Served Motion to Sell Home - Help with next steps

[fatherles]

I believe that there is a six year time rule on property claims and that you should seek this out . I believe that she has gave up her claim and since she has not seek to settle her property claim it does not have any legal merit. So do you research Good Luck DAD

[blinkandimgone]

Not sure that would apply given they had an interim agreement and she did request multiple times to equalize the property. Granted, she didn't serve him until now but the fact that she had asked more than once over the years would imply that she was seeking to come to an agreement and settle the issue without the court's involvement.

Simply drawing out the issue for 6+years and refusing to settle, I believe, would not negate her right to seek settlement. If this were the case, people would simply drag out the process long enough for the time period to pass and screw their ex out of the equalization. (Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

[fatherles]

I am not clear on this but I do believe that the law states that the party must start the claim which means that they must file with the court on what they are seeking

W

[mcdreamy]

You are right, Blink.

The right to the matrimonial home only ends when the parties cease to be spouses of one another, unless a separation agreement or court order provides otherwise.

[blinkandimgone]

Originally Posted by helpfordad

We are going (today) to see if Dad can get a new lawyer as his lawyer long left our town. He wants to keep the house, he's not necessarily against buying her out...but also just wants the divorse finalized....Do we just deal with the house? Does he offer a Offer to Settle and offer to buy her out & deal with the divorce separate? I would assume from reading that it would be the value of home at separation minus what was owing?? Would that still hold true after all these years? Is there a limit in time? Can she force the sale?

Dad has offered to sell us the house (on many occasions that is one of many reasons why we are still here - ) though we are not wanting to deal with my mother (she had offered to sell it to us at one point, then she had another manic episode & is no longer speaking to me) We have told him to get divorce finalized & buy her out of house so we would only be dealing with him.

Thanks for any advice

She is entitled to the equalization, which would include half the equity at the time of seperation and I suspect interest on that as well. She may even have a claim for occupational rent.

If he wants to stay in the house he will have to buy out her interest and if not in a position to do so would have to sell to pay her. Whether he sells the house to you or a complete stranger is irrelevant.

Once the property/financial claims are settled he can apply for the divorce. What he cannot do is assume that he can continue to live in the home and tie up her assets for all of eternity.