Legal Question in Family Law in Nevada
I have been married one year. My husband and I have agreed to divorce and are trying to work out the debt/asset aspect on our own so we can file a joint petition for divorce.
However, we are having a few hang ups.
-We own a house together. I have agreed to relinquish it to him and am not asking for 1/2 the equity even though our state is a 50/50 state.
-I have a pending lawsuit for work I did prior to our marriage that I was not paid for. He paid the attorney retainer with me and contributed $2500. I am willing to reimburse him this amount if he reimburses me $6000 that I've contributed into the house (monthly payments and the down payment). The other alternative is to just let the two amounts wash...
-My car is paid off. We paid it off together when we bought the house and received the Obama tax credit. He purchased a car recently the loan is for $8000 but the car is worth $13000.
-There is also a $2500 balance on his credit card for a surgery that I had done.
Is he entitled to any money I receive from the lawsuit?
Can he force me to refinance my car and pay him 1/2 for his car?
Am I responsible for the balance on his credit card?
If he wants me to pay 1/2 for his car, give him a percentage of my lawsuit, and to pay for his credit card payment, am I entitled to require him to refinance the house and pay me 1/2 it's worth and subsequently deduct the amount he requires from the payment to be for the equity?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Yes, Nevada is a "presumptive equal division" State -- but that is overall, not as to each transaction. So, yes, all the various NET assets and liabilities should be put on a balance sheet, and one half of the net difference is presumptive due from whoever gets more to whoever gets less (for his care, for instance, if he owes $8k, and it's worth $13k, it is a net ASSET, not a liability, of $5k, so you would not pay him "1/2 of anything -- the $5k equity goes on his side of the balance sheet, along with the net house equity).
Although you don't recite all the numbers, it sounds like you may be so close to balance that a mutual walk-away makes sense. And yes, future payment of a lawsuit that accrued (i.e., the facts of which occurred) during the marriage "counts." See the article entitled "Partition of Omitted Assets After Amie: Nevada Comes (Almost) Full Circle" posted at http://www.willicklawgroup.com/published_works.
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