I got a judgement of $42,000 against me when me and my ex had our ED. I owned a home prior to our marriage, which the judge awarded to me since it never brought any income into our 14 year marriage. After the ED settlement, I put that home into my son’s name. The court papers hadn’t been filed, nor had the judgement. (The deed transfer was done over 3 months prior to the papers getting filed.) My spouse now says that she can force me to put that property back in my name. Is this true? I’m not trying to avoid paying her. The house in question is in very bad condition, and is in a bad part of town (ghetto). My son helped me out with my legal fees which were outrageous, among other things, and this is my way of paying him back. I did not put any other assets in his name, like my car, which is also paid for.
No, your ex has no interest in the home. So long as there was no restrictions against transfer placed on the property in the judgement you are free to transfer the property as you see fit.
Thank you for your response. She says it’s called “fraudulent conveyance” because I put the house into my son’s name on the day the ED was settled, which is the same day the judgement against me was issued. It took a couple of months for the actual papers (both for the ED and judgement) to be filed. But she says that because I knew of the judgement, and THEN put the house in my son’s name, it’s fraud, and that a judge can order me to to undo the transfer (force my son to put it back in my name). Is there any truth to that?
Ms. Clarey,
If I could have just one more minute of your time. I edited my post while you were responding. Can you read it and still tell me if your answer is no? I won’t pester you anymore, I promise. Thank you so much for your insight!
You are not pestering me at all .
It is only a fraudulent transfer if the land was to be security for the judgment.
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. There are no stipulations about the property in the judgement against me, so I guess the only thing it will cost me is going to court to over it. She has retained a real estate attorney who, at the very least, has convinced her that she has a case. I’ve read up on fraudulent conveyance, but it seems to always pop up with bankruptcy, so I wasn’t sure if it could also apply to judgements or not. But, if the property isn’t stipulated in the judgement, it sounds like I’m going to be ok.