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  • Question about my Husbands buisness and his ex

    My husband owns 20% of his family's business. There are 5 owners altogether. He split with his common law partner 7 years ago and is still going through settlement conferences (they have two daughters together 13 and 11), we have one more conference in Aug. My lawyer is on holidays at the moment so I'm just looking for some answers..guidance maybe?

    Her lawyer sent mine a letter asking if I was on the payroll of the company. I get why she has to know. But I wonder what would happen if I refuse giving any of my financial business. She has no right to know anything at all about me. Even if I was on the payroll (which I am not)why would that be considered hiding money? If I was on the payroll I would be working. I am a Stay at home mom. I have three children of my own.

    My husband has disclosed everything. She thinks he is hiding money all over the place he is not. We are just getting by with what we have now because her child support went up. Now she's trying to get more and more. She claims he was living rent free when they split up and said the company was paying his rent so she wants retroactive pay for child support back. He owned the house he lived in and it was nothing fancy and the company was not paying his rent??? He already owned it.

    I have one more question. In the future we will be selling the company for a very good amount of money. Now is selling property or anything like this considered income? I thought if you were common law she wouldn't have a chance of getting any of this money?

    I'm in such a depressed state right now.

  • #2
    I need a little more background;
    1) Is there a separation agreement in place?
    2) Are there any court orders?
    3) If so, is the FRO (or other provincial agency) involved?
    4) Why are settlement conferences etc still happening 7 tears later?

    She is making claims against your husband that he must defend with facts. Try to be less emotional ( pissed) about her and her lawyers requests. If you have nothing to hide, cooperate to the fullest extent (and then some). People hide money all the time in divorce cases and judges take a guilty till proven innocent stand routinely, especially when minor children are involved. So... to be successful with your defense be prepared with "over the top, indisputable evidence" to disprove their claims.
    Likely, the main reason they have inquired about your economic interest in your husbands business is to prove the husband is funneling income to you rather than him to reduce CDS obligations. As this is a common tactic for business owners to reduce CS exposure the are always on the lookout for this. Be prepare to thoroughly disprove this.

    Comment


    • #3
      I would send the lawyer a letter indicating that you were not on the payroll of the company and that therefore your financial affairs are not of their concern.

      I would prepare ahead of time documentation of all individuals on the payroll and if they bring it up at a conference I would present the evidence then. I would not turn over information willy nilly every time they wanted to go fishing. However I would be prepared to present evidence to a judge at a conference if it came up. Make use of the judge at the conference to determine if you should actually submit these with your financial disclosure.

      I would document the hell out of the house/living rent free issue and use this to attack her credibility and make her look like a fool. Her argument is that the company was paying his rent and this was non-disclosed income, it would be a fair argument if true, but of course it is not. Include in documentation any communications that show that she should be aware of this and is wasting the court's time on it. This could be a good way to get partial costs awarded. I would therefore let her be smug and keep this in her court application and not respond to her lawyer over it any further than you have. Don't get into a back and forth argument over nonsense, with something like this keep shut and stand your ground in the courthouse. There is nothing to negotiate here.

      As to selling the business, there is not a clear definition in legislation. This is child support and support would be paid according to his income, capital gains would be included in his income. What you could do is seek that this be considered a one-time large sale of an asset and that the amount be averaged over several years. Would he be working after the sale or retiring? Invest the amount of the sale in an income fund, offer to pay support according to the income from the fund. These are possibilities, I don't believe there is a clear cut answer ahead of time, it would depend on her arguments and your husband's arguments and the judge.

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks for the information. I wish my lawyer was not on holidays right now. lol. I'm having a hard time dealing with all of this I never went through this with my exhusband. We had a pretty decent split and we always thought of the children first and foremost. My husbands ex is using her kids as a meal ticket.

        The reason they are going through conferences now after 7 years is because for one year (last year) she held the kids away from him because she didn't like me. So he didn't have access for 1 year. So of course in the first meeting we had the judge sided with the mother. We now have the girls every second weekend. and we pay $1000 a month in child support. I'm not going to lie , that strains us beyond belief but he has to take care of his kids. Before court started one day she was saying how she was going to milk him for everything.

        The FRO is not involved at all. Which I think is a good thing. There was an agreement in place when they split 7 years ago. He paid her 15 thousand for what? I have no idea. They weren't even married. So I always thought or the lawyer even told me actually she could never get her hands on the company money. So I don't know. I'm really disheartened.

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        • #5
          I just wanted to add in one more thing before I forget. When he was living in the house alone (rent free as she says but he owned it) he was over paying child support because he was alone. And they didn't go to court to get a child support agreement at that time. They both agreed on $500 a month on a 28,000 income a year. So now her lawyer is coming back asking why he over paid..so now he is asking for 36% more child support on top of the $1000 we already give her. He thinks he has money to over pay but now he has other payments. A house we just bought together. My car. And we have a child together as well. (and I know the courts don't care about my child) But when she's taking food out of my babies mouth I'll fight to the death with her. We still have to pay section 7 expenses as well. When does the father ever win?

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          • #6
            My opinions: if you have nothing to hide, why not disclose it?? it only shows you are co-operating which in the long run is going to help your husband. Showing documents in court only if asked by the Judge doesn't look good and the question a Judge will ask is: why were you not WILLING to disclose this information then, but now in court? especially if the issues are pertainig CS guidelines. This is sometimes when paying the other party legal costs come into play~
            -Is the other party claiming "undue harship" by any chance?

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            • #7
              I have no problem disclosing anything but I don't think I should have too.These aren't my children. I have my own rental properties that my husband has nothing at all to do with.I don't think she has a right to know where I get my own money, I would do anything to help my husband for sure.

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              • #8
                I am not aware of her claiming undue hardship but it wouldn't surprise me. I know she makes over 50 grand a year with two jobs.

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                • #9
                  As a business owner( 3 separate businesses) who went through a strenuous divorce not too long ago, I ran into the same issues. I had, at the time a very well experienced and respected $750.00 per hour lawyer as my solicitor( I never seen decimal places disappear from my bank account so quickly!). His advice was clear, do everything possible to overturn the slurry of allegations against my financial reporting. When the other side has primary residence of the children and child support is flowing their way, judges often assume the male businessman payor is a lying sack of dirt. My advice is don't let a judge even entertain that notion!. Furthermore if a judge thinks your husbands income is off they can impute the income to where they think it should be plus award costs against him. A motion or trial is not a favorable place for a man to get the benefit of the doubt..

                  Have your husband produce payroll records ( There could be issues disclosing other peoples payroll in open court). I don't think you have anything to do with this. On CS related issues the spouses income doesn't come into play( SS can though).

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    As a business owner( 3 separate businesses) who went through a strenuous divorce not too long ago, I ran into the same issues. I had, at the time a very well experienced and respected $750.00 per hour lawyer as my solicitor( I never seen decimal places disappear from my bank account so quickly!). His advice was clear, do everything possible to overturn the slurry of allegations against my financial reporting. When the other side has primary residence of the children and child support is flowing their way, judges often assume the male businessman payor is a lying sack of dirt. My advice is don't let a judge even entertain that notion!. Furthermore if a judge thinks your husbands income is off they can impute the income to where they think it should be plus award costs against him. A motion or trial is not a favorable place for a man to get the benefit of the doubt..

                    Have your husband produce payroll records ( There could be issues disclosing other peoples payroll in open court). I don't think you have anything to do with this. On CS related issues the spouses income doesn't come into play( SS can though).

                    Comment

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