Dad in Jail, wife trying to take his house and kids!!!

[scthumper1228]

Hello all,
I am new to this forum, but have several questions regarding Georgia Divorce laws...  My brother is in Jail (several times over for stupid stuff), he married his wife on 03/03/03 (add them up to 666) anyway, this relationship has been hell since they met (in drug rehab). Sorry to be so snippy, but I am only doing this for my mother to help her keep his house.  Now.... back to my story.....when they met, my brother already owned his house, and all things in it, they have acquired very little together since their marriage(they both were on drugs, sold all their possessions together to fuel their habits).  She has 1 daughter taken away by her mother (for drugs), and they have two boys together(taken away for drugs), which my brothers first ex-wife is raising, and has full and sole custody.  Now there is another child, born after my brother went to jail (we don't think it is his) he has asked for dna testing and she will not cooperate.  Now.....with the housing markets like they have been, and him in jail for the last 1 1/2 years, he is falling behind on his house payments, which has been in foreclosure 2 times already, and stopped.  They wife was not paying payments, my mother was gonna make the payments, and I stepped in.  Got a modification on the house, and having them refinance the house.  In the mean time, his wife has been living there, selling what she can to get by, (making false insurance claims) to get money, and has not paid any mortgage payments.  my brother wanted her to make the payments, but she refuses to get a job to do so, he told her either she caught the payments up or get out of the house so mom could rent it to save the house.  She got mad when we confronted her and filed for divorce in Columbia, County Ga the day he told her to get out of the house.  SHe is asking for the total use of the marital home even though my moms name as well as my brothers name is on the mortgage.  We are gonna talk to a lawyer next week, but I was trying to find some answers on the web, and forums.  Is Ga a 50/50 state, and with the property being his before the marriage can she keep it, and with the paternity of the minor child in question can she sue him for support, and use of the residence with a small child?  She is looney, but then again he is as well, like I said, just doing this for my mom.  Any suggestions???  I am gonna try to find all the pro se info I can, cuz my mom cannot afford an attorney for my bro, and he can file most of the stuff from jail, so I am told???

Thanks for listening to my rant, any advice, all welcomed..... and yes I know my brother is an idiot.....

[ShellyD]

You could start with a certified letter stating she has 30 days to leave the property for non-payment, then you will probably have to file a court eviction since she most likely won't leave voluntarily. That can be done pretty easily at the magistrate's office. Also, someone (you or Mom) needs to get your bro's power of attorney if it hasn't been done. If he brought the property into the marriage, she'll have a hard time getting it in the divorce unless they have ever had her name on any paperwork (mortgage/re-fi/deed) while they were married. Also, he can request the paternity test in the court filings and she will have to cooperate. Of course, she can sue him for child support, but he just has to request the paternity test before he will be found responsible to pay. My husband went to the title IV office here in SC for help with paternity. You may have to threaten discrimination b/c they mostly like to work with mothers to track down the absent fathers, not the other way around.

[scthumper1228]

Shelly thanks for the response.  We do have power of attorney, my mom has it and has had it for like 3 years.  The problem is, we have no contract with her to be in the house, we are afraid if we try to evict her it will just cause more hardship on him (my mom).  Yes he brought the property into the marriage, and has never included her in anything(luckily).  He did a quit claim deed to my mom about a year ago, to keep her from trying to sell the house when he went to jail(the first time).  He just recently did another quit claim deed to my mom, just to make sure it was verified, but the first one was filed in the clerks office.  Do you know if Ga is a 50/50 state, or what??  I am just trying to get all the info together before we go to the lawyers office, I wanna get my free consultation on the information I will bring before the atty......(I know, cheap way of doing it, but I don't want my mom footing the bill for anymore of my bro mistakes.)  Thanks alot for your advice, Shelly, just pointing me in the right direction is great. 

***Socrateaser sorry for not reading the rules and regulations before I post.  Will correct any further posts in the future.  Thank you for having and hosting this site.

