Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina
My husband and I had a separation agreement signed and notarized in October 2015 and it states we were legally separated on October 10, 2015. It was never filed with the court. We decided to expedite the divorce since my husband is co-habitating with another woman and they want to get married. I filed for divorce stating I had moved out in February 2015 instead of October. This is when I was staying with my mother and was receiving mail there. We did not do the separation agreement until October because we decided then I was not coming back home after seeking counseling and so forth. We are now fighting again over my vehicle that is in both our names. It was in the agreement that he can take it from me if I don't get it refinanced in my name only. I haven't been able to do that since he hasn't refinanced both mortgages in his name only and it has made my debt to income ratio too high. Since I changed the date on the divorce filing and he agreed to it, does that make the separation agreement invalid? The separation agreement was signed and notarized. I just wonder if I have a leg to stand on because of this. He is an abusive and manipulative person. I basically handed everything over to him buy my car, personal belongings, and half the business which we constantly fight over. Please help. We live in NC.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It sounds like you did your own legal work - if so, the time to have gotten help was in the beginning and you likely could have avoided all of this - it is very doubtful an attorney would have advised you to use an October date if in fact February was the actual separation date (which based on the statements in your question February is NOT the actual separation date and you are likely not yet eligible for divorce). Anyhoo, depending on the exact wording of the agreement, potentially either the divorce complaint or the separation agreement contains information that is at best false and at worst an out right lie - neither of which is good. Using a different separation date on the divorce complaint will not invalidate the separation agreement (assuming it is properly drafted and valid) nor will the fact that it was never 'filed with the Court' because there is no filing requirement. Further, there is no such thing as 'legally separated' in NC. You simply either meet the requirements to be separated or you do not. A formal written separation agreement is not required in order to be separated. There is a very long time between February and October. It makes absolutely no sense to claim an October date on your agreement if you in fact separated in February so if you incorporate that Agreement into your divorce and a Judge catches it, you may find yourself in the proverbial hot seat having to answer up as to exactly why someone would choose to do such a silly thing. If you don't have the right answer, you could be facing a perjury charge. As to the car issue if the agreement is valid and you didn't do what you said you would do - he has a lot of leg to stand on. Of course, if he also hasn't done what he is supposed to do, you have a case against him as well. So all that said, if you did have an attorney, hire another one because your current one seems to have you very much misinformed (unless you simply just didn't pay attention). If you didn't have an attorney (which is what I expect is the case given your question) - hire one ASAP before you muck things up any more than they already are and / or end up in jail for filing a potentially perjured divorce complaint.