• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

verbal contract/divorce

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

G

Geesame

Guest
I have been 3 years in the process of a divorce in California, my husband and I went into a partnership 12 years ago with one other person in the broadcasting business, we did not go into the partnership until 5 months after our marriage, and the stock was not issued until after marraige of course, however because my ex was building a satellite truck as a private contractor for the other partner at the time of our marraige, they both are now saying that they had verbally formed this partnership prior to marriage, there has been a forensic accountant involved hired by his attorney, he has found in my favor, based on all of the evidence before him, we went to trial 2 weeks ago on the buisness interest. * by the way we sold the company for our portion was 1,000,000.00 5 months prior to seperation, my ex, took all the proceeds banked them in his own accounts that he just opened, opened his own schwab account, and began day tradeing, I protested and he said it was all his, I filed for divorce and was able to freeze 500,000.00 and the court unfroze 1/and 1/2 of that and gave it to him which he lost day trading along with the rest of the 1,000.000.00 and kept the rest upon determination of community prorperty/seperate interest, that has been 3 years ago, they have disbursed 30,000.00 of my supposed half which was *220,000.00?) 10K to each attorney, and another 10K for my ex to hire another forensic accountant, which he did not. So 2 weeks ago we go to court and because his partner was a great salesman for the company, he is very believable and I think the Judge really believes that they formed this partnership based on a verbal contract, even though Steve filed the articles of inc. solely as an S corporation. and even with the testimony of the expert, I am so scared that they will take what little is left, my ex sailed away in his new 45 foot sailboat, and left me the house, now he wants the house back, he owned it 8 months pror to the marraige, and even though he was basiclly unemployed at the time of marriage, I was makeing the house payments based on the Moore/Marsden formula, I have very little interest in the home I have paid on for 12 years!. My attorney keeps telling me I am not going to get it all, the fact is I am not asking for it all, I want my home, and what is left in the account 220,000.00 am I being unreasonable? my attorney says the Judge will want to give him something, what about the 280,000.00 that he took from the account at the first hearing? or the the 300,000.00 he sepent prior to that was that not a breach of his fudiciary duty?, I am sorry that I have been going on, I hope you have read this far so I can ask the real question. my question is: If the Judge were to find that this buisness was formed by them prior to marraige, and all the physical evidence says otherwise, do I have a good case for an appeal?
signed

So desperate, I can't even get up in the morning!
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
Look, you have a lawyer and s/he has a better handle on this than an outsider could without reviiewing the facts and records.

Even if the business was technically started before the marriage, rather than 3 weeks afterwards, the value at the time of marriage must have been tiny. If it was anything other than a passive investment the date it started should not be very meaningful.

To the extent your husband spent his time building and working for and managing the business, half the increase in value during the marriage would be community property UNLESS you had a pre-nup. As for the house, that is really formula driven, and your mistake was not having it declared community property at the time you began paying the mortgage.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top