personal and marital property disposed of by spouse

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

Husband and wife jointly own a home and married almost 2 years. Wife moved out, but paid mortgage while husband was living in home and going through divorce. Husband agrees to let wife have the home and moves out of state. Husband either took or gave away all marital property and some of wife's personal property owned prior to marriage and left the house empty. Prior to moving out, the husband had the locks changed so the wife could not enter the house and retrieve personal items.

How does the wife go about getting the personal property returned and marital property returned for equitable distribution? Included in what was given away was a washer/dryer that is included in the mortgage. Husband claims he will declare bankruptcy and does not care.

KAT62 said:

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

Husband and wife jointly own a home and married almost 2 years. Wife moved out, but paid mortgage while husband was living in home and going through divorce. Husband agrees to let wife have the home and moves out of state. Husband either took or gave away all marital property and some of wife's personal property owned prior to marriage and left the house empty. Prior to moving out, the husband had the locks changed so the wife could not enter the house and retrieve personal items.

How does the wife go about getting the personal property returned and marital property returned for equitable distribution? Included in what was given away was a washer/dryer that is included in the mortgage. Husband claims he will declare bankruptcy and does not care.

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Wife calls locksmith to open door to get into the house.

Wife walks into house and takes her property.

Wife then goes to court to ask for distribution of marital property. If husband doesn't give her what the court orders, she files for contempt.

Husband can file bankruptcy if he wishes, but that will not discharge all debts - alimony and child support survive bankruptcy, for example.

And for Bali's sake, 'wife' and 'husband' can readily be swapped.

mistoffolees said:

Wife calls locksmith to open door to get into the house.

Wife walks into house and takes her property.

Wife then goes to court to ask for distribution of marital property. If husband doesn't give her what the court orders, she files for contempt.

Husband can file bankruptcy if he wishes, but that will not discharge all debts - alimony and child support survive bankruptcy, for example.

And for Bali's sake, 'wife' and 'husband' can readily be swapped.

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Wife is in the house because the husband left and moved out of state. Husband changed locks before he moved. Before he moved he took or disposed of ALL property - BOTH marital and wife's personal property. Wife does NOT know where the property is located. It could have been given to various friends of the husband and husband took some of the property out of state. Husband left NOTHING in the house except the dining room table and a few kitchen items.

How can the wife get distribution of marital property if the husband took some and gave away or disposed of some? What happens in this case? Will the husband be ordered to pay the wife the value of the marital property due to her along with HER personal property that he took?

KAT62 said:

Wife is in the house because the husband left and moved out of state. Husband changed locks before he moved. Before he moved he took or disposed of ALL property - BOTH marital and wife's personal property. Wife does NOT know where the property is located. It could have been given to various friends of the husband and husband took some of the property out of state. Husband left NOTHING in the house except the dining room table and a few kitchen items.

How can the wife get distribution of marital property if the husband took some and gave away or disposed of some? What happens in this case? Will the husband be ordered to pay the wife the value of the marital property due to her along with HER personal property that he took?

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See above.

If the court orders him to give her something and he has destroyed it, then he will have to pay.

I am going to be presumptive here and say that the party who is claiming reimbursement has proof of value and proof that it existed prior to the judge making it an order to pay back.

Tayla said:

I am going to be presumptive here and say that the party who is claiming reimbursement has proof of value and proof that it existed prior to the judge making it an order to pay back.

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The washer/dryer and it's value would be listed in the mortgage documents. The other items....pictures that were taken in the house not long ago would provide proof they existed.

Pictures would show all the furniture, curtains, and furnishings that were in the house and are now removed and disposed of by the husband.

In addition to what I posted above....isn't it a little obvious that there was marital property if the husband was living in the house and now the house has been emptied? Emptied of beds, furniture, washer/dryer, towels, sheets, furnishings. There you see it (in pictures and proof he was living and using the items) and POOF...now it's ALL GONE?!

KAT62 said:

In addition to what I posted above....isn't it a little obvious that there was marital property if the husband was living in the house and now the house has been emptied? Emptied of beds, furniture, washer/dryer, towels, sheets, furnishings. There you see it (in pictures and proof he was living and using the items) and POOF...now it's ALL GONE?!

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You're probably in for a big surprise.

Property values are based on fair market prices - or, essentially, what they would bring in a garage sale. Even nearly new items are worth only cents on the dollar.

But you're missing Tayla's point. You will ultimately have to prove that items were marital and what the current fair market value is. If you both start fighting over household goods, the legal costs of fighting could easily exceed the value - possibly by hundreds of percent.

mistoffolees said:

You're probably in for a big surprise.

Property values are based on fair market prices - or, essentially, what they would bring in a garage sale. Even nearly new items are worth only cents on the dollar.

But you're missing Tayla's point. You will ultimately have to prove that items were marital and what the current fair market value is. If you both start fighting over household goods, the legal costs of fighting could easily exceed the value - possibly by hundreds of percent.

