Need Help! Are my hands tied?

[diesel83]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My wife and I separated over a year ago when I found out she was sneaking around with another man. At the time of separation I agreed to leave the home temporarily as we were going to try and work things out. Over the course of the next couple months things just got worse and it was clear that it was going to be a permanent thing. I told her then that I would like to have the house as I am the primary on the mortgage, she said no and at the time I did not want to fight with her. I went to the house to get some of my belongings at that time she had written out a letter saying I release my interest in the home and wont fight her for it, she told me if I didn't sign it she would call the police and have me arrested if I tried to remove anything from the house.

She's since filed for a "Simplified Dissolution of Marriage" and did not list the home on any of the paperwork so I responded saying I wanted the home. She then produced the hand written letter saying I have no rights to the home. Is that letter a binding legal document? She is trying to rush the divorce through quickly but I don't agree to everything and I don't feel that letter is adequate. She requested an "Uncontested Hearing" however she hasn't agreed to any of my terms. My goal is to have the home vacated and put up for sale so we no longer have that tie.

Any advice I would greatly appreciate

 

[Bali Hai]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My wife and I separated over a year ago when I found out she was sneaking around with another man. At the time of separation I agreed to leave the home temporarily as we were going to try and work things out. Over the course of the next couple months things just got worse and it was clear that it was going to be a permanent thing. I told her then that I would like to have the house as I am the primary on the mortgage, she said no and at the time I did not want to fight with her. I went to the house to get some of my belongings at that time she had written out a letter saying I release my interest in the home and wont fight her for it, she told me if I didn't sign it she would call the police and have me arrested if I tried to remove anything from the house.

She's since filed for a "Simplified Dissolution of Marriage" and did not list the home on any of the paperwork so I responded saying I wanted the home. She then produced the hand written letter saying I have no rights to the home. Is that letter a binding legal document? She is trying to rush the divorce through quickly but I don't agree to everything and I don't feel that letter is adequate. She requested an "Uncontested Hearing" however she hasn't agreed to any of my terms. My goal is to have the home vacated and put up for sale so we no longer have that tie.

Any advice I would greatly appreciate

You have a contested divorce, hire a lawyer and dig in. BTW, you can reside at your home until such time a judge says you can't.

 

[ecmst12]

Hire a lawyer.

 

[single317dad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My wife and I separated over a year ago when I found out she was sneaking around with another man. At the time of separation I agreed to leave the home temporarily as we were going to try and work things out. Over the course of the next couple months things just got worse and it was clear that it was going to be a permanent thing. I told her then that I would like to have the house as I am the primary on the mortgage, she said no and at the time I did not want to fight with her. I went to the house to get some of my belongings at that time she had written out a letter saying I release my interest in the home and wont fight her for it, she told me if I didn't sign it she would call the police and have me arrested if I tried to remove anything from the house.

She's since filed for a "Simplified Dissolution of Marriage" and did not list the home on any of the paperwork so I responded saying I wanted the home. She then produced the hand written letter saying I have no rights to the home. Is that letter a binding legal document? She is trying to rush the divorce through quickly but I don't agree to everything and I don't feel that letter is adequate. She requested an "Uncontested Hearing" however she hasn't agreed to any of my terms. My goal is to have the home vacated and put up for sale so we no longer have that tie.

Any advice I would greatly appreciate

Stop letting your wife dictate terms to you. Hire a good lawyer, divorce her, and get your assets properly divided so you can move on.

 

[aardvarc]

she told me if I didn't sign it she would call the police and have me arrested if I tried to remove anything from the house

This is why you should never take legal advice from someone trying to divorce you. What you SHOULD have told her is "go ahead, call the police". This is a CIVIL issue where the contents of the home get divided per your divorce decree. Until there's a court order to the contrary, police have NOTHING to do with items contained within your marital home, whether you want to remove them, sell them in a yard sale, give them away, or destroy them (noting that any form of violence in destroying items can result in fear in others and thus a domestic violence charge). But there's nothing that would have stopped you from sitting in the middle of the living room and drawing mustaches on her collectible figurines (other than the judge taking their destruction into account in the financial portion of the divorce settlement), or taking items from the home, so long as it was peaceable. YOU could have even asked the police to show up to keep the peace while you moved stuff out. Who ultimately is awarded items or the value of items in the home gets dealt with by the divorce judge, not the police; police only care that no crime (ie domestic violence) gets committed. You can't be arrested for "stealing" items in your own home when no judge has ordered those items to be exclusive property of the other spouse, or that are "prima facae" their property (ie their driver's license, identifications, personal papers like birth certificates, things that are "obviously" hers). And, lest you rouse the ire of the judge, I wouldn't be taking things like her clothing, makeup, or jewley, unless you've got a well established reputation around town as a cross-dresser. But short of not coming across as a jerk by taking things that are obviously hers, there's nothing to stop you from taking items from your own home.

In fact, it can be a good strategy in cases like this to both ask police to stand by, AND to video tape the taking of the items, leaving the camera rolling the whole time, and itemizing both things taken AND what is left behind and in what condition. Can be helpful when the ex tells the court that you took the million dollar coin collection, her grandmother's wedding ring, or destroyed her $8,000 leather couch or other items - if you've got it in place on video on your final walk through before exiting, it goes a long way to credibility.