Any Ownership Rights?

[poster100]

I know this will sound stupid, but I trusted this person completely--this is someone I was with for 15 years. I gave my boyfriend $20k during a time he had an offer on a house thinking it would be "our" house. i had a blemish on my credit at the time, so he was going to do the financing. This house fell through due to foundation problems, so I told him to keep the money till we found a house. he invested the money in the meantime. I found a house a few months later and he bought it. I have been helping (so I thought) pay the mortgage for the past 5 years and now he has thrown me out acting as if i was just a tenant. He now has the house up for sale. Is their any hope of asserting any ownership rights? If so, what should I do?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I know this will sound stupid, but I trusted this person completely--this is someone I was with for 15 years. I gave my boyfriend $20k during a time he had an offer on a house thinking it would be "our" house. i had a blemish on my credit at the time, so he was going to do the financing. This house fell through due to foundation problems, so I told him to keep the money till we found a house. he invested the money in the meantime. I found a house a few months later and he bought it. I have been helping (so I thought) pay the mortgage for the past 5 years and now he has thrown me out acting as if i was just a tenant. He now has the house up for sale. Is their any hope of asserting any ownership rights? If so, what should I do?

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. The most important question: Were you a party to the transaction? I'm guessing you were not and that your ex used your money as if it were his own.

What you might do best is to make a demand for payment and state that you will place a lien on the home in the event he tries to sell it. If he does not pay back your loan, in full, within a specified period of time, e.g. 2 weeks, you will proceed to court and sue him.

You may wish to send a letter, certified return receipt to your boyfriend and to the broker who is handling the sale, stating that your money was used to buy this home and that you are asserting a claim upon the property. I am not sure if you can file a "Claim of Lien" or another lien on the property at some point prior to the disposition of your lawsuit and much would depend upon the jurisdiction you are in.

What the above may accomplish is as follows: It is typical that the seller must certify that he knows of now claim that is pending or can be made against the property. Once you have notified him of your outstanding claim, such a statement cannot be signed in good faith and might provide you with some leverage on getting your money back.

I would highly advise that anything you do be done in writing. I think you have unfortunately learned that you should never, ever under any circumstances provide this much money (or any substantial sum) without obtaining a firm written agreement. An eventual lawsuit here may prove to be messy since the facts are not clear and this may result in valuable and costly time. Best of luck with this.