I think I have messed up ? any choices now? - Posted by lacci

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Law
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Posted by John on June 04, 2005 at 17:04:35:

I am not an attorney, nor do I know anything most of the time.
The attorneys will probably not respond here because of the specfic nature of the question.

My advise is contact a lawyer conserning the divorce and the property situation. Good Luck

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I think I have messed up ? any choices now? - Posted by lacci

Posted by lacci on June 04, 2005 at 11:00:30:

Hi, We filed chap 13 about 1 1/2 years ago so my husbands folks bought our house and put it on a contract for deed. Well 2 months ago my husband asked me for a divorce and behind my back (he and his parents stopped the automatic payments coming out from our account) I noticed it on a bank statement. 1) to not incure any more equity in the house and 2) to start the eviction process. The kept calling here asking for me to sign a quit claim deed and harrassing me or me and our daughter (and my husband ) would all be evicted from our house by the end of May. I was still dealing with the issue of divorce and I was kind of pressured into signing a Quit Claim Deed as they told me

  1. My husband would not be moving back into the house ever
  2. If we were evicted I would not be entitled to half my equity in the house
  3. If I signed it we would be allowed to stay here till June 30.
    well… I just found out that when I move out, my husband is moving back in?
    Is there anything I can do or did I just really mess myself up as I wanted to keep the house. I really hope so. Laci
    if not is there any legal action for all the harrassment and lying to me. My feelings are beyond hurt. Not that I am lawsuit crazy but I feel I have been really wronged!
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Re: I think I have messed up ? any choices now? - Posted by Tom-FL

Posted by Tom-FL on June 05, 2005 at 02:06:33:

I don’t know what I’m talking about either, so take it all with a grain of salt.

First, don’t sign any deeds. You will give up any leverage you might have.

Second, you don’t have a lease, you have a land contract. They can’t evict, they must foreclose. I don’t know where you are, but here in FL, you have 20 days from the date of service to file a response to a foreclosure suit. If you file a response, a court date is set, usually several weeks out. If you go to the hearing and lose, then you get 35 or more days until the court ordered sale. Then you have 11 days after the sale before the sheriff comes and moves you out. I wouldn’t worry about being LEGALLY thrown out anytime soon. Of course, it doesn’t look like your in-laws are worried about doing anything LEGALLY. Also, in order for your husband to move back in, he’d have to be the high bidder at the sale.

Third, this isn’t a simple property transaction, it’s all part of the divorce. Even if foreclosure was filed, it would probably get kicked and heard as part of the divorce.

Fourth, there was a bankruptcy involved. If the property was transferred to avoid creditors, the sale can be rescinded up to four years later. In that case, the house is returned to the marital estate and awarded per the divorce court decision. This may or not be good because it revisits the bankruptcy and could expose you to some nastiness.

There are a lot of intertwined issues so you best get a talented attorney. In fact, you may need more than one. You have divorce, foreclosure, and bankruptcy going on here.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.