Did I get taken?

[beckyjac59]

Mydivorce was final on Dec. 10th. It was pretty amicable, as these things go. First a little background: We were married for 12 years, together for 15. During that time, he quit a very lucrative consulting position to take up network marketing, while I continued to work full time. After 5 years of this career, we relocated to Florida in order to be closer to his chilren. At this point, he tried a career in Recuiting, and was terminated. During this time, I continued to work full time. When we moved to Florid, we purchased a lovely home for $235K. Subsequently, we refinanced and added a $50,000 pool. Foloowing the try at Recruiting, my husband went to real estate school, and launched what has turned out to be a very successful real estate career. In Augist of 2009, I lost my job. In December of 2009 (while still unemployed), I left after discovering some information, I would rather not have discovered, and moved out of state to live with my daughter. I cashed in my 401K, and gave it to him to pay off all of our credit card debt. He stayed in the house because it was the primary residence for two of his 3 children. I also sent him 1/2 of the mortgage payment from my unemployment checks during that time. He filed for divorce and since he convinced me that we were too far "upside down" on the house, he would keep it and continue to pay for eveything. Long story short, divorce is final and he now has the house and everything that was in it. He also has a very successfull (even in this market) resl estate business, while I am once again unemployed. My question is, could I be entitled to part of his real estate business, since I supported him and paid his tuition? Thanks for your opinions.

[Attorney Howard Iken]

I cannot really say if you got taken or not - because I do not have enough facts.

But the bottom line is that the divorce is final. "Equitable distribution," which is the process of dividing assets and debts is not modifiable. In other words, it is what it is and you must live with it.

Attorney Howard Iken