Ask Me Help Desk - Can a husband really do this?

My sister & her husband of 13 years were refinancing their home to take cash out to pay bills. At settlement, unbeknownst to her, my sister signed a quitclaim deed for $1 over to her husband, and of course all the settlement papers for the loan. When the check was dispensed only in her husband's name, she was then able to find out what he did. He also had a temporary restraining order filed & had her removed from the house. He was awarded temporary custody at the same time. He is now filing for custody of their 2 children... all without filing for divorce.

My sister has absolutely nothing but her house & her kids. Now, she has absolutely nothing. Something is just not right about all of this. How can a family who mkes $33,000 gat a FHA loan for $238,500! The mortgage payments are over $1800 and he only brings home a little over $2000 per month. There was a lawyer & a notary at settlement, and they never said a word about that quitclaim deed.

Her husband has not allowed her back in the house to get anything & informed my family that he threw it all away. He said he could because it was his house. Can he really do that?

Is there any recourse when a husband has bamboozled his wife right out of her home? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, she has nothing, and has been suffering from depression for years. She went to Legal Aid today, but they seemed to dismiss her. Please help!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammacia

my sister signed a quitclaim deed for $1 over to her husband, and of course all the settlement papers for the loan. When the check was dispensed only in her husband's name, she was then able to find out what he did. He also had a temporary restraining order filed & had her removed from the house.
My sister has absolutely nothing but her house & her kids. Now, she has absolutely nothing. There was a lawyer & a notary at settlement

You have already answered! It is stupidity to sign papers without reading :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammacia

Is there any recourse when a husband has bamboozled his wife right out of her home? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, she has nothing, and has been suffering from depression for years. She went to Legal Aid today, but they seemed to dismiss her. Please help!!!

Legally... may be not.The Legal aid services are right to dismiss her claims because she signed VOLUNTARY.She had to read what she signed.

Did she ever receive her check for $1 ? And no he isn't entitled to throw her things out without recourse. Most states have a 50 / 50 law when it comes to divorces and items collected during the divorce with exceptions. A lawyer near you can tell you what those are. If you have a restraining order you can still go to the police and ask them to accompany you to get your things. They will do this if you ask. Then if he says he threw them out the officer may write an incident report stating what had happened. A judge frowns on those things normally when a spouse destroys property.