Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York
Never asked to be put on deed but was put in the deed and now getting sued for
I'm getting sued by my mother claiming that I defrauded her by putting myself on the deed to the house after she and my Dad got divorced 5 years ago. My dad signed over the house to her with the understanding that the house would be refinanced in the next few months and that the deed would be in my name as well as hers. (Otherwise he would never have agreed to simply signing over the house to her for free). I never even got involved in all of their divorce proceedings. She did put me into the deed during the refinancing, as promised, to my father 5 years ago. Now, (5.5 years later), my mother is claiming that she never knew that I was on the deed. And that I set up a ''separate deed paper'' during the refinancing of the house in 1998 that would transfer the property to her and to me. I never did this nor did I ask to be put on the deed. She put me on the deed and now is suing me to get the property back in her name. I don't want to sign over the property to her but am more than willing to sign the property back to my father.
Should I fight this case?? Do I have any good options? How does one go about proving fraud?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Never asked to be put on deed but was put in the deed and now getting sued f
While the questions that you ask are ligitimate, they require extensive explanation and more questions to be answered.
Feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail to further discuss these serious interrelated matters.
Good Luck
RRG
Re: Never asked to be put on deed but was put in the deed and now getting sued f
You have yourself one mell of a hess, as my father-in-law puts it. The mere fact that you're being sued by your mother, without more, makes anyone sit up and take notice. That she's suing you for _fraud_ is all the more distasteful.
No lawyer could give you anything resembling coherent advice in this form. Keep in mind that this kind of litigation can get expensive, and quickly. I would certainly need to see the documents from when your father signed the house over to you and your mother, as well as the documents from when you refinanced the house. It is likely that when that transaction closed, you and your mother signed an affidavit of title confirming that you both owned the house without any claims that either of you knew of.
Defending against a fraud claim is extremely dependent on the facts of each case. In this case, the defense would likely start with the fact that your mother has her marbles and has on more than one occasion signed paperwork attesting to joint ownership. However, establishing those facts and planning the whole defense would have to begin with a real retention of a lawyer and having the lawyer give real legal advice, which this post is not.
At the same time, you have to ask yourself why you would spend serious amounts of money on this case. Do you live in the house? Have you invested your own money in the house? More often than not, there is a subtext of one kind or another at work. Is your mother trying to cut off her son to placate a new man in her life? You need to answer those questions and to decide what it is that you want out of the situation before you march off to spend money on this battle. At the same time, bear in mind that being found guilty of fraud could have a significant and permanent impact on your life. Bonding companies will not touch you, and any profession that requires proof of good moral character (real estate broker and insurance sales are just the ones that come immediately to mind) could end up being foreclosed for you, so even if you want out of the situation, the strategy of simply ignoring it and letting the case take its course could prove unpleasant as well.
This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.
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