Hi girlzden,
The rules for property division for common law situations are quite different than the rules for a married couple. Basically, in a common law situation, each party keeps his or her own property and pays his or her own debts, unless unjust enrichment can be shown.
Your ex would normally be responsible for her own credit card debts, unless somehow it could be shown that you were unjustly enriched by the debts. An example of that would be if the money owing on the credit card arose from purchases for your benefit or for assets that are in your name.
girlzden said:
What they are trying to go on is that because we had a joint account for a year and a half, where she put deposits in for the first 6 months (totalling only $2000), then stopped, then I put deposits in thereafter for the next year (totalling $20000), that this constitutes commingling of finances. And because we "commingled" here...we surely must have commingled our other accounts and credit cards.
If that's what they're arguing, it seems a real stretch to me. And even if funds were somewhat commingled, that is not sufficient to show unjust enrichment.
Out of curiosity, how long was your common law relationship? To a certain extent that's relevant, because the longer you were together, normally the more intertwined your lives were, and the more likely one of you was unjustly enriched.
girlzden said:
Now, another issue, I fled our jointly owned house (due to abuse) a year and a half ago. They are wanting to assess the value of the home from that day, and determine the equity from then. I am wanting them to assess the value from the day we put it up for sale. Which is the correct time??
Similarly, the division of the house goes according to title, unless there's unjust enrichment. If your name is on title to the house as a 50% owner, you're entitled to 50% of the current equity, not the equity on the date of separation.
Your ex may argue that she paid all of the upkeep, property taxes, etc on the home and is entitled to credit for that. On the other hand, she had the benefit of the entire house, so what you owe her needs to be set off again "occupational rent" that she owes you for her using your half of the house. Getting into all of this is somewhat of a logistical nightmare, because it involves an incredible amount of work to figure out and the dollar amounts are quite small (in legal terms).
Normally in an amicable settlement, people consider this a wash. However, if she's represented by a lawyer and your not, it may be an avenue worth pursuing.
One exception to all of this may be the mortgage payments. If your ex has reduced the principal owing on a joint mortgage since the date of separation, she would normally get a credit for this, as she has essentially paid for some of your debts.
Finally, just because your ex or your ex's lawyer tells you something is the case, that doesn't mean it is! Although I doubt that they would overtly lie to you, remember that they're presenting things from your ex's point of view, and not objectively.
