stephenBishop
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Florida
I need some clarification, particularly as my wife and I may be headed for divorce after 18 years of marriage.
Over the course of our marriage we've acquired four properties, the home we live in plus three investment properties. With each acquisition my wife has put the homes exclusively in her name, something that has always been a sore point with me and something we've clashed over a number of times as I see it as her pursuing her own financial agenda. Our home was purchased with money she brought to the table for a small deposit, while two of the investment properties were purchased via a inheritance from my wife's grandmother that was used for deposits and to pay for all the rehab work. The 4th property was bought at my suggestion by redirecting a 401k account with $40,000 in it that wasn't performing well - the money was enough for the deposit and rehab costs.
My wife has put in about 150k while I've put in nothing financially - basically because I've been the stay at home husband through the years raising the children and rehabbing the homes - I have next to no money of my own anymore as I gave up the craft business I started when I moved here in order to stay at home and look after the family - my wife and I shared a common belief in terms of old family values regarding having a parent at home, and because my wife works in the corporate sector it fell to me to be the one to stay at home for the family. I've tried a few things to bring in a little money from home, but it hasn't been much.
Each of the houses was bought at bottom of the barrel prices because they were in shocking condition and uniquely suited to us - for normal home owners the costs of contracting all the work out would have been astronomical, while for investors the margin for profit would have been marginal because of all the work. I grew up rehabbing homes from top to bottom for my father so I can do everything - electrical, plumbing, floors, framing, kitchens, drywall, painting, etc. In short, I spent months working on each house - in one case I lived in one of the houses for close to 10 months on my own to fix it up - and have easily saved us twice what my wife put in in contractor costs, probably even more.
Example? When we bought our own home it had been left empty and without power for two years, with water leaking in through the roof causing parts of the ceiling to collapse and leaving so much moisture in the house that there was black mold everywhere. The mold remediation quotes ranged from $15,000 to $30,000 - I did a deal with one guy for $2000 to mark out all the areas that needed to be treated, then come back after I had done all the work myself, test, then sign off on it. I wouldn't let my wife or the kids near the place for weeks, did it all, and suffered excruciating headaches from the mold the whole time, even with a mask - but I saved us a ton of money.
I can document each and every single piece of work that I did, together with photographs. We simply wouldn't have any of the homes without all of my input, nor maintain them at the minimal costs involved every time we get stuck with a bad tenant a who trashes the place. My wife pays me $250 a month to 'maintain' the properties, do the repairs, mow the lawns, etc.
In recognition of not just our marriage, but as partners in all this, it would have seemed natural to me that both our names go on the deeds - the fact she set it up so that only her name appears has always left me nervous thinking she was looking after herself. In one of our more recent arguments over it she claimed there was no way my name could appear on the deeds because her name alone is on the mortgage documents. So basically that's my question - is that true?
Sorry to be so ignorant on the matter but I'm not familiar with the relevant legal issues here. I moved to the USA from Australia to marry my wife in 2000 and placed a great deal of faith and trust in her to do so after I gave up everything back home to make the change. Now I feel like I'm going to head home dead broke after my wife does her best to hold on to the real estate portfolio we built up together.
Over the course of our marriage we've acquired four properties, the home we live in plus three investment properties. With each acquisition my wife has put the homes exclusively in her name, something that has always been a sore point with me and something we've clashed over a number of times as I see it as her pursuing her own financial agenda. Our home was purchased with money she brought to the table for a small deposit, while two of the investment properties were purchased via a inheritance from my wife's grandmother that was used for deposits and to pay for all the rehab work. The 4th property was bought at my suggestion by redirecting a 401k account with $40,000 in it that wasn't performing well - the money was enough for the deposit and rehab costs.
My wife has put in about 150k while I've put in nothing financially - basically because I've been the stay at home husband through the years raising the children and rehabbing the homes - I have next to no money of my own anymore as I gave up the craft business I started when I moved here in order to stay at home and look after the family - my wife and I shared a common belief in terms of old family values regarding having a parent at home, and because my wife works in the corporate sector it fell to me to be the one to stay at home for the family. I've tried a few things to bring in a little money from home, but it hasn't been much.
Each of the houses was bought at bottom of the barrel prices because they were in shocking condition and uniquely suited to us - for normal home owners the costs of contracting all the work out would have been astronomical, while for investors the margin for profit would have been marginal because of all the work. I grew up rehabbing homes from top to bottom for my father so I can do everything - electrical, plumbing, floors, framing, kitchens, drywall, painting, etc. In short, I spent months working on each house - in one case I lived in one of the houses for close to 10 months on my own to fix it up - and have easily saved us twice what my wife put in in contractor costs, probably even more.
Example? When we bought our own home it had been left empty and without power for two years, with water leaking in through the roof causing parts of the ceiling to collapse and leaving so much moisture in the house that there was black mold everywhere. The mold remediation quotes ranged from $15,000 to $30,000 - I did a deal with one guy for $2000 to mark out all the areas that needed to be treated, then come back after I had done all the work myself, test, then sign off on it. I wouldn't let my wife or the kids near the place for weeks, did it all, and suffered excruciating headaches from the mold the whole time, even with a mask - but I saved us a ton of money.
I can document each and every single piece of work that I did, together with photographs. We simply wouldn't have any of the homes without all of my input, nor maintain them at the minimal costs involved every time we get stuck with a bad tenant a who trashes the place. My wife pays me $250 a month to 'maintain' the properties, do the repairs, mow the lawns, etc.
In recognition of not just our marriage, but as partners in all this, it would have seemed natural to me that both our names go on the deeds - the fact she set it up so that only her name appears has always left me nervous thinking she was looking after herself. In one of our more recent arguments over it she claimed there was no way my name could appear on the deeds because her name alone is on the mortgage documents. So basically that's my question - is that true?
Sorry to be so ignorant on the matter but I'm not familiar with the relevant legal issues here. I moved to the USA from Australia to marry my wife in 2000 and placed a great deal of faith and trust in her to do so after I gave up everything back home to make the change. Now I feel like I'm going to head home dead broke after my wife does her best to hold on to the real estate portfolio we built up together.
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