lawrat said:
I am a law school graduate, what I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.
Half of everything he earns is yours. So....I suggest you discreetly hire a divorce attorney to do the background check to find his hidden assets, file for divorce and attach those assets. If he has hidden them, he has committed a fraud on the marriage and he may not be entitled to anything.
http://www.attorneypages.com
My response:
Not only is LawRat ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, but I can go one step further to actually show you the consequences of lying to a court . . .
But first, do as LawRat suggests and spend the money to run a WorldWide search for his assets. Yes, it will cost a few thousand dollars, but look what you have to gain !
You see, under California law, if he fails, refuses or commits a fraud upon the court, when he's required by law to disclose EVERYTHING about his financial status, he could lose everything to you !
So, do your search, get the facts, and then file for divorce. He's required, like you, to serve a "Financial Disclosure Statement", under oath to you, and to the court.
When he lies . . . you've got him !
Just read the following recent California newspapers article, in it's entirety, if you don't believe this:
Big winner in lottery is big loser in divorce court
by Ann W. O'Neill
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES - During his 25 years of marriage, Thomas Rossi never saw a marriage counselor, never strayed and never doubted a relationship so close that he shared an electric toothbrush with his wife.
Then Denise Rossi shocked him by demanding a divorce - and she wanted it in a hurry.
Now he knows why: On Dec. 28, 1996 - 11 days before she filed for divorce - Denise Rossi won $1.3 million in the California lottery.
She never told anyone, and her secret caught up with her Monday. A Los Angeles family court judge ruled that she had violated state asset-disclosure laws and awarded her lottery winnings to her ex-husband - every penny.
Superior Court Judge Richard Denner determined that Denise Rossi acted out of fraud or malice. He based his decision on a deposition in which she admitted concealing her winnings because she didn't want her ex-husband "getting his hands on" them.
"Moral of story: It pays to be honest from the beginning," said Mark Lerner, attorney for the 65-year-old jilted husband.
Lerner said his client wept when Denner announced his ruling in court. For her part, Denise Rossi, 49, said she was stunned and is contemplating her next legal move.
"Yes, there will be an appeal," said her attorney, Connolly Oyler. He called the judge's ruling "very punitive."
But Thomas Rossi's lawyers say they are hearing it described another way: "karma."
"Maybe people will think twice about hiding assets during a dissolution," Lerner said.
Thomas Rossi couldn't be reached for comment yesterday, but court papers weaved a compelling tale.
Before their divorce - and the fateful Lotto windfall - the Rossis were "a couple of homebodies" who did everything together. "We shared the same bathroom, and we even shared the same electric toothbrush," he said in court papers.
Denise Rossi, however, tells a different story in her filings and an interview yesterday. She said she had been unhappy for many years. He was always broke; she was always working.
Her chance came, she said, when she and five co-workers in a now-defunct clothing-design company pooled their dollars to play the lottery. They hit the jackpot, sharing $6.6 million.
"I'd wanted to get out of this relationship for years," she said in a telephone interview.
Denise Rossi had her husband served with divorce papers at the little West Hollywood shop where he developed film and shot portraits of aspiring actors. His business folded, and he declared bankruptcy in 1998. He went to work part time at a chain photo store.
Then fate struck. More than two years after the divorce, a misdirected piece of mail landed in Thomas Rossi's mailbox. It was a solicitation to his ex-wife from a company that pays lump sums for lottery winnings and big legal awards.
The May 7 letter from Statewide Funding said, in part, that the company had "helped hundreds of lottery winners like you around the country receive a lump-sum payment for the present value of their future annual lottery payments."
The California State Lottery Commission confirmed in July that Denise Rossi had won $1,336,000 - payable in 20 annual payments.
Thomas Rossi learned that his ex-wife went so far as to have lottery checks sent to her mother's address in Northern California.
He obtained a court injunction a few days later. Had his ex-wife disclosed the winnings, he would have received half under California's community-property laws.
Fighting to hold on to her winnings, Denise Rossi claimed the lottery ticket had been a gift from a co-worker. The judge didn't buy it.
