My mother is going through a divorce. Her husband was awarded a hefty settlement due to an accident. The Court ruled that this property was marital since it was jointly titled and deposited and subject to equitable distribution by the Court. That’s what the Orders state. Her husband has spent the money. Her lawyer is now telling us that the Court would have given her husband the money anyway. We cannot get anything into Court because the lawyers involved keep finding excuses not to have Court. We have taken off work several times only to learn Court has been cancelled. Going on two years now. 3 Court dates over the course of a year cancelled. What on earth is our recourse? There is no longer any money and these are two old people. Since the ruling, my mother’s health has deteriorated and we’ve had to place her in assisted living. We, the daughters, are paying for this care. This just doesn’t seem right. What can we do? Probably nothing, huh?
My first piece of advice is to have a frank discussion with your mother’s attorney to figure out why he/she doesn’t want to go to court to adequately represent your mothers best interests. You may want to also getting another attorney who will be more aggressive in their representation. If the money was found to be martial and subject to division her husband will have to account for those funds at some point, obviously the sooner the better.