[ShellyD]

Shelly thanks for the response.  We do have power of attorney, my mom has it and has had it for like 3 years.  The problem is, we have no contract with her to be in the house, we are afraid if we try to evict her it will just cause more hardship on him (my mom).  Yes he brought the property into the marriage, and has never included her in anything(luckily).  He did a quit claim deed to my mom about a year ago, to keep her from trying to sell the house when he went to jail(the first time).  He just recently did another quit claim deed to my mom, just to make sure it was verified, but the first one was filed in the clerks office.  Do you know if Ga is a 50/50 state, or what??  I am just trying to get all the info together before we go to the lawyers office, I wanna get my free consultation on the information I will bring before the atty......(I know, cheap way of doing it, but I don't want my mom footing the bill for anymore of my bro mistakes.)  Thanks alot for your advice, Shelly, just pointing me in the right direction is great. 

***Socrateaser sorry for not reading the rules and regulations before I post.  Will correct any further posts in the future.  Thank you for having and hosting this site.

Your mom needs to weigh which is a bigger PITA. There doesn't need to be a contract and it's actually better in her (Mom's) favor without one because she's considered a month-to-month tenant. With that in mind, she has to be given a 30-day notice to vacate. Once that is violated, go straight to the magistrate. Did you say there is a motion for divorce already filed? The quit claim deeds were a good move, too. That's also in your mom's favor. Get her out of the house and get it rented, but do it with the proper notice. Also factor in that the house will probably need to be renovated or at least prepared for tenants to alot how much time you and Mom can continue carrying the mortgage until he's out of jail or the house is rented.

[scthumper1228]

Thanks again Shelly, going to the court house and starting that process in the morning. Another question he was gonna file seperate maintenance and had all the paperwork signed and notarized on the 7th of may 09, she found out that he was doing this and the same day he released the papers for us to file, she filed for divorce first.  Do I still need to file the separation papers, or just hold on to them?  I really think she did this for spite, knowing that she was about to get put out of the house, and loose him for good.  Also in the papers that were served on him, she has lied on several things outright, and then some facts were just omitted(lying by omission).  could that come back to bite her?  I mean ya know, if they were pointed out and proved in the court, or even in the response to the divorce? 

She has also claimed it takes $3989.00 for her to run her house a month, and she only makes a gross income of $304.00 a month.  He has not supported her since they separated (she says may 2008, he says August 2008) either way, she now has another baby born 2/3/09, that my bro does not think is his.  the time line is kinda off with the baby being born 5 weeks premature, and "she" says they separated in 5/08??  Do the math?? she is asking for child support and maintance for that baby?  we are asking for paternity in the response, but just wondering if her own words could hang her here???

Just a thought,  thanks for taking the time to listen to me carry on.

[ShellyD]

Thanks again Shelly, going to the court house and starting that process in the morning. Another question he was gonna file seperate maintenance and had all the paperwork signed and notarized on the 7th of may 09, she found out that he was doing this and the same day he released the papers for us to file, she filed for divorce first.  Do I still need to file the separation papers, or just hold on to them?  I really think she did this for spite, knowing that she was about to get put out of the house, and loose him for good.  Also in the papers that were served on him, she has lied on several things outright, and then some facts were just omitted(lying by omission).  could that come back to bite her?  I mean ya know, if they were pointed out and proved in the court, or even in the response to the divorce? 

She has also claimed it takes $3989.00 for her to run her house a month, and she only makes a gross income of $304.00 a month.  He has not supported her since they separated (she says may 2008, he says August 2008) either way, she now has another baby born 2/3/09, that my bro does not think is his.  the time line is kinda off with the baby being born 5 weeks premature, and "she" says they separated in 5/08??  Do the math?? she is asking for child support and maintance for that baby?  we are asking for paternity in the response, but just wondering if her own words could hang her here???

