can not be unemployed and also working 20 hours per week. I hope you've reported your current working to the unemployment agency - otherwise, you'd be committing fraud.

It really doesn't matter WHAT you have - the response is the same.

You are each entitled to your personal property that you owned before the marriage or purchased with separate funds).

You are each entitled to 1/2 of marital equity in any asset (that is - the difference between equity at the time of marriage and the equity at time of divorce). If that number is zero, then it's zero, but the formula doesn't change simply because you think it's underwater.

You will be able to keep the home since you owned it before you were married, but if there has been any increase in EQUITY, you will have to pay him half. That's not VALUE, it's equity. That is, subtract the current loan from the current value. Is that greater than the value minus the mortgage at the time you were married? If so, you owe him half. If not, you don't - although you could be asked to prove that there has been no increase in equity. The key factor is that you build equity by increasing the home value OR by paying down the loan. It's quite common to increase equity even when the home value is declining.

Of course, you would still need to be able to afford the home expenses plus any support you might be ordered to pay or you'd lose the house, anyway.

Really, if those concepts don't make sense to you, get an attorney.

While I don't disagree entirely with the bolded, I don't think that its particularly true in today's market. Home values have decreased enough in most of the country that it far outweighs any increase in equity through paying down the mortgage in the last few years.

Right now my house is actually worth about what I paid for it 19 years ago. I still have considerable equity in the home, because I have owned it for 19 years. However, if I had purchased it six years ago I would be more than a bit upside down right now. I know for certain that most of IL is very similar to Indiana, with even bigger corrections in most of the Chicago area market.

 

[LACook]

In Il. Your gross pay cannot be more than 1/2 your unemployment compensation. If it is, they deduct the difference from your unemployment. So if your unemployment is $400/week you can gross $200/week. I report my earnings every 2 weeks. If my husband gets sick or has to go to the hospital, am I responsible for the bill even tho we are separated?

 

[mistoffolees]

That depends. When you say you are separated, are you legally separated or just living separate?

If you're legally separated, you should be OK. Assuming that you're just living apart without a legal separation, then you are jointly liable for any expenses he incurs.