What is the name of your state?- Ga- I share a home with my sister, where she lives upstairs and I live downstairs. Both our names are on the deed. She has put a TPO against me. I filed a police report about the situation two days before her TPO was filed. It started when she entered my part of the home after taking all the screws out of the door that opens to the stairs into my home. She woke me up yelling at me about bill money, said she was down there to fix a breaker(wasn't broke). While still standing on the stairs, she started to video tape me. That's when I tried to grab her phone from her and she started hitting me and lost her balance while I still had her arm in my hand and her arm twisted behind her when she fell. Then she threatened to get her gun and ran upstairs. That's when I grabbed my pants and ran out of the house. That's the last time I was able to enter my home. She put the TPO on me and I was served with papers at a friend's house and I had to surrender my keys to them. Like I said, I had already made a report to police about the incident and her threatening me with a gun and hitting me two days before she did the TPO. In it she says she wants more bill money from me and for me to go to a drug evaluation! There are no drugs involved. I don't understand how she can have it to where I can't go home and have all these other conditions put on me just by what she tells them when I made a report first. What do I need to do?
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I'm not at fault but I'm locked out!
- Thread starter dcmiller
- Start date
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LdiJ
Senior Member
I would also recommend that you get an attorney.
adjusterjack
Senior Member
And file a partition action (google it) so you can get the home sold and get out of that toxic environment.
The "T" in TPO stands for temporary. There should be a hearing scheduled to determine whether the TPO should continue past that date or be converted to a permanent injunction. I suggest you confer with a local attorney about (1) how best to prepare for that hearing (including whether filing any papers in advance would be a good idea) and (2) how best to extricate yourself from your living situation (e.g., buying out your sister's interest in the shared home, selling your interest to her, filing a partition lawsuit, etc.).
By preparing a complaint and filing it with the appropriate court.
I have no idea how much the filing fee is. I'd suggest googling "[name of the judicial circuit in which the house is located] georgia superior court filing fee."
I'm not familiar with the rules relating to that, but I have no reason to think you couldn't have the filing fee waived if you qualify. It's not a DIY project, however. Maybe you can find a lawyer willing to take the case on contingency. You'd like be better off if your sister is willing to buy out your interest in the property.
Litigator22
Active Member
Aside from the temporary protective order and current sibling hostilities - and speaking in general terms only - you're faced with four options concerning future arrangements between you and sister with respect to the home.
(1) As tenants in common you can continue to jointly occupy the home and share the costs of maintaining it.
(2) The two of you can join in affecting a private sale of the home.
(3) One can purchase the other's 50% undivided ownership. If mutually agreed.
(4) Either of you can force a partition of the home resulting in its sale by court order with the net proceeds equally divided. (Not recommended.) *
What you need to decide is whether or not you can financially afford any future course of action other than option (1).
By that I mean would receipt of one-half the net equity in the home enable you to obtain living quarters similar or satisfactorily comparable to that now.
____________________
[*] If you want to know why not recommended, I'll tell why and explain an alternative solution. Briefly what you do is to threaten partition (against which an opposing owner has no defense) as leverage to induce the recalcitrant co-owner to agree to a more favorable private sale and/or engage in good faith negotiations concerning a buy-out.
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quincy
Senior Member
Both their names are on the deed. That indicates ownership.
Any negotiation with sister must be done in a manner that does not violate the terms and conditions of the order of protection. Any contact with sister that violates these terms will not only work against the order being lifted but can come with additional penalties, including jail time. You probably will need an intermediary to communicate with your sister while the order is in place.
The hearing on the temporary order should have been scheduled already (within 30 days of issuance). Having an attorney speak for you in the courtroom can be important. The attorney will keep (understandable) emotions out of any arguments you want presented. If you and your sister are unable to act civilly toward each other in the courtroom, a judge is more likely to extend the order (up to 3 years) or make the order a permanent one (with no expiration date).
https://www.womenslaw.org/laws/ga/restraining-orders/all
An attorney also can help you with filing for a partition, should you decide to go that route. Litigator22 outlined for you the various options available and offered a good reason why a court-ordered partition might not be in your sister’s or your best financial interests.
Statutory Partition: https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-44/chapter-6/article-7/part-2/subpart-2/section-44-6-160/
Your county court should have “pauper’s affidavit” forms available for you to fill out which, if applicable in your case, could waive court filing costs. Contact the court for more information.
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quincy
Senior Member
Did you check your county court for the paupers affidavit form?
No. Unless your locality has some extremely unusual programs, court-appointed attorneys only exist to defend those accused of crimes.
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