Legal Question in Family Law in California
appraisal
To determine our 50/50 split, we had to have the marital home appraised (wife was keeping the house). The appraisal came in at $87,500 in Oct. 2000 which was far below our purchase price of $101,500 in March of 1993. At the time I questioned the appraisal and wanted a second one done. My lawyer advised me to go with this for a quick settlement because housing prices where ''theoretically'' down. At present, I have not received my cash settlement from our divorce and my ex has listed and sold the home for $114,900 via the SAME Real Estate company who did the original appraisal 5 months earlier (a $27,400 difference). Since my settlement has not been received, and there is such a drastic change in the appraised value of the house, do I have any legal right to half the difference in the equity, even though I transferred the deed to my ex-wife per our divorce agreement as per my lawyer's advice? Other factors in this case, my ex-wife was supposed to pay off the community debt with a loan and close our joint credit cards. She has paid them off, but never closed them and is recharging on them which is against our agreement.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: appraisal
You did not say when the judgment was entered. You may be able to file a motion to set aside the judgment within one year based upon unilateral mistake of fact.
You might also have a complaint against your atty for his advice and failure to secure your interest (you should have been paid from the escrow when she sold the house).
If you do this, you will want to freeze her money so that it's there when you need it.
You could leave the judgment as it is and have a writ issued to seize her assets to pay the judgment. You might be entitled to 10% annual interest.
Re: appraisal
Dear Inquirer:
Nothing herein shall create an attorney-client
relationship, unless a written retainer agreement
is executed by the attorney and client. This
communication contains general information only.
Nothing herein shall constitute an attorney-client
communication nor legal advice. There likely are
deadlines and time-limits associated with your
case; you should contact an attorney of your
choice for legal advice specific to your personal
situation, at once.
If you haven't already done so, please visit my
web site at --
http://home.pacbell.net/edbjr/ OR
http://www.CaliforniaDivorceAttorney.com
The site contains quite a bit of general
information about California Family Law, Tenants'
Rights, and Juvenile Dependencies, and EDD
hearings and appeals, as well as information
about me (education, experience, et cetera)
and my office (location, hours, fees, policies).
NOW, IN RESPONSE TO YOUR INQUIRY --
The facts that you have provided are not clear
enough and/or complete enough to provide a
definitive answer to you inquiry; however, I would
say that you might be able to win on a motion to set
the judgment aside based on mistake or fraud. This
is not a do-it-yourself motion and THERE ARE
TIME LIMITS FOR DOING SO. See an attorney NOW.
Thanks for sharing your interesting inquiry with
us on LawGuru, and good luck with your case.
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