Fiance's divorce

My fiance and I have joint bank accounts and are co-owners of our home. He and his ex where married and divorced in Washington state but now both live in NM. His divorce papers state that he must have a will stating their son as beneficiary of his estate. How do I protect myself in the event of his death since everything we have is joint and his gold digging ex will fight me for our house. He already has a life insurance policy for $180,000 that would go to his son to cover future child support etc. I don't care about the money but I do not want to fight for our house and have cars tied up in probate etc. Also at time of divorce he agreed to pay $1000 per month support <$165 more then court ordered> but his income has dropped dramatically since then. Does he need to go to court to have this revised? Since divorce in WA and both parties live in NM would he petion WA courts or NM courts, and if WA should case be moved to NM? Please help!

Originally posted by lobstrmama
My fiance and I have joint bank accounts and are co-owners of our home. He and his ex where married and divorced in Washington state but now both live in NM. His divorce papers state that he must have a will stating their son as beneficiary of his estate. How do I protect myself in the event of his death since everything we have is joint and his gold digging ex will fight me for our house. He already has a life insurance policy for $180,000 that would go to his son to cover future child support etc. I don't care about the money but I do not want to fight for our house and have cars tied up in probate etc. Also at time of divorce he agreed to pay $1000 per month support <$165 more then court ordered> but his income has dropped dramatically since then. Does he need to go to court to have this revised? Since divorce in WA and both parties live in NM would he petion WA courts or NM courts, and if WA should case be moved to NM? Please help!

Case needs to be moved to NM, and yes he would need to petition the court for the support amount to be revised.

Now as far as protecting your assets, you need to seperate all income. You should have a bank account of your own as should he. Because the minute the ex finds out something has happened to him, she will freeze all accounts with his name on it. You should have the car in your name as well as a quitclaim deed on the house if need be to protect you.

Thank you for your advice, that is pretty much what I thought. I recently closed 2 of 3 joint accounts and re opened them in my name only and before he left back to work he signed the titles of both our vehicles releasing his intrest. What is this quickclaim deed for the house and how do I go about doing that? I am not really that concerned that he is going to die but he is self employeed in one of the most dangerous jobs <was even profiled on the discovery channel> I am also wondering if he were to have a new will made up <which is what he is planning to do> would his divorce papers override his will?

Originally posted by lobstrmama
Thank you for your advice, that is pretty much what I thought. I recently closed 2 of 3 joint accounts and re opened them in my name only and before he left back to work he signed the titles of both our vehicles releasing his intrest. What is this quickclaim deed for the house and how do I go about doing that? I am not really that concerned that he is going to die but he is self employeed in one of the most dangerous jobs <was even profiled on the discovery channel> I am also wondering if he were to have a new will made up <which is what he is planning to do> would his divorce papers override his will?

Repost the question about the quitclaim deed to the Real Estate board and make it attn HomeGuru. My understanding of a quitclaim deed is that the person gives up any interest in the house/property. Making it your sole property. As for his new will overriding the court order, it wont. The court order is a judgement, so no matter who he wills anything to the judgement will come out of his estate.

I would suggest that if he hasn't already done so that he take out seperate life insurance policies that designate you as the sole beneficiary.

Thank you sooo much. That is the information that I really needed. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but definetly what I needed to know. Thanks for responding so quickly and for the advice I needed to protect myself--I have 2 children from previous marriage also and now I know what I need to do to sleep easier!