My jurisdiction is: NC
My significant other (I'll call him M) is in a tough situation. His ex-wife cheated on him and then informed him that HE was to move out and they were going to divorce. She has their 3 sons, house, all contents, the adjacent business he built and all property within said business. She moved her lover to our town and he soon became her coworker. After the divorce was finalized, they immediately married and she moved him into the house, etc.
M let her take over the day-to-day running of the business (since he was not living on-site) and it was to serve as childsupport for the children. He has also maintained health insurance for them and provided any other items they've needed for school, sports, etc. The ex first claimed that he had to pay her some huge amount and he refused that amount. Nothing was ever addressed in court, nor an amount determined. The divorce took over 2 years to get into court and another 8 months or so to even be seen in court to determine custody. M was never even allowed to speak but the judge gave the children primarily to the ex just because she's their mother. She has NOT followed the custody agreement and now makes her own translations of what she thinks was "meant" by the papers. All this after he M was the main caregiver throughout their lives as she's not a very "warm" person and was often away on "reserve" duty assignments.
The biggest problem that needs immediate attention is that when they first separated, M thought there were only 2 or 3 credit cards. He had one in his possession that he'd had long before the marriage. She had the other cards. About 16 months after separation, he begins receiving calls from 6-8 companies claiming he owes them money and he had no clue what was going on. It turns out that before the separation, she was opening cards in HIS name, signing a variation of HIS name and moving thousands of dollars in immediate transfers to cards that must have been solely in her name because we can't find any record of those card #'s in any of his credit reports, etc. She set the precedent of paying them, indicating responsibility, for the first 16 months or so then suddenly stopped all payments in January 2005. He tried to keep his credit clean by paying what he could but the amounts grew by leaps and bounds until over half of his monthly income was going toward these bills he didn't even create. Card companies would only say "YOUR name is on it". Now, he's been sued by at least 2 of the companies and they've notified him that they plan to come take away his property, ie. the car he drives to/from work in each day.
The ex has claimed that in ED, she should receive the house, all property, the business, all business property, the children, child support, some back child support figure she wants but that has never been decreed, AND that all debt should be M's. That's how she thinks everything should be split. Nice and even, eh?
His attorney has allowed all of this to transpire and has not done a thing to help with this. The equitable distribution has been in limbo since August 2004 and it STILL is not on the docket. The attorney claims they "meet" but just never seem to come to any agreement. M has told him outright that there will not be an agreement between sides and get it before a judge to decide. That hasn't happened.
My questions are:
1. How can we STOP the process of card companies taking his property until all property and marital debt is assessed/distributed?
2. How can we make her responsible for debt she created through fraudulent means and then maliciously dumped on M? (Also, are there criminal charges that could be brought or can this behavior be brought to the attention of her military commanding officer?)
3. How can we push his attorney to move the case ahead and actually do the job he was hired to do?
I greatly appreciate any assistance or advice anyone can supply!
Susan
My significant other (I'll call him M) is in a tough situation. His ex-wife cheated on him and then informed him that HE was to move out and they were going to divorce. She has their 3 sons, house, all contents, the adjacent business he built and all property within said business. She moved her lover to our town and he soon became her coworker. After the divorce was finalized, they immediately married and she moved him into the house, etc.
M let her take over the day-to-day running of the business (since he was not living on-site) and it was to serve as childsupport for the children. He has also maintained health insurance for them and provided any other items they've needed for school, sports, etc. The ex first claimed that he had to pay her some huge amount and he refused that amount. Nothing was ever addressed in court, nor an amount determined. The divorce took over 2 years to get into court and another 8 months or so to even be seen in court to determine custody. M was never even allowed to speak but the judge gave the children primarily to the ex just because she's their mother. She has NOT followed the custody agreement and now makes her own translations of what she thinks was "meant" by the papers. All this after he M was the main caregiver throughout their lives as she's not a very "warm" person and was often away on "reserve" duty assignments.
The biggest problem that needs immediate attention is that when they first separated, M thought there were only 2 or 3 credit cards. He had one in his possession that he'd had long before the marriage. She had the other cards. About 16 months after separation, he begins receiving calls from 6-8 companies claiming he owes them money and he had no clue what was going on. It turns out that before the separation, she was opening cards in HIS name, signing a variation of HIS name and moving thousands of dollars in immediate transfers to cards that must have been solely in her name because we can't find any record of those card #'s in any of his credit reports, etc. She set the precedent of paying them, indicating responsibility, for the first 16 months or so then suddenly stopped all payments in January 2005. He tried to keep his credit clean by paying what he could but the amounts grew by leaps and bounds until over half of his monthly income was going toward these bills he didn't even create. Card companies would only say "YOUR name is on it". Now, he's been sued by at least 2 of the companies and they've notified him that they plan to come take away his property, ie. the car he drives to/from work in each day.
The ex has claimed that in ED, she should receive the house, all property, the business, all business property, the children, child support, some back child support figure she wants but that has never been decreed, AND that all debt should be M's. That's how she thinks everything should be split. Nice and even, eh?
His attorney has allowed all of this to transpire and has not done a thing to help with this. The equitable distribution has been in limbo since August 2004 and it STILL is not on the docket. The attorney claims they "meet" but just never seem to come to any agreement. M has told him outright that there will not be an agreement between sides and get it before a judge to decide. That hasn't happened.
My questions are:
1. How can we STOP the process of card companies taking his property until all property and marital debt is assessed/distributed?
2. How can we make her responsible for debt she created through fraudulent means and then maliciously dumped on M? (Also, are there criminal charges that could be brought or can this behavior be brought to the attention of her military commanding officer?)
3. How can we push his attorney to move the case ahead and actually do the job he was hired to do?
I greatly appreciate any assistance or advice anyone can supply!
Susan
