Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

Re: Divorce after only 11months what happens house property

After only 11 months of marriage, and assuming there are no children of the marriage, the court's job will most likely be to return each of the parties to their pre-marriage position.

That said, a division of your marital property may take into account the added equity in your home by virtue of his efforts.

If the divorce is largely amicable, you may be able to reach a settlement on your own with regard to marital property, etc. Please contact me if you would like the assistance of an attorney or have any further questions.

Re: Divorce after only 11months what happens house property

This is a deceptively complicated fact pattern.

Your husband probably cannot get a share in the house through a divorce action, as it appears that all of his improvements were provided before the marriage. The court is reluctant -- to say the least -- to mix divorce remedies into a non-marital situation. It could possibly do so by finding that husband brought $150,000.00 worth of house into the marriage, and allowing him to have that back (as, in all honesty, he should have).

However, the more correct stance is that his right to return of his investment comes through an old-fashioned equity theory called "unjust enrichment." In either Probate and Family Court or Superior Court, he has a very strong argument that you would be unjustly enriched if you were allowed to keep the house as he improved it. Neither of you could have possibly considered that he was giving you a mere gift without expectations in return, under this theory, and I have no doubt that a judge would make such a finding (absent some other consideration you gave him, such as providing round-the-clock nursing services to his aging parents or some such). The equity court will thus order you to reimburse him, by selling the house or getting the money some other way.

A good attorney on his side will seek and obtain this type of relief, so you need to be considering how you will work this out.

I am available for a further consultation on how to best proceed, limit your losses, and work out a solution that will not force the sale of the house, as well as getting you divorced.

Re: Divorce after only 11months what happens house property

Your husband if he has an attorney will seek to recover the $150,000.00 on the basis of unjust enrichment or as equitable claim that he brought $150,000 into the marriage. It is unlikely you will lose the house but I would retain an attorney to assist you in this if you can't otherwise come to an agreement with your husband.