Legal Question in Family Law in California
My wife served me with divorce papers. I do not plan to respond or contest it. We have drafted and notarized a Settlement agreement. (We only have 2 cars to divide) She said she will include this agreement with the paperwork she files. In her petition she checked the box saying she has attached the FL160 (Property Declaration) There was no FL160 attached. She said this was the same as the Marital Settlement Agreement. Is that true? Will it matter? If she knows Im not responding and files an FL160 rather than the MSA we agreed to, can I get taken? Will that override the MSA?
Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
No, she needs to file a property declaration that she signs. Sounds like she could be hiding assets that she doesn't want you to know about. What a property declaration does is put everything out on the table that is being divided. If you don't claim it on that property declaration form, it can be argued that that asset has not been divided, and it protects the person who has been taken advantage of by one spouse hiding assets from the other.