Divorce settlement issue

[Renegade31580]

What is the name of your state? Kentucky
I divorced my ex wife in 2019. Under Marital property in our divorce Settlement it states the following. She was going to reside at the marital property as I had moved out in 2015. I was ordered to pay half the land taxes for 2018. Afterwards the property was supposed to be sold and the proceeds split 50/50. She insisted that I was supposed to keep paying half every year she stayed there. I naively paid. My fiance, who has to of been a lawyer in a past life, She understands legal gargin. My ex refuses and fights me on selling. The divorce agreement clearly states I only pay 2018 and we sell and split. She claims the paid taxes in full every year on her taxes. Am I obligated to pay half? Am I liable for every year she refuses to sell, lives there, and claims the property taxes on her IRS return only?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Kentucky
I divorced my ex wife in 2019. Under Marital property in our divorce Settlement it states the following. She was going to reside at the marital property as I had moved out in 2015. I was ordered to pay half the land taxes for 2018. Afterwards the property was supposed to be sold and the proceeds split 50/50. She insisted that I was supposed to keep paying half every year she stayed there. I naively paid. My fiance, who has to of been a lawyer in a past life, She understands legal gargin. My ex refuses and fights me on selling. The divorce agreement clearly states I only pay 2018 and we sell and split. She claims the paid taxes in full every year on her taxes. Am I obligated to pay half? Am I liable for every year she refuses to sell, lives there, and claims the property taxes on her IRS return only?

Someone would have to see the exact wording of your court orders in order to express an opinion. You most likely should be running them by a local attorney.

However, I doubt that the property taxes are relevant to her taxes. On the federal side of things property taxes are only relevant if you itemize deductions, and that odds that she itemizes deductions are not particularly strong, particularly if there is no mortgage and therefore no mortgage interest to potentially deduct.

 

[AlmostThere]

It sounds like you might want to speak to a family law attorney to determine if it is possible to force your ex to sell the house, or buy out your share.

Whose name is the house in? Is there a mortgage, whose name is that in?

 

[adjusterjack]

My fiance, who has to of been a lawyer in a past life, She understands legal gargin.

Better take your decree to a real lawyer

 

[zddoodah]

No one who hasn't read the divorce decree can speak intelligently about your quesitons.

The better question is why, if the decree required the property to be sold, it hasn't been sold by now - four years later.

 

[Litigator22]

What is the name of your state? Kentucky
I divorced my ex wife in 2019. Under Marital property in our divorce Settlement it states the following. She was going to reside at the marital property as I had moved out in 2015. I was ordered to pay half the land taxes for 2018. Afterwards the property was supposed to be sold and the proceeds split 50/50. She insisted that I was supposed to keep paying half every year she stayed there. I naively paid. My fiance, who has to of been a lawyer in a past life, She understands legal gargin. My ex refuses and fights me on selling. The divorce agreement clearly states I only pay 2018 and we sell and split. She claims the paid taxes in full every year on her taxes. Am I obligated to pay half? Am I liable for every year she refuses to sell, lives there, and claims the property taxes on her IRS return only?

Unless you and your ex are willing to fully cooperate in disposing of the subject property, you are left with but two legal alternatives.

Option one. You can attempt to secure an order of the court reopening the divorce case and thereupon have it issue such supplemental/augmented orders as deemed appropriate in order to affect a sale of the property as per your stated interpretation of the "divorce settlement''.

However, given the extensive passage of time alone the likelihood of the court agreeing to revisit the case seems highly doubtful. More likely is that the court would leave the issue as it stands. And the way it now stands is that you and your ex jointly own the property as tenants in common; a unique state of ownership, which brings us to your second and final option.

Option two. Pursuant to Section 389.030 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes you can petition the appropriate Kentucky court (not the divorce court) to partition and/or order the property to be sold at a public auction with the net proceeds divided as you and your ex's respective interests appear.

One last "however" is that this option is brimful with negative financial consequences! If you want to learn how they can be avoided, ask.