Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
The Postnuptial agreement reads as follows:
" This Agreement is made between husband and wife rearding a HELOC approved for husband by XYZ BANK in amount of 100k to be used to pay off credit card debt and uncollateralized loans incurred under husband's name.
The property to be used as collateral is the jointly owned primary residence of husband and wife. The husband will be the sole borrower on the loan and will be solely responsible for paying off the debt incurred under its terms.
In the event that the couple's primary residence held in joint name is sold for any reason, any outstanding balance due on the HELOC will be paid solely by husband before he can share in any
proceeds from the home sale."
The wife would not allow the husband to get the HELOC unless he signed the above agreement. After he signed it at the bank in front of the notary, his wife signed the HELOC applicationat the same time in front of the notary, but not as a borrower, but acknowledging she was allowing the house to be used as collateral for the loan.
4 years later the wife files for divorce. She is seeking a judgement against her husband for 50K in the marital settlement agreement . In the pretrial conference the judge says the debt is marital and allegedly using the logic that if the husband hadn't taken out the HELOC the marital residence could have been sold, netting 100k more than if there hadn't been any HELOC taken out.
The husband refuses to sign the MSA with THE JUDGEMENT attached, because he feels he has no agreement that says he owes his wife any money. He has fulfilled all the obligations of the terms of the HELOC according to its terms-as the agreement stipulated Before the HELOC he had not used the credit cards or uncollateralized loans on anything but things for the family ( expenses mostly ) .
Question: What does the contract really say exactly? Should there be a judgement against the husband? Is the contract valid if it was drafted for the wife? Did the wife take advantage of the
husband 's situation in the contract? Should the husband owe money to his wife for this agreement as it is written?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It may finally be time for you to hire an attorney. This is a mess but from the little relevant information you've supplied, the judge appears to have made the proper ruling.
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