justdivorced
New
Reged: 05/02/07
Posts: 1
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My divorce was recently final and there is still a lot of my ex's property at my house. I have asked him to pick it up but he is ignoring my emails. I'm sure it's because he doesn't have the room for it now and he just wants me to hold it for him for the time being.
What am I able to do within the law. Can I just put it out in the street and tell him to pick it up? Not sure what I can do legally.
Thanks in advance.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5042
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Did your final decree give a time by which he has to have it out of your house?
Don't put it out on the street.
Did you have a lawyer representing you, and did he have one representing him? If so, then go through the lawyers. Send him a letter that gives him a reasonable amount of time to come pick the stuff up (2 weeks to a month, for example), tell him where it is, and make certain you get a response. If he fails to respond, then go to court & ask for permission to dispose of his property, as well as attorney's fees for having to go this far, saying he acted in bad faith by not removing the stuff form your household even when you gave him plenty of time to do so. Once you get a court order that you can do whatever you want with it, you can do that. But don't take stuff that belongs to him & do anythign with it without some official determination of waht you're allowed to do with it. You could find out that the court thinks you acted unreasonably and the price for you to pay for it will be really high.
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KGrow
Platinum
Reged: 01/27/06
Posts: 3153
Loc: Colorado
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Someone here once made the creative suggestion that you rent a storage space; Have the stuff moved there; Pay the first month's rent and send him the key. It may involve modest effort and expense on your part but it puts you in the clear.
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justmejulia
Gold
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 186
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Give the ex 1 week to get it and if it is still there throw it out...I would not pay storage for someone elses crap.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5042
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Julia, you could get in real trouble if you did that. Some states, by living in a house where someone else's crap was stored, you have become landlord of their crap. You need to take better care of their crap than you would of your own. (this is why I never close on a house where the walk thru does not show that all the crap has been removed... even the trash... I demand they either clear out the crap or put it in writing that I can (and pay me to hire the dumpster if that's necessary... I'll demand they pay that, as an addendum to the sales agreement, at closing, if the walk through has shown crap left in the place).
If there was no deadline in the divorce papers, then it's quite possible that you're now the landlord of his stuff... with zero agreement for rent, and therefore you're just his free storage room. It's not fair, but if you didn't get it taken care of before the divorce was final, then it's a problem.
In THAT case, then KGrow's solution is really best. Take great care with his crap, wrap it up, take it to storage, and give him the key & the responsibility for continuing to pay for it's storage. If it really is crap that he wants to abandon, then he can do so. Otherwise, he can't use you as his free storage unit in perpetuity.
And this solution keeps YOU out of trouble for doing something vindictive to your ex's stuff.
A bonfire of the ex's stuff is a real fantasy, but one that is best left to the movies. The repercussions of such vindictive actions are not worth the "cleansing" that you might feel for having done it.
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LoveChild
Platinum
Reged: 05/19/07
Posts: 285
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Wouldn't he have to prove what was left behind? I have the same deal except it's my stuff I didn't have time to get before she changed the locks on me.
When I ask for things, she says she doesn't know where they are. My atty says it's not worth it to pay him to go after her for 'things', but these things add up! I shoulda married someone more like Julia.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5042
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You should have married someone who would have a bonfire with your things?
Make a list, all the things in the house... ALL.
One colum, put an X if the thing is hers. One, put an X if it's yours (based upon the community property rules, ask if you don't know). Most everything will be "ours". For those things... column 3, put a value on them.
Divide them into an A & B list, equal values to the things on each list. She chooses to keep the items on one list, and you take the items on the other.
tell your lawyer that you know it's not worth discussing individual items, but that as an aggregate, they will be 10s of thousands of $$ to replace and you want some of them. tell him that you've made up an A-B list and see if he's willing to send the letters to her attorney to get the ball rolling on those items.
And If she claims stuff on the list she leaves for you doesn't exist any more, then you get the OTHER list. If ehs destroys or loses things, then your attorney SHOULD be able to use that inofrmation against her in the divorce trial, to show that she has intentionally done things to destroy the value of the property and therefore you deserve more than half of waht's left. You may end up getting an extra $10,000 payment from the equity in the hosue, for example, and none of the things, but at least it will be SOMETHING.
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LoveChild
Platinum
Reged: 05/19/07
Posts: 285
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Oops, I meant I shoulda married someone like justdivorced. I didn't scroll up enough.
I'm just hoping that half of my stuff is still there (if I can ever get back into the house.)
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justmejulia
Gold
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 186
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GiGi considering this is the state of AZ forum. I am pretty sure of the laws since I do live here.
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