my husband told me in july that he wanted to separate. we had a piece of land that his stepfather had given us for a future homestead. this deed was in both our names. about a mothn before my husband’s announcement, his stepfather decided that he wanted us to have a different piece of land. i had really liked this piece of land better and agreed. we went to roxboro, and signed the deed to the original plot back over to his stepfather. then, my husband told me that he was just going to put the new piece of land in his name only to make it easier. that deed was signed to him a week before he told me we were splitting. do i have any legal rights to this land, or a portion of its value, or have i been duped?
It does sound like they are trying to trick you out of it. However, if it’s a gift and none of your husband’s funds were put into it, then the land will belong to your husband as his sole and separate property anyway. You would only have an interest in the active equity (earned through either of your separate funds or sweat equity/labor) which the property has gained between acquiring the property and the date of separation. Since the time between those two dates is so short, it is unlikely you would be able to claim anything for this piece of land.