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Commingling of inherited property

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gypsygabba

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California. After date of separation and filing for divorce, Ex-spouse took out a $392,000 on an inherited (him) small ranch that together, we totally gutted and remodeled with community funds; (funds were from a house that we owned and sold after building it and living in it for three years) as well as our construction company funds and company labor. Call me naïve, although I prefer “trusting,” I believed him when he told me that IF I would consent to sell our new house, one-half of this ranch would be mine, and that he would “even let us” remodel the house to my specifications. I kept my part of the deal, but when we visited the trust attorney to get OUR trust in order, he informed my husband that, by leaving it in the trust of his “Joe Blow’s Child’s Exempt Trust, that he could never be sued for any lawsuit for construction defects, etc., where he could lose the ranch. When he determined that construction lawsuits could cost a pretty penny, he again made a verbal promise to share half this ranch with me but that he didn’t want to take a chance on losing the ranch in such an instance. In fact, the reason that he felt that way was because he had done some substandard construction on one of the houses that “he” built (he always spoke as if he was the only one who had any say-so over the business). We had been married 20 years by that time, so I took him at his word and didn’t insist that we put it over in our trust. Nevertheless, it was commingled and there is no way to track expenses as it was all taken from the same account: Blow’s Construction Co. The ranch has significantly increased in value, mostly because of the improvements that we made. Am I entitled to part of this value?
 


mistoffolees

Senior Member
You'll probably need to see an attorney.

I'm guessing that the answer depends on the wording of the trust. It is entirely possible that your share of the home may be considered a gift to the child(ren), although there may be tax consequences if that's the case.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California. After date of separation and filing for divorce, Ex-spouse took out a $392,000 on an inherited (him) small ranch that together, we totally gutted and remodeled with community funds; (funds were from a house that we owned and sold after building it and living in it for three years) as well as our construction company funds and company labor. Call me naïve, although I prefer “trusting,” I believed him when he told me that IF I would consent to sell our new house, one-half of this ranch would be mine, and that he would “even let us” remodel the house to my specifications. I kept my part of the deal, but when we visited the trust attorney to get OUR trust in order, he informed my husband that, by leaving it in the trust of his “Joe Blow’s Child’s Exempt Trust, that he could never be sued for any lawsuit for construction defects, etc., where he could lose the ranch. When he determined that construction lawsuits could cost a pretty penny, he again made a verbal promise to share half this ranch with me but that he didn’t want to take a chance on losing the ranch in such an instance. In fact, the reason that he felt that way was because he had done some substandard construction on one of the houses that “he” built (he always spoke as if he was the only one who had any say-so over the business). We had been married 20 years by that time, so I took him at his word and didn’t insist that we put it over in our trust. Nevertheless, it was commingled and there is no way to track expenses as it was all taken from the same account: Blow’s Construction Co. The ranch has significantly increased in value, mostly because of the improvements that we made. Am I entitled to part of this value?
You definitely would need an attorney, however, I agree with Seniorjudge that you very well could be entitled to a share of the equity.
 

gypsygabba

Junior Member
Commingling of Inherited property

I have exhausted my funds paying for an attorney and am now required to represent myself. The reason for this is that my ex took the bulk of the money out of our bank accounts immediately after separation (I have documentation), and removed my name and access to our construction company account. He got three times as much cash as I did (which I know I am entitled to but it's been almost two years now), plus the money from the loan against the ranch. I do not want to appear greedy in court by asking for more than my fair share, but it appears as though my ex is delaying the process until I have no more money to fight with, and also that he is using my health insurance (he has none) to continue to feed his prescription drug addiction (he is currently taking Oxycontin, Percoset, nerve pills, anti-depressants, not to mention the non-prescription self-medicating stuff as well). There is even more to the case since we have quite a few assets (as you can well imagine after 31 years of marriage), but I do not want to overwhelm you with all the other things at this point. I will be traveling to the Law Library to research--can you perhaps guide me as to what I should be looking for?
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
I have exhausted my funds paying for an attorney and am now required to represent myself. The reason for this is that my ex took the bulk of the money out of our bank accounts immediately after separation (I have documentation), and removed my name and access to our construction company account. He got three times as much cash as I did (which I know I am entitled to but it's been almost two years now), plus the money from the loan against the ranch. I do not want to appear greedy in court by asking for more than my fair share, but it appears as though my ex is delaying the process until I have no more money to fight with, and also that he is using my health insurance (he has none) to continue to feed his prescription drug addiction (he is currently taking Oxycontin, Percoset, nerve pills, anti-depressants, not to mention the non-prescription self-medicating stuff as well). There is even more to the case since we have quite a few assets (as you can well imagine after 31 years of marriage), but I do not want to overwhelm you with all the other things at this point. I will be traveling to the Law Library to research--can you perhaps guide me as to what I should be looking for?
It will take you far too long to learn what you need to know to handle this.

I would suggest that you take your documentation to an attorney and see if you can find one who will petition the court to be paid from marital assets.
 

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