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I understand what you are saying. It is believed that some of these items were given away to the husband's friends locally. They could be retrieved and returned, but not sure how that can be ordered? The main concern is the washer/dryer which could even be in the same neighborhood and a bed that was the wife's prior to marriage.

So, basically, you are saying the husband gets away with being a jerk by emptying the entire house and giving away the wife's personal items and marital property unless the wife has means to fight him.

KAT62 said:

I understand what you are saying. It is believed that some of these items were given away to the husband's friends locally. They could be retrieved and returned, but not sure how that can be ordered? The main concern is the washer/dryer which could even be in the same neighborhood and a bed that was the wife's prior to marriage.

So, basically, you are saying the husband gets away with being a jerk by emptying the entire house and giving away the wife's personal items and marital property unless the wife has means to fight him.

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A washer and dryer, at best, are going to be worth about 200.00 - 300.00 second hand, and a bed no more than the same, even if really nice. So, you are talking 400.00 - 600.00.

Even if it was 2000.00 worth of household goods the cost of tryign to get them back, or get money out of the ex, most likely would exceed the value of the goods. It very well may not be cost effective.

Is he due to get any money out of the house when it sells or is he due any other share of a marital assets that is currently in the wife's control? If so, then possibly some money can be retrieved there without spending more than the items are worth.

KAT62 said:

I understand what you are saying. It is believed that some of these items were given away to the husband's friends locally. They could be retrieved and returned, but not sure how that can be ordered? The main concern is the washer/dryer which could even be in the same neighborhood and a bed that was the wife's prior to marriage.

So, basically, you are saying the husband gets away with being a jerk by emptying the entire house and giving away the wife's personal items and marital property unless the wife has means to fight him.

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You already got your answer. During the divorce process, the court will decide on property division (unless the two of you can agree). At that time, you present the evidence of items that are yours plus their value and/or marital property and value and ask the court to order proper division. Then, if he has given things away, you ask the court to order him to reimburse you.

Just don't count on it being a lot of money.

Is it fair that he can empty the house and get away with it? Probably not - but you're the one who took off and left him with the house for a year. There is a mechanism to get your property back or its fair market value, though. It's simply a question of how much money you want to invest to get back a relatively small amount of money.

mistoffolees said:

You already got your answer. During the divorce process, the court will decide on property division (unless the two of you can agree). At that time, you present the evidence of items that are yours plus their value and/or marital property and value and ask the court to order proper division. Then, if he has given things away, you ask the court to order him to reimburse you.

Just don't count on it being a lot of money.

Is it fair that he can empty the house and get away with it? Probably not - but you're the one who took off and left him with the house for a year. There is a mechanism to get your property back or its fair market value, though. It's simply a question of how much money you want to invest to get back a relatively small amount of money.

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First, I'm not talking about myself which is why I did not word it as "I", "my",etc.

2nd, the wife did not take off and leave the husband with the house for a year. There are reasons why the wife "had" to leave which included safety. This is why the wife chose not to get a locksmith and change the locks for fear of what the husband may do. The husband did NOT pay any of the mortgage for the "few months" while the wife was out of the house. The wife continued to pay the mortgage because the husband could not afford to and would not contribute any money at all to the mortgage payment.

LdiJ said:

Is he due to get any money out of the house when it sells or is he due any other share of a marital assets that is currently in the wife's control? If so, then possibly some money can be retrieved there without spending more than the items are worth.

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No, he is giving up his right to any share of the house when/if it sells. As of now, there would not be any money as if would sell for a loss.

KAT62 said:

I understand what you are saying. It is believed that some of these items were given away to the husband's friends locally. They could be retrieved and returned, but not sure how that can be ordered? The main concern is the washer/dryer which could even be in the same neighborhood and a bed that was the wife's prior to marriage.

So, basically, you are saying the husband gets away with being a jerk by emptying the entire house and giving away the wife's personal items and marital property unless the wife has means to fight him.

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Wife should have filed for divorce and temporary orders upon moving out.

If wife did this, she would be in a better position to deal with this situation.

Apparently wife was "busy" with other matters that kept her from monitoring what was happening to her personal property.

Bali Hai said:

Wife should have filed for divorce and temporary orders upon moving out.

If wife did this, she would be in a better position to deal with this situation.

Apparently wife was "busy" with other matters that kept her from monitoring what was happening to her personal property.

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Btw, this is the wife's Mother trying to help her daughter...seems like you are implying "something" else? As for the "reasons" why the wife moved out...it is because her counselor advised her to separte due to the husband's addictions and substance abuse.

Wife filed for divorce. Not sure what temporary orders are? Papers were served to husband.

Wife was locked out of her own home and could not monitor personal property. Wife was afraid to interfere with husband's moving process for fear he would damage the house. Wife received a call from her attorney that the husband vacated the house, but in reality did not vacate until 3 days later.

At one time, wife did take some personal items from the home and wife was threatened by husband that she was stealing and breaking and entering. Husband then changed locks. So, not sure what you mean by she did not "monitor" the personal property?