Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

I live in Virginia and have been married for 4 years. My wife purchased the home we currently live in one year before we were married and the mortgage is in her name. Since we were married we both pay towards the mortgage and i have been paying for all the work done to the house for the last 4 years. We also have a verball agreement that if i pay a little extra each month toward the mortgage once i've accumulated what she originally put down as her downpayment on the house she would add my name to the mortgage. in other words her original down payment was 10,000 and i have paid extra in our mortgage of 9,000 and once it reaches 10,000 she was to add me on the house as a 50/50 owner. We also own a timeshare, stock portfolio & retirement fund which are all in her name but all were aquired after we got married and we both pay into 50/50...we are currently filing for divorce. Am i entitiled to a percentage of the house and how do i protect the other assets if she chooses to liquidate them and cash out before the divorce is final being as everything is in her name


Asked on 8/16/09, 11:20 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Yes, you would have an obvious marital claim to the house and apparently to the other assets as well which you've mentioned acquired during the marriage. If your wife chooses to liquidate some of these assets before they can be equitably divided in the divorce process, then your proportionate share values of each asset liquidated by your wife would probably end up being deducted from her share of the home's value by the end of the divorce.

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Answered on 8/21/09, 3:52 pm


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