My divorce was final almost a year ago, after 6 years of marriage. At the time of the divorce, I was completing my college degree, taking care of our child, and assisting my ex-husband with his business. We purchased a second home together, which we had rezoned and made into a wellness center. I remodeled the kitchen, which was to be my office. Throughout the marriage, I worked in my ex's office and assisted in the remodeling of the new office. When the new office was ready to move the practice into, he decided he "didn't have room for me" and didn't want me working out of there...said he needed all the space for his practice. All the education and planning I did went out the window at that point. This was the final straw - I had been considering leaving him for a few years and his "screwing me over" regarding the business was it. Everything I did for 5 years revolved around his business and planning to add mine to it.
He hired a divorce attorney, whom he claimed would fairly represent both of us. The attorney never contacted me - we never even met. Was the attorney supposed to contact me regarding my right to retain my own attorney? I didn't realize until everything was signed and done that the lawyer he hired did NOT consider my interests at all.
Here's what I got (or DIDN'T) get:
1) We split the mortgage payment every month, yet he claimed the house on his taxes for 2006 and says I cannot claim them in the future unless I get the loan solely in my name (both of our names are on the current mortgage).
2) I do not receive any child or spousal support, and he says he is never going to pay child support - even if/when I take over the whole mortgage.
3) Although I worked in his practice (he's self-employed) for 5 years and did not receive any benefits, I did not receive any money from said business when we divorced.
The only thing I have gotten from him is half the mortgage (which is benefiting him in terms of taxes and profit he will make when we sell or if I buy him out).
Although he is paying half the mortgage, should I have received child support as well? The way I see it, he is benefiting from still being an owner on the house...he will get that money back eventually and is getting the tax break.
I am considering selling the house, cutting my losses, and starting over from scratch. I sacrificed a lot for him, and now he is flourishing financially and I have had to start my career over. I didn't go to graduate school as planned, gave up a promising career, and moved to another state to help him expand his business and got nothing in return.
I realize I made a huge mistake by not hiring an attorney, but I could not afford one and had no choice. I am not sure if I have any options at this point. An attorney friend I have (who lives across the country) said I may have a malpractice case against my ex's lawyer for not notifying me that he was NOT representing me. Is that possible? I am not interested in suing him; however, I am interested in finding out more about my rights and if some sort of fraud was involved here.
Thanks so much for your time. I apologize for the length of this post.
He hired a divorce attorney, whom he claimed would fairly represent both of us. The attorney never contacted me - we never even met. Was the attorney supposed to contact me regarding my right to retain my own attorney? I didn't realize until everything was signed and done that the lawyer he hired did NOT consider my interests at all.
Here's what I got (or DIDN'T) get:
1) We split the mortgage payment every month, yet he claimed the house on his taxes for 2006 and says I cannot claim them in the future unless I get the loan solely in my name (both of our names are on the current mortgage).
2) I do not receive any child or spousal support, and he says he is never going to pay child support - even if/when I take over the whole mortgage.
3) Although I worked in his practice (he's self-employed) for 5 years and did not receive any benefits, I did not receive any money from said business when we divorced.
The only thing I have gotten from him is half the mortgage (which is benefiting him in terms of taxes and profit he will make when we sell or if I buy him out).
Although he is paying half the mortgage, should I have received child support as well? The way I see it, he is benefiting from still being an owner on the house...he will get that money back eventually and is getting the tax break.
I am considering selling the house, cutting my losses, and starting over from scratch. I sacrificed a lot for him, and now he is flourishing financially and I have had to start my career over. I didn't go to graduate school as planned, gave up a promising career, and moved to another state to help him expand his business and got nothing in return.
I realize I made a huge mistake by not hiring an attorney, but I could not afford one and had no choice. I am not sure if I have any options at this point. An attorney friend I have (who lives across the country) said I may have a malpractice case against my ex's lawyer for not notifying me that he was NOT representing me. Is that possible? I am not interested in suing him; however, I am interested in finding out more about my rights and if some sort of fraud was involved here.
Thanks so much for your time. I apologize for the length of this post.
