Situation with no solution

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anonymous1977

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All - This is my situation. I was married for 3 years. My wife left to India with the kid in Sept 2008 and asked for a divorce from there. We are both Indian citizens. Based on her request, I filed a divorce case in NJ in Oct 2008. She filed a divorce case in India in Nov 2008. I then dismissed my divorce case here in NJ because she counterclaimed a lot and I was unable to keep paying the attorney. Now, the case is continuing in India.I am currently residing in a house that we acquired while we were married. I put down 10% equity (she did not contribute anything). The property value is now down 10% and the equity is wiped out. The deed has my name followed by, Married. In India, over the last 14 months, I have changed 3 attorneys because wife's side has been telling me that they are interested in an out of court settlement. However, it looks like this is an eyewash since her intent seems to be to harass me. In India, if the matter goes to trial, it will last for 7-10 years. In the meanwhile, I am left with a huge house on which I am paying a heavy mortgage which I can neither sell nor refinance. The attorneys in NJ are telling me that I need her signature to do anything. I am unable to make any progress on an out of court settlement. I don't mind the divorce case to proceed in India but want to unentangle myself from the house. Is there any option available in NJ for me to sell my house without requiring her signature? Is there any legal way out for me or is foreclosure my only option? I have had a pretty clean track record and have never defaulted on any payments. I am just heartbroken that a country such as United States has no option for a scenario like mine where the wife has absconded and I am left with no option to dispose my property. Would appreciate if someone could shed some light.
 
Apply to court for an order for sale (or partition and sale). You may have to have some of the proceeds paid into court or held in trust for her pending the division of assets in your divorce. But you can at least dispose of the house.

Just curious - why have you changed lawyers in India three times just because she talks about settling?
 
Details

Can you provide some details about the Order for sAle ?is this the same as equitable distribution. What I don't want happenning is the court freezes all my assets for equitable distribution. Can you please tell me if this is a standard process and what kind of lawyer in nj can I appoint who can do this?

The reason I have changed attorneys in india is because each time their attorney plays a game. He says he is interested in settlement but goes behind the scenes and does something else. The matter had been dragging on in this fashion for 14 months because my ex does not want me to move on in life. So I have now hired a very senior attorney but the other attorneys behavior has not changed.
 
An order for sale is exactly what it sounds like: an order that the property be sold, whether or not the wife consents. It may be called something else under New Jersey law; I don't know. Any NJ litigator worth his or her salt should know the process for getting this done.

It is not the same as equitable distribution. Whether or not the proceeds get frozen for distribution is another matter entirely, and as I suggested above, a strong possibility. It is unlikely that a court will do away with her interest in the property and trust you to look after her share of the proceeds for her.

I still don't get why HER attorney "playing games" makes YOU change your attorneys.
 
Changing attorneys

Because her attorney is pretty top notch and did not even give the time of ghe day to meet with my two previous attorneys.so I thought hiringsomeone as top notch as him will atleast make meeting in the middle possible. But he continues the sAme games.
 
dee_dub - I have something called a Hyatt Legal plan through my firm which allows me to seek free consultation on legal matters with attorneys. I spoke with around 10 attorneys asking about the option you suggested and the conversation went like this. Not sure if I should ask a different question.

"I own a property which was acquired while married. Wife's name is not on deed. She has deserted me and absconded the country. I am left paying mortgage. I want to sell the property. There is a divorce action on-going in India which will last a couple of years and the Indian court will not decide on a US property. Therefore, I had like a court order to sell the property in NJ. The court can retain the proceeds and distribute them as it feels fit"

The answer - Never heard of this option. Usually things need to get resolved in a divorce or she would need to sign the documents waiving her interest. There is no third way out.
 
Dee_Dub - Can you kindly respond? You seem to have a lot of information and I saw some of your remarks on the other threads. Would really appreciate if you can clarify?
 
I'm not a New Jersey lawyer; the option I suggested might not be available in New Jersey. Here's how it works in my parts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_(law)

Back up a bit. Whose name is on title? If hers is not, why can't you just sell it? If you're identified as "married" on title, does that mean you need your wife's consent to sell?
 
The easiest way (perhaps not the best way) to dispose of this problem is to walk away from the house. You can voluntarily surrender it to the bank, or stop paying and wait for them to foreclose. You'll never get your equity stake back, anyway.

Or, you could file bankruptcy. You don't need your wife to do that. She'll still be stuck with the note, and you'd be debt free (after the bankruptcy proceeding runs the course).

Stop fighting windmills, Don Quixote was a fictional work.


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Dee_Dub - Wife's name is not on deed. It just has my name, Married. When I spoke to attorneys they said, one of the questions asked during the sale is if it was a principal marital residence. If it was, then her signature is needed otherwise the title is not clean.
 
Army judge - Thanks. Trust me, I have contemplated this option several times only to have been scared against it. For starters, I called the bank and explained my situation, they said I would need it settled as part of the divorce. I said she is not even in this country and the Indian court system will not deal with US property. I then asked them if I could do a deed in lieu of a foreclosure and they said she would still need to sign. I then asked them the impact of a foreclosure. They said, if the property sells for lesser than I owe, then they have the option to come after me for the deficit since my name is the only one on the mortgage. Then I asked them, in which case if my name is the only one on the mortgage, can I atleast re-finance and they said I cannot do it without my wife's signature. So, basically, it looks like I am trapped from all sides. When I evaluated the foreclosure option, the coming after me part was what scared me in addition to ruining my credit score. Which process is less painful - foreclosure or bankruptcy? Can I declare bankruptcy if I have sizeable financial liquid assets in the bank?
 
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