My father moved out and left the family in 1998 and went down to Florida. The house that he and my mother had in their names is in New Jersey.

In 2002 he sent divorce paperwork and my mother's lawyer did not respond in time and it was granted by default. In the paperwork, there was no awarding of the house to either party.

My mother has been paying the mortgage (which was initially put under both of their names, shows up on both credit reports, etc. but for some reason when items arrive in the mail are addressed to just my father). For the last 9 years. Everything paid by check from her personal checking account.

She currently only owes $6000 more on the mortgage. She can't afford a lawyer and despite several attempts to speak to my father to iron out details of the house, he has demanded that he receive more than half (as he paid the bills while my mother raised the kids, etc.. ). He also wants her to sell the house and give him half, but she still resides there and plans to stay there.

My father remarried in 2004 and recently told me he is going to declare bankruptcy. I can only imagine what repurcussions this might have with the mortgage and house, etc. My mother is in a panic - she doesn't know much about the law and so I'm trying to find out as much information as possible.

Are there any laws that state that if someone has abandoned their family and relocated that their name can be removed from the title of the house? He has not contributed a penny to the mortgage payments in the last 9 years - my mother has fallen behind several times but tries her hardest to keep up.

If anyone can help out, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you!

Normally she can not get him off unless he signs it over.

If he goes bankrupt, but she does not, she will just pay the bill on the house as normal. She can not sell it without his signing it over.
She will need to sue in court for the home, showing how she has paid for it and so on.

Sorry, but there are no laws to help you. Because the divorce decree does not specify the disposition of the house, they own it equally. Also, your father has a point about having paid the mortgage prior to the divorce. You don't say how long they owned the house prior to his leaving.

I don't know enuf about divorce law to know if your mom can reopen the divorce decree. I'm afraid she really needs an attorney.

What I do think is that your father cannot force the sale of the house. Even if he declares bankruptcy, I don't think your mother can be forced to sell. Though that does complicate matters.

But, if your mother does sell, your father has to participate and approve. The only way I think you can clear this is by seeing if the divorce decree can be revisited.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

But, if your mother does sell, your father has to participate and approve. The only way I think you can clear this is by seeing if the divorce decree can be revisited.

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So it may be possible, that although the divorce is said and done, my mother can file something? Something stating that because he refuses to cooperate in the splitting of the house that the courts need to decide how it is done somehow to get his name removed and determine what kind of monetary compensation he deserves based upon his abandoning the house, showing no interest in the property since his leaving, making no mortgage payments?

What I also did not include was that when my parents refinanced the house in 1998, they used the money they received to pay off my father's personal credit card debt. He left 2 months later, leaving my mother to foot the mortgage payments.

Any information is helpful. I want to be able to help my mother out and at least get going in the right direction and not try to fight for something that can't even be done.

Also, even while my father was "paying the mortgage" before he left, it was from a joint checking account with my mother. Both of my parents had jobs so there is no way for him to prove that the money that went to the mortgage was solely from his job and not my mother's.

I believe, if I'm correct, the timeline was as such. My parents were married and moved into the house in 1977. My mother was employed then, my father was not. She paid the mortgage. Once my mother became pregnant with my brother in 1978, my father got a job. My mother did not work again until my younger brother was older and my father lost a job he had held for about six years (I believe this would be around 1992). So during that time, my father was the one who paid the mortgage. From 1992-1998 they both paid it but my father also spent money like crazy.

There are a lot of details to it that I think will need to be brought up in a court case and can all be for the benefit of my mother's side. My father has always had issues paying bills on time and leaving jobs. My mother has not and I'm afraid that his financial choices even now in his 60's will cause my mom undue stress and lots of problems with her property that she's trying to save for her eventual retirement.

Sorry, I know that's a LOT of information. Any kind of tips would help as I said. I just want to know I'm helping her go in the right direction. So to recap - she CAN bring up divorce issues again with a lawyer?

I'm afraid your mom really can't afford NOT to have an attorney. I do believe there is a possibility that your mom can go back to a court and get the distribution of assets clarified. She can usually find a couple of attorneys to give a free consultation and give her an idea if they can help.