Legal Question in Family Law in California
Husband lives in CA., travels all over US, has lovers everywhere, wife in GA. kn
Wife of 3 years knows of husband`s lovers. Husband has large company stock & retirement accounts, rental houses, his business, all in California. Wife filed for divorce in Georgia last year. Husband is offering a pittance to wife to settle. Husband wanted wife to file GA. joint tax return in 2001, but she filed separately. They filed jointly in 2000. Is there any provision in Ca. or Ga. law concerning the years of joint filing to establish residency? Guess husband wanted to establish GA. residency to avoid Ca. community property laws and he thought wife would not find out about lovers. Is wife entitled to half of appreciation on all assets of husband while married? How to prove appreciation on pension, rental units, business, if husband hides assets? Husband now claiming to be broke, yet made $250 K in most years. Wife makes $24K at 2 jobs. Case not in court YET. Thank you from wife. Any help appreciated.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Husband lives in CA., travels all over US, has lovers everywhere, wife in GA
Dont know about GA but CA residency means living here 6 months.
Re: Husband lives in CA., travels all over US, has lovers everywhere, wife in GA
With regards to Georgia, residencey means taht you must have lived in this state from more tahn six months. Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to apply the long arm statute to get jurisdiction in Georgia.
As for choice of forums, depending on when your husband acquired these assets and where the funds came from, you may want to file in Californmia. Geogia is an equitable division state and you would only be entitled to recover that portion of the assests that were acquired during the course of the marriage and with marital funds. (Funds that were acquired during the course of the marriage.) If the assets appreciated in value during the course of the marriage, you would only be able to recover that portion of the appreciation which is attributed to marital effors. An appreciation in value based only on market forces is not marital. That is quire different from the community property standard.
If you are going to proceed, you will need to have the use of finacial experts to place vaues on the assests and advise you on the best course of action.
This is a complex case and I would recommend that you seek the assitance of an experienced and seasoned family lawyer.
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