Ask Me Help Desk - Eviction under hardship

On Jan. 11th, 2011 my husband disappeared. He left his wallet, ID, credit cards and cell phone behind. I am disabled and get $600 a month. My husband is/was an attorney and was able to pay our $1200 a month rent and most other bills without an issue. I paid a few small bills. We paid our rent on time or early every month since Nov. 2008. We were finally recovering from a serious financial setback we encountered in '05 after our son was murdered.
Because my husband had filed bankruptcy and it had just been discharged when we leased this house the landlord required us to put down double the normal deposit in case we defaulted on our rent. The normal deposit was $1200, but we had to put down $2400. After my husband went missing (law enforcement is assuming suicide since his car was found parked one block from the Ohio River)I was left with no money, no savings, nothing. On Feb. 3rd I received my $600. I had to pay off my electric and water bills to keep them turned on and buy a little bit of food.
Next month I will at least have food stamps. Given the circumstances I asked the landlord if he would use half of the deposit as rent for Feb. and I would forfeit the other $1200. He said no, but asked what he could do to help me out. I told him that other than that I couldn't think of anything. On Feb. 2nd he posted a notice saying that I had 7 days to pay the rent or he would have the right to file an eviction.I told him I would have his rent on the 7th day, per the notice. On the 5th I applied for an apartment I could afford and listed him as my current landlord. I was denied the apartment because he told the leasing agent at the apartment that I had defaulted on my Feb. rent. I have checked with HUD and all the waiting lists are closed. The public housing dept. (Sec. 8) office said it would probably take 3 to 6 months to place me in an apartment, but that I might have some problems because I have a service dog and Sec. 8 housing (at least in the county where I live) does not allow animals.
My husband's boss is holding an $1100 check that he owes my husband, which will come to me once my husband's body is recovered from the river. Unfortunately it could be 3 to 4 months before the water temp warms up and the currents slow down enough for that to happen. He refuses to help me by giving me the check. He says I have to wait until the estate is opened and the money will be put into the estate, however, I'm not planning on opening an estate as my husband has absolutely no assets whatsoever, except that $1100.
I have NO idea what to do. I have no family and the few friends I do have are having tough times financially and have no money to spare and no room for me to stay with them. Aside from putting everything I own into mini-storage and living out of it at the same time, I don't know what to do or where to go. My eviction hearing is Feb. 22. Now that he has filed the eviction, I'll never be able to get an apartment. Especially when he was telling people I had defaulted on my rent before my 7 days was up and I had told him I'd have his money before then. After I found out what he did I decided not to pay the rent, but use that $1200 to try to find someplace else to live.
Even if I am lucky enough to find someplace else to live, I don't know how I'm going to move due to my disabilities. I have severe degenerative disk disease, arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis. I can only stand for 2 to 3 minutes at a time and can't lift anything heavier than a half gallon of milk. If I can't find help and get some extra time to get out of here, everything I own (plus everything my husband owned) will be thrown out into the street, I will have nothing and I will be homeless.
Is there any type of "hardship" circumstances that can be taken into consideration when facing an eviction? I am going to have to represent myself at my court hearing. Clearly, I can't afford an attorney. I would appreciate any help or advice anyone can give me.

First you were in default of the rent when it was not paid when due. So the landlord simply reported the truth. It may not have been a nice thing to do, but since it was the truth you can do nothing about it.

On the other hand, depending on where you are it may have been illegal for the landlord to charge double deposit. ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

My suggestion is to contact a local ADA (American Disability Association) office for help, both legal and financial.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnyaKara

... He says I have to wait until the estate is opened and the money will be put into the estate, however, I'm not planning on opening an estate as my husband has absolutely no assets whatsoever, except that $1100.
...

In most states there are "small estate" provisions which allow the next-of-kin to collect decedents' assets by simple execution of an affidavit. Your husband's boss should have told you about that. If you will say which state you are in, I will see if there is such a provision in your state.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnyaKara

...
Is there any type of "hardship" circumstances that can be taken into consideration when facing an eviction? ...

I don't believe so. Sorry for all your woes. :(

How could I be in default when the 7 day grace period hadn't expired yet?

You said; "On Feb. 2nd he posted a notice saying that I had 7 days to pay the rent or he would have the right to file an eviction" This was NOT a grace period. This was a pay or quit notice. The rent was due on Feb 1. When it was not paid, you were in default. The LL issued a pay or quit as the first step in the eviction process.

He said I was in default on the 5th day, not the 7th. Plus he filed the eviction before the end of the 7 days he gave me to pay the rent.

You are in default on the 2nd if the rent is due on the first, there is no real "grace" period in rental, merely number of days before they do certain actions.

The minute he put a notice on your door, he had declared you in default. You merely have a number of days to correct the default, by paying the rent and normally a fee for doing it.

If you can not pay him his rent, ( and you told him you would) then his next step will be to file eviction in court, you may because of the disability get another 30 days, but I would not really bet on it.

Next for section 8 a service animal, if it is prescribed and a certified animal is not a "dog" it is a medical tool or device and would not be able to be "not allowed" they do not fall under restrictions of animals

I'm in KY. My husband worked part-time for the Bullitt Co. Attorney who lost his election last Nov. plus he worked full-time in his private practice. I'm not surprised he didn't tell me about about the "small estate". Chad was bringing over $300K a year to the private practice, but only brought home $100K a year. So his boss was living high on the hog between what my husband brought in and what the other attorney in the office brought in plus collecting his Co. attorney paycheck. The kicker is that the guy never set foot in a court room, was never in the private office and spent 25% of the year on vacation with his wife, 50% hunting some type of animal or another and the other 25% yelling at his employees. During the 24 years he was Co. Att. I know for a fact that 2 attorneys committed suicide while working for him, one disappeared for 4 1/2 months and unless a miracle happens and my husband does show up, he will be the 3rd employee his driven to suicide.

First of course this is what owning a firm is, you hire attorneys who bring in money to make you rich, there is nothing illegal or wrong about that, that is how the large firms are set up, and the senior members make much larger checks than the Jr members do.

And that is no reason for suicide, they were just doing their law duties, and what their boss did or did not do, was not a issue or matter to it.

Next while many don't know this, 100,000 for an attorney is not really a bad salary, A lot of local DA's make only 40,000 or so, and many firms hire in new attorneys at lot less than 100,000.

Of course he was free for 20 years to quit and work for some other company

Here it is.

Some forms are here.

But I could pay him his rent. He filed the eviction first. My choice is to pay rent to stop the eviction until March, but then I will have no way to rent another apt. or pay a deposit because he has already told me he is not going to return any of my deposit because he "heard" the house had too much damage. I have no idea what he is talking about because the only "damage" is the cracked ceramic tile floor that was like that when we moved in. In addition, he fired the property manager who signed the lease with us and did the walk through with us. I never met this man until the last week of Jan. and my husband never met him.

But it says in our lease that late charges are not assessed until the 7th of the month. That seems like a contradiction to me. If rent is due on the first then why aren't late charges assessed starting on the second? Or did he justmake a mistake by letting someone else manage all of his properties and then fired him without knowing exactly what all the paperwork said. We moved in 11/01/08 and my husband never met the property owner. I didn't meet him until the last week of Jan. We signed the lease, handled all the deposits and did the walk through with the property manager.