can divorce outcomes be appealed

Wisconsin, If you do not like the courts division or final decisions regarding property or money, can it be appealed or is it final.

tarts05 said:

Wisconsin, If you do not like the courts division or final decisions regarding property or money, can it be appealed or is it final.

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If the judge made the order, and it wasn't an agreement between the parties, then you can appeal if you are within the time frame to appeal.

However, in the appeal you would have to prove that the judge made an error of law or abused his/her discretion.

For example, if the judge made a 50/50 division of marital property and you are simply unhappy with how things it was broken out, an appeal might get you no where, except more legal fees.

However, if the judge ruled that something was marital property, when it was clearly separate property, you might get somewhere with an appeal.

If you give us some info on what was in dispute, we might be able to give you a clearer answer.

My husband is claiming a few bank accounts that are in his name and his father's name is really his father's money. His father is demanding that this money is his, but has offered no proof. I am worried that the court may not include these accounts and I am pretty sure it's our money. These accounts are frozen but his father is trying to get the judge to unfreeze them. Won't they have to offer proof of where the money orginally came from, and who's name it was orginally in?

tarts05 said:

My husband is claiming a few bank accounts that are in his name and his father's name is really his father's money. His father is demanding that this money is his, but has offered no proof. I am worried that the court may not include these accounts and I am pretty sure it's our money. These accounts are frozen but his father is trying to get the judge to unfreeze them. Won't they have to offer proof of where the money orginally came from, and who's name it was orginally in?

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Maybe...is the father elderly? My name is on all of my mother's accounts because she is elderly and she wants someone else to be able to access the money if she becomes incapacitated or passes away. I am also the executor to her will. That is something very common.

However, its also possible, particularly if his father is not elderly, that he is playing games with the money as well.

How deep the judge might go into it depends on the credibility of the situation. How much an appeals court questions the judge's decision will depend on what kind of evidence to the contrary that you raise at the trial level.

What argument will you give the judge for being "pretty sure that its our money"? What evidence will you provide?

If it IS the father's money, then he could be in a world of hurt because the accounts are frozen.

tarts05 said:

My husband is claiming a few bank accounts that are in his name and his father's name is really his father's money. His father is demanding that this money is his, but has offered no proof. I am worried that the court may not include these accounts and I am pretty sure it's our money. These accounts are frozen but his father is trying to get the judge to unfreeze them. Won't they have to offer proof of where the money orginally came from, and who's name it was orginally in?

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As far as the accounts in the father's name: Your husband and his father are both willing to testify that it's the father's money. You are 'pretty sure' that it's your money, but there's apparently no evidence.

They don't have the burden of proof - you do. If you have evidence that it's your money, you'd better come up with it soon. For example, if you can show that large amounts of money were withdrawn from marital accounts at about the time the money appeared in the father's account, you might have a case. But if it's simply your word that you are suspicious against a sworn statement from 2 people, you're probably not going to win.

The accounts in your husband's name are different. They are presumed to be marital property and to be divided 50:50 unless he can show that they were separate property.
Wisconsin Property Division FAQs — DivorceNet

So, in the case of the accounts in your husband's name, you should get 1/2 unless he can convince the court that the money is separate property.

And in WI, it would be separate if it were premarital, non comingled funds, a gift, an inheritance, or the results of liquidating a premarital, non-comingled asset. Or identified as separate in a WI prenup and non comingled.

mistoffolees said:

As far as the accounts in the father's name: Your husband and his father are both willing to testify that it's the father's money. You are 'pretty sure' that it's your money, but there's apparently no evidence.

They don't have the burden of proof - you do. If you have evidence that it's your money, you'd better come up with it soon. For example, if you can show that large amounts of money were withdrawn from marital accounts at about the time the money appeared in the father's account, you might have a case. But if it's simply your word that you are suspicious against a sworn statement from 2 people, you're probably not going to win.

The accounts in your husband's name are different. They are presumed to be marital property and to be divided 50:50 unless he can show that they were separate property.
Wisconsin Property Division FAQs — DivorceNet

So, in the case of the accounts in your husband's name, you should get 1/2 unless he can convince the court that the money is separate property.

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I do not disagree with the bolded, but I will add that if you provide credible testimony that the father had little to no assets, lived on social security only or a small amount of other retirement assets, then that might be enough to convince a judge to dig deeper.

Or, if dad is well positioned financially, and not elderly, therefore having no logical reason to have joint accounts with his son, a judge might dig deeper.

However, if dad is elderly, you honestly need to have some credible basis to claim that the accounts are marital...and I will repeat, if dad is elderly and it really is his money, having the accounts frozen could be putting a world of hurt on dad.

tarts05 said:

My husband is claiming a few bank accounts that are in his name and his father's name is really his father's money. His father is demanding that this money is his, but has offered no proof. I am worried that the court may not include these accounts and I am pretty sure it's our money. These accounts are frozen but his father is trying to get the judge to unfreeze them. Won't they have to offer proof of where the money orginally came from, and who's name it was orginally in?

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Is there a FINAL order yet? Is the divorce final yet? If the divorce is NOT final then it cannot be appealed. You state that the court may not include these accounts -- that tells me that the divorce is NOT final. You need to prove that this money is MARITAL money.

LdiJ said:

I do not disagree with the bolded, but I will add that if you provide credible testimony that the father had little to no assets, lived on social security only or a small amount of other retirement assets, then that might be enough to convince a judge to dig deeper.

Or, if dad is well positioned financially, and not elderly, therefore having no logical reason to have joint accounts with his son, a judge might dig deeper.

However, if dad is elderly, you honestly need to have some credible basis to claim that the accounts are marital...and I will repeat, if dad is elderly and it really is his money, having the accounts frozen could be putting a world of hurt on dad.

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Even if dad is NOT elderly, there may be reason's he'd wish to have his son share HIS accounts. Example: I know of some adult kids whose parents are snowbirds, and they handle local bills for them when they winter down south. Other reason would be to bypass probate if they die. One needn't be elderly to have that concern, my dad was deceased at 52 after a long illness. I have friend whose widowed parent put them on on some of their accounts after suffering a heart attack.

nextwife said:

Even if dad is NOT elderly, there may be reason's he'd wish to have his son share HIS accounts. Example: I know of some adult kids whose parents are snowbirds, and they handle local bills for them when they winter down south. Other reason would be to bypass probate if they die. One needn't be elderly to have that concern, my dad was deceased at 52 after a long illness. I have friend whose widowed parent put them on on some of their accounts after suffering a heart attack.

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While I don't discount the points you are making Nexie, in those situations a parent normally wouldn't normally allow access to funds in excess of what was needed to cover regular bills or emergencies, unless the parent had a terminal illness. If the parent had a terminal illness then there would be a paper trail.