New York Divorce Legal Questions

First, immediately call up all your credit card companies and remove him as an authorized user, and tell them to cancel the cards and issue you new ones with different numbers. Then, tell him he owes you the money he took as cash advances, and that you want it back immediately. Then kick him out. Since he's got a kid, give him till the end of the school year, if necessary. Then file for divorce. You say he's verbally abusive- if you're afraid of him, and you have grounds, get an order of protection in criminal or family court.  Since New York has no fault divorce, divorce makes more sense than annulment. You don't need a reason to get a divorce, but you do need to prove grounds for an annulment. It probably won't be very time consuming because without your credit cards it's doubtful that your gold digger hubby will be able to afford a good lawyer. Go with a divorce, not an annulment.  ... Read More

You certainly have a good defense to the spousal support order, but it needs to be vacated if it's actually an order and not just a petition.  If it's a petition it needs to be defended. You'll win, but you need to fight it- if there's an order, your cousin got it on default because you ignored it. You don't want to let that happen again.   ... Read More

If it's a boarding school, yes. If it's not a boarding school, it depends on the law of the other state. The person who will be your son's guardian (I assume you're not considering sending your 16- year old out of state to a non-boarding school without a guardian on the other end) would have to find out the procedure for getting appointed as guardian. They need to also check the applicable laws regarding any residency requirements for school attendance.   ... Read More

The paper you need to ensure your husband has no rights to any house you buy with your boyfriend is a divorce decree.  I don't know how old your kids are, but I imagine they're not old enough to ask you why you're still married to a man who's not their dad.  I don't blame your boyfriend for being nervous about putting your name on the house. An "agreement" to to not go after it signed by your husband might not be enforceable, and he might have a change of heart in the middle of a divorce, once he gets a lawyer.  Divorce your husband. Then buy a house with your boyfriend. In that order.... Read More

Assuming you both own the house equally, you cannot evict him without a court order. You can go to Family Court and try to get a restraining order preventing him from being in your house if you have proof that he stole from you and are afraid he will continue to steal. You can also go to Supreme Court and start a partition action against him which essentially asks the court to divide the house in half. Although that rarely happens, in this case it actually could (although your mother-in-law's presence complicates things). The other possible result of a partition action is a sale of the house and the division of the proceeds. It would be best for you to buy him out, if you can. But a partition action really makes no sense if you're starting a divorce action, because the house is marital property subject to dispositon in the divorce action. You may eventually get the whole house in a divorce action, depending on all the other factors involved, but divorce and division of marital property don't happen quickly unless both parties agree to the terms of the divorce quickly.   ... Read More

Your wife has the man she's sleeping with come to your house, and she's threatening YOU with limited visitation with your kids?  Based on what she's doing you may be able to get full custody and limit HER visitation. Get a lawyer, sue her for full custody and tell her to get her ass out of the house and leave the kids with you, and if she cleans up her act, you'll let HER have liberal visitation. And also...hire a private investigator to get a video or at least some photos of her and loverboy in the act...great evidence for court!... Read More

Assuming you both own the house, when it is sold (or when the bank account is split), the divorce agreement should provide that the credit card charges as well as the value of the jewelry (if you can prove it) come out of her share. If she doesn't agree, and wants to litigate, you will ultimately get a credit for the money she cost you. Write letters to the three credit agencies and explain the circumstances, and it could help your credit.  ... Read More

If the deed is in both of your names, you own the property equally with your wife until the house is sold or foreclosed or the court issues an order stating otherwise.  The court can give either one of you temporary possession of the home during the separation or until the divorce.  In the divorce decree, the judge can award either one of you sole possession or ownership of the house.  An order can also be issued for the house to be sold and the proceeds divided.  ... Read More

If your divorce agreement stated that she must submit bills within 30 days and she waited, the court is unlikely to hold you in contempt or require you to pay.   Pay her for the timely submitted bills and remind her of the agreement.  Also inform that from now on she needs to submit the receipts on a timely basis if she wants to be paid for them.  ... Read More

The house along with your other assets will be divided as part of your divorce agreement. Changing title to the property is a simple matter that can be handled by an attorney (such as myself) who practices in both real estate and divorce law. Don't transfer title too quickly without speaking with a lawyer.... Read More

The easy answer is contact a divorce lawyer. Review your.finances and determine your budget so you don't commit to something you can't afford. Some lawyers charge extremely high hourly rates so shop around. If you can't afford a lawyer, you may qualify for a low cost one through the court system. If you want to do it youself, there are websites maintained by the court system that contain forms with detailed instructions. Keep in mind that the amount of paperwork required even in an uncontested divorce is enormous. Finally, if you can get your spouse to agree to mediate an agreement, that will save a huge amount of time, money and grief. I highly recommend mediation but with a lawyer - NOT with a non lawyer. It's crucial that your mediator be able to give a good answer to the question "what would happen if we let a judge decide this?" Good luck!  ... Read More

If I understand your question correctly, it depends on whether your spouse has been served or not with the compaint.  As part of the filing the complaint, the person has to certify that there is no existing case on the matter.  It doesn't matter who files, you will still have a chance to respond to the claims in the complaint and  if you disagree with anything in the divorce papers, then you will have the opportunity to file papers telling your side. This is called “contesting the divorce.” If you contests it, then you will have a series of court appearances to sort the issues out.  ... Read More