Just a thought,  thanks for taking the time to listen to me carry on.

I don't know that much about the divorce side of the equation, but I'd say save his/mom's money since she filed already. There's no reason to file again. Then use what you were going to file to answer her motion and maybe dispute her lies. My question would be how it takes $4K to run the house per month? Especially if she only brings in $300. And how has she "run" the house for so long in a $3700 deficit? Where is her money coming from? What was your brothers income? Does he still have money anywhere (like CD's, investments,etc?) If she's selling his "stuff" to cover things, then surely you could call that "supporting" the family. But if he NEVER made that much to start, she's inflated the numbers to try for a better outcome. You could google the GA state child support calculator and run the numbers. Waylon may even have a link to it somewhere here are deltabravo.net.  How much longer will he be in jail?

[Rave]

Just thinking about the big picture.  Getting lawyers involved, making house payments, taking action on the wife, etc. is going to rack up some serious money.  Somebody has to pay that.  Doesn't sound like there is any guarantee your brother is good for it.   I'm a big believer in natural consequences, for the offender and not for the people around the offender.  So if your brother made drugs his number one priority in his life, over his family, over his own children and over his debts, perhaps he should lose the house.  How much equity does he have in it?

I know lots of people are afraid of foreclosure because of what it could do to their credit.  I'm guessing your brother's credit is already shot and you're worried about your mother's credit.  A relative of mine lost his house in CA last winter.  Already his credit score is at 705.  Odd, but he pays his other bills on time and they consider a foreclosure and one-time occurrence.   

Given your mother's age, how much is she reliant on her credit score anyway?  Isn't she past the age of acquiring new debt?

And another kicker for my relative is that he got a refund check for $3k for overpaying his escro account.  Was simply amazing to see him default on a $300k home, fear the repercussions to his credit and wind up getting a check for $3k and maintain a high credit score.  Something to consider anyway.

[scthumper1228]

Rave - sorry to take so long to get back in, but work comes in the middle of my personal issues..... So now that my work week is done, back to the battle field.

1st let me say I agree with you 100% on the natural consequences thing, my problem is my mother doesn't.  We lost my dad in a car accident about 2 years ago, and I have been the sole caretaker for my mom.  DOn't get me wrong she is not in a nursing home or anything.  Just here to help her with daily things, she has never been alone before.  MY brothers (2) of them, are her darlings, they have both been in and out of jail all their lives.  If it was up to me, I would move her and my family away, and not tell them.  But she won't let that happen.

I am taking this personally, due to the fact that this woman has screwed up our lives since comming into it, I agree it was my bro mistake also, but we have had to pay for it several times over, and not just with money, physically, and mentally also.  So I am getting great pleasure in the things I am doing to this woman.  Don't get me wrong, I can only do what she leaves for me to find, but she is leaving alot for me to find. 

As far as the cost, we have a few good friends who can give me some legal advise, but I am not one to wear our my welcome, so I post on the boards to get ideas, and it has helped alot.  We plan on getting her out of the house, making some repairs, and renting it for a bit, while we make more adjustments to things.  As far as the divorce, she is being totally nuts in the things that she is claiming and blaming him for.  We know for a fact(waiting on paternity) that the child born since they were separated is not biologically his, and that the property is "seperate property", he has owned since 1997.  Just bringing it to the light of courts is the issue now.  I have done some digging and found that she has 2 felony warrants for her in one county, and 2 felony cases pending in another, and 3 misdemeanor charges pending in another.  her divorce petition if full of holes, typos, and even to the point of misspelling her own childs name, and even leaving another child out of the filing. Her attorney has even scratched out one county name and hand wrote the other county in over the top.  I am in the process now of the response/petition for divorce, and hope to have it done by this weekend.  Anyways, thanks for all the support, and any more advice is always welcome. 

WOrking on the response, any standard type forms to use, or just go by the petition she filed?  Thanks again all.