Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa
My husband has recently decided he wants a divorce. It's very complicated because of this-he inherited the land we live on and the house that we live in. I have nothing. My name is not on the deeds. But I have signed my name on a $400,000 loan on which he has used the land as collateral on the loan. We have been married twice. We were separated in December of 1994, our divorce was final the beginnning of September of 1995, his grandfather passed away on October 11, 1995 and we were married again on November 17, 1995. Because there was a living estate he did not actually receive the property until August of 2004, when his grandfather's wife passed away. And his biological father contested the will for several years.
This is my fear, I have heard that inherited property is not divisible in Iowa. I am a preschool teacher and make $32/day. I take care of the house and our children and have done this for the last approximately 9 years. We owned a house in town before we moved out to this farm and he let let get foreclosed on but before that time I had equity in that house. I just can't believe that I'm going to be left with nothing now.
I don't want this divorce. He has a girlfriend but I am willing to forgive all that and try to make this marriage work, but apparently he thinks he can walk away and leave me with nothing. My oldest daughter is leaving for college and we have another daughter that is 14 and a freshmen in high school. Is it true that I will be left with absolutely nothing?
1 Answer from Attorneys
As there are significant property issues you may want to consult a family law attorney, but it looks to me as if you may have incurred significant debt liability by cosigning on a note when you had no ownership interest in the property he inherited.
In addition, it appears that he inherited the home when you were not married. That being said, the divorce and remarriage looks suspicious and it could be argued that it was a pretense to divest you of a right to property that might otherwise have accrued to your benefit. In addition it could be argued that the loan is evidence of a joint ownership, but the papers for the loan would have to be reviewed by an attorney.
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