Abandonment Issues

[sls_]

My husband of 32 years left on 12-19-01. I haven't heard a word from him since. He called my adult son (from a cell phone with a blocked caller id) and told him that he wasn't coming back and planned to live his fantasy now.

The house is in both our names. The car is in his name. There are bills, a mortgage, etc. My attorney tells me that I can divorce him and then can't be forced to pay for his funeral....but I still need to pay his health insurance, life insurance, and car insurance. He also says that unless I can find him and serve him with divorce papers, the divorce will not solve any property issues.

Is there ANYTHING I can do? I don't have a job and haven't worked in over 10 years. We owe about $70,000 on the house and it is worth about $300,000.

I can't believe he can walk out and leave me stuck in such a situation with NO viable solutions!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm truly sorry to hear about your situation. It must be difficult. Your attorney is in the best position to supply you with answers. It is also possible that you can obtain a judgment against him regarding his debts that you may also be responsible for and obtain a lien on accounts he may have. An investigative company may be of assistance with regard to location and/or bank accounts. If your attorney can't help you with this then another one should be able to. It seems that you have equity in your house -- at the very worst you might sell it and still be left with a good amount of money to purchase a smaller home and be left with a decent amount of money. That is fortunate at least although you may have to discover a new career... Do you have any dependent children in your house? The above suggestion should be able to be handled through your attorney. If not, you can contact TheLaw.com for additional assistance at a very reasonable rate, if necessary.

 

[sls_]

Abandonment

Thank you for your suggestions and sympathy.

My attorney has pretty much told me that I'm not in a good situation. I must continue to pay his health, car, and life insurance in case something would happen to him and someone could come after the house. I can't sell the house because it is in both of our names......and I have no idea where he is or how to find him.....and don't have the funds to hire someone to find him!

I'm told that getting a divorce will free me from being responsible for his burial and that is about it. If he runs up debts, the creditors can put a lien against the house......if I let the house go back to the mortgage company, we will lose a lot of money.....it just seems totally hopeless to me. Basically, all property would be held in reserve until I could produce him or he died.....and he can come back at any time and claim his half of everything......

I can't believe laws are set-up to let one person walk away and leave the other in such a mess with no legal way out of it!