Looking for advice

[rrockinggramma]

Wow. My ex husband just left. We have maintained a relationship as friends over the years because of our 3 now adult children. He remarried 2 years ago and went through a brain tumor surgery that left his eyesight messed up etc. Her insurance paid for the surgery (I think the reason they married?) Anyway, he went into this marriage with a property from his deceased second wife (the one after me) which his new wife mortgaged in her name. Well they are over 200,000 in debt now, she is not working, he is on disability. He wants out so. . my question, after the divorce, I told him to refinance that property (if he can get it back in the divorce) to his name and disassociate himself from her financially in every way. Because of the massive debt she has accumulated (all in her name) would that refinance be subject to trustee seizure if she should file for BK? I think my ex could get away without filing cause he has his name on NONE of the debt but they did set up this "love trust" where all assets reside. That would be dissolved and the debt would still be in her name. I guess I am just looking for whether or not the trustee would view his refinancing of his property taken into the marriage free and clear as "fraudulent" etc after the divorce? Sorry if I am not clear here.

[woeisme]

I guess it would depend on how much equity is in the property after the morgage whether it is a transfer of assets worth going after or not, what the community property laws are, etc. I understand that he owned the property free and clear before marrying her, but the trustee would say that once he decided to share it with her, making her joint owner, it's legally half hers (and it must have been legally hers to get a morgage on it.) Your ex needs a good divorce attorney, that's for sure, if he wants to get all of the equity that's left in the house back while leaving her with 100% of the debts (which it would seem like even if they are all in her name alone, at least some of those debts probably came from her footing the bill for everything while he was disabled, so she could argue are both of theirs.) So first off he's going to have to fight in divorce court unless she willingly agrees that all bills racked up during their marriage are hers alone. Maybe he could argue that his share of the bills is less than the amount of equity she tapped in his property? The trustee is his second problem, in my opinion, getting her to agree that all the bills are hers while none of the equity in the property is would be the first fight, at least it will be if she gets her own shark divorce lawyer. Don't know what other advice to offer, other than I agree, it might be something a trustee would look at if it ever gets to that.

[rrockinggramma]

yeah I understand what you are saying. There is equity in the property. Probably about 25,000 plus in equity. She put a 50,000 mortgage on it to pay off her debts. He was going through the recovery after his surgery and he did sign off on the property deed. Michigan is NOT a community property state. There are other assets as well. They own a vacant lot that they have been trying to sell for 25,000 free and clear. All of his vehicles (van worth about 2500 FMV and a mustang worth about 3000 FMV) are free and clear as well as all his tools (collected over years) and his sailboat. On the market, it all may not be worth much in money but is worth a lot to him. They have a mortgage (her name only) on the primary residence, the mortgage on (his) property, now rented out less than mortgage payment, and then a business that is failing miserably that is sucking in all the money. They are living on his SSDI monthly and that is it. I told him to get to a great attorney asap.

He indicated that she has racked up about 75,000 in cc debt to get the business going (advertising) etc. His SSDI is paying all the mortgages and monthly bills (utilities and insurance)