Question

not sure what to do

Asked 22 July 2012 · 1 answer

The question

I'll try not to make this too long. Was married for approx 11 yrs. Divorce was finalized in Oct. 2010. Ex husband was ordered to pay me a marital settlement of 30K plus approx 8K to my atty (my atty fees), two months after finalization he appealled this. Back to court and only thing that changed was judge added my current atty fees to what ex was already ordered to pay--so now he owes me 30K and approx 10K to my atty. Two months later he appealled again but then dropped this appeal in order to file bankruptcy (ch. 13). He is a self-employed engineer who according to HIS ACCOUNTANT CLEARED 136K in 2010 and made enough in 2011 that his taxes TRIPLED. The only debts he filed bankruptcy on are my marital settlement and what he was ordered to pay my atty. Now he and his bk atty have decided that if the BK court orders him to pay this money over a 5 yr period, they will change from ch. 13 to ch. 11. My BK atty tells me that this would basically allow him an unlimited time to pay this money. My BK atty wants me to decide whether to continue pursuing this in BK court or try to settle for a lesser amount with the terms being that it is paid in one payment within a specified time frame. I am definitely ready for all this to be over but I don't feel that I should have to settle for less b/c the ex decided he wanted to have an affair and then continue it after the divorce. We have a 10yr daughter and this money was gonna be used to provide for her in the future (high school, sports, other school stuff, etc) b/c the ex does not help with any kind of extra she may have--like camps, counseling, sports training. And if I were to choose to settle, I would have to take 10K of the lesser amount and still pay my divorce atty so that would lessen what I kept even more. He is in the process of preparing for the gf and HER 5 KIDS to move in with him by remodeling his home to accomidate them all. I live in TN if that helps. Any advice on whether to continue pursuing in BK court or settling would be appreciated.

Thank You in advance to any and all advice given.

LaDonna Lybrook

From the LawyerCentral forum archive. Originally posted 22 July 2012 on a legal forum that has closed. Names and contact details were removed. See the original (Internet Archive).

1 answer

Visitor answer 1 January 2013

I think your attorneys can give you better advice than I can. But if you're looking for another opinion, I think the question is whether or not you can get more money from pursuing the case and the chances of winning versus settling. Time should not be a factor if your daughter needs the money. The question of whether you can actually get more money, however, should be.

There are procedure rules that sometimes shift legal fees from the defendant to the plaintiff (in this case from your husband to you) if the amount you win in court is less than the amount offered in settlement. Ask your attorney if such rules are in play here and what your chances of getting a larger amount would be if you pursued the case. If the chances are greater than 50%, it might be worthwhile in my opinion. Please listen to your attorney for actual legal advice.

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