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  • Documents being removed from the family home

    Until now, my ex and I have had an amicable split and for the most part have worked together on sorting out issues.

    On Saturday and Sunday, she was here sorting though her stuff - the agreement was she was getting the things that were hers, I would sort mine and we would work through items belonging to both of us.

    Our home has been sold and closing is coming up (June 1st). I live in the house with our 2 children and she does school drop offs and pickups with access to (my) car during the day.

    I went to do paperwork this morning (got up at 4:30 am to do so) and found that all the files in a filing cabinet are gone - I do not know yet if they have been removed from the home or put into a box. My ex did not tell me she moved them.

    My concerns are:

    Some records do not belong to her - we have our taxation files in together by year, bank statements (from joint account), home records and also records from a company that I am 100% owner of -she has no interest in that company. Those records are gone too!

    Is this stealing? My assumption is that I also have no right to remove -'joint documents' until we sort through them. If she wants a copy of them, that is different, however, I expect we should have discussed prior to their removal.

    What about documents solely in my name - my medical and dental records, my taxation returns, my company documents? - she has no right to remove these at all? Should I call the Police, if she refuses to return them?

    Vehicle ownership information is also gone and the vehicle is in my name - so that is also classified as theft?

    I have no problem with her wanting to gain information for herself and these documents have been available. I would not have removed them to another location without her knowledge and don't expect she has that right.

    We had discussed sorting through the documents a few weeks ago, but didn't do so at that point.

    When I see her at 7:30 this morning, I am going to ask where the documents are - if she says she has them, I am going to ask her to go get them (she lives near by). If she refuses, I will inform her that I need to report them stolen as many are in my name only and represent loss of confidential and personal information.

  • #2
    I should also have added that we both agreed not to use lawyers as we felt we could work together amicably. I do realize that when things are coming to a head (such as closing of the home) stressors may change that, however, my questions is about the legality of what she did and whether I report it to the police if she refuses to return them.

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    • #3
      what she did was get information to use later in case she needed it to prove things. She should have made copies of things that are joint so you each have a copy. Tell her to make whatever copies she needs and return the originals to you. No sense in threatening to have the police go after her because they probably will not do anything. They will tell you to deal with it with your divorce.

      You are not sure yourself if the documents are still in the home so maybe ask her nicely first. She may have just put them in a box in order to make the filing cabinet easier to move.

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      • #4
        Yes, My intention is to just ask what happened to them...the ones that are solely mine, I expect to be returned immediately (i.e taxation returns, company information, birth certificate , medical records), so it is actually easier for her to bring them all back, then take the joint ones with my knowledge.

        If she just put them in a box without me knowing - I am just pissed that I couldn't do what I needed to this morning when specifically getting up to do so, but that is just the way it is!

        Thanks for the reply.

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        • #5
          I asked...she went and retrieved them!

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          • #6
            A good idea is to start archiving all your important documents electronically such as PDF. Additionally back up the electronic copy on DVD or equivalent.

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