Trespass from my own house

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martyyn

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#3072272 4-May-2023 13:33

My wife is a family lawyer, she's been doing this for 20+ years.

Her advice is to ignore everything you've read or heard so far, to bypass any "free" services (as well intentioned as they are), and talk to a family lawyer specifically.

Ignore the $10k for a retainer comment, that's so far off the mark it's not funny.

concordnz

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#3072273 4-May-2023 13:46

I've been through what you are going through.

If you are not living there. No, you don't have a right to enter without permission of thoes living there.
(and yes you could get trespassed - the fact that you own part of the property is irelivant.

Yeah, the $10k could far off the mark,
It could easily be multiples of that.
Getting a 'decent/honest' Family Law Lawers, is nigh on impossible.

concordnz

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#3072274 4-May-2023 13:48

Sadly, lawyers will always say "ignore all other advise" as it is not in their best interests.

Unfortunately talking to 4 different lawyers will give you 6 different answers, as there is no consistency between them..

pab

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#3072278 4-May-2023 14:00

frankv:
NB: Matrimonial property settlement is as at the date of separation, so any improvement in the value of the house through his renovations would belong to him. But it would be very murky to try and prove what the value of the house was at date of separation if it hadn't actually been sold.

That's not been my experience. Nor the info at the bottom of this community page.

Seek the assistance from a reputable lawyer and be open and transparent with them and get them to inform you of the process and likely outcome. Vent about the BS to a friend, counsellor or divorce coach. If one party wants to drag this out, they will and it will be extremely frustrating for the other party if they let it affect them. If you don't have confidence the ex wants to resolve this quickly I'd suggest asking the lawyer to apply to divide relationship property through the Family Court and see if a mediation/round table meeting could be arranged between the parties and their lawyers. Court is costly, but so is letter writing between lawyers for years on end.

martyyn

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#3072327 4-May-2023 14:17

Hahahaha and there's the internet in a nutshell and why I shouldn't have bothered saying anything.

An expert in their field with close to 30 years of experience versus some random on an internet forum.

Whatever.

jonathan18

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#3072330 4-May-2023 14:32

martyyn:

Her advice is to ignore everything you've read or heard so far, to bypass any "free" services (as well intentioned as they are), and talk to a family lawyer specifically.

And the ability to follow this advice, solid as it is, still depends on an individual's ability to afford a lawyer's services, which is why I suggested Community Law over CAB - one is staffed by those with legal training; the other by those wanting to do some good but typically no actual legal experience let alone qualifications.

@martyyn - do you know if some/many family lawyers will provide an initial consult for free? If so that may help assuage the OP's fears, if that was a factor in (not) going straight to the pros.

(But, yeah, I hear you re the jaundiced and ill-informed comments re lawyers; such threads on GZ often avoid these kinds of posts, but clearly not today...)

martyyn

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#3072333 4-May-2023 14:46

jonathan18:

@martyyn - do you know if some/many family lawyers will provide an initial consult for free? If so that may help assuage the OP's fears, if that was a factor in (not) going straight to the pros.

It's impossible to say, that's why the OP should contact someone who knows what they are doing and explain the whole situation.

If potential fees are a problem, be open about it from the start. It's nothing to be ashamed of and nothing that hasn't been dealt with by any lawyer before.

[e] spelling

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Dratsab

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#3072346 4-May-2023 15:49

sidefx: You need to talk to a lawyer, not internet forum.

martyyn: My wife is a family lawyer, she's been doing this for 20+ years.

Her advice is to ignore everything you've read or heard so far, to bypass any "free" services (as well intentioned as they are), and talk to a family lawyer specifically.

Ignore the $10k for a retainer comment, that's so far off the mark it's not funny.

These are pretty much the only two posts here worth taking note of. There's lots of couch lawyers out there willing to jump in and provide all sorts of stupid advice because they think they know better than anyone else, when in reality they have no idea of legal interpretation, case law and precedents.

FWIW, when I went through a separation I rang around a few family law lawyers and found they were, generally, willing to provide an initial 1 hour consult free of charge. That was in 2005 though 😬 I picked one, laid out a whole lot of things on paper to maximise my time, then went for my initial consult, after which I engaged their services. It wasn't cheap, but there also wasn't any form of retainer required.

gzt

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#3072349 4-May-2023 16:23

Does your ex currently reside at the property in question?

In general terms imo this episode is an indication you're going to need a lawyer for peace of mind regardless of how this chapter turns out. For example the timely sale of this property may turn into an issue itself. You need some certainty about the legal ground you're standing on in all circumstances that arise. A paid legal consultation or even a preliminary free consultation costs very little compared to what you might stand to lose if this gets worse from here

Handle9

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#3072855 6-May-2023 06:54

concordnz: Sadly, lawyers will always say "ignore all other advise" as it is not in their best interests.

Unfortunately talking to 4 different lawyers will give you 6 different answers, as there is no consistency between them..

Lawyers will say ignore all other advice as most people are at best woefully ignorant of the law or selectively read the law to reach a conclusion that meets their predetermined idea of what is “legal.”

Almost every legal thread here is full of complete garbage from well meaning bush lawyers.

The problem in most relationship disputes isn’t the lawyers.

shk292

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#3072996 6-May-2023 11:17

Surely, if the only posts worth reading are those that say "go to a lawyer" or "get a sparky in" then this forum is largely redundant. What next "take it to an IT guy" for any tech problem?

Of course, a family lawyer will say "go to a family lawyer" for a family law problem. That doesn't make the experiences of non-lawyers uninteresting or useless.

RunningMan

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#3073000 6-May-2023 11:40

Several reasons spring to mind:

1) OP is a brand new user with no experience of members here, so no real way to judge who is knowledgeable and credible on the subject so it makes sense to be referred to an impartial and qualified professional

2) The consequences to the OP of taking the wrong advice are potentially life changing. Think loss of assets, arrest, etc.

3) This is a tech forum, not a legal advice forum, so yes, it is largely redundant here.

4) It doesn't make other people's experiences uninteresting, but they are not useful to the OP who has a quite specific (and probably technical) question to be answered.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3073009 6-May-2023 12:24

Conversely, anyone posting a request on an Internet forum should not expect the same quality of advice they would receive when engaging a competent professional. Family law cases are much more complex than simple consumer or contract law, and people on here make enough of a hash of those.

That said, I've grown up knowing many accountants and lawyers, and just like everyone else, they are prone to seeing a one-size-fits-all solution. Taking on board the suggestions of others, making use of what is available to you, provided it does not conflict with or preclude other legal channels and does not put you in any danger, is a sensible thing to do. It gives you points you should proactively raise with your lawyer, rather than just going along for the ride, which may not necessarily be what is needed.

concordnz

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#3073365 7-May-2023 13:14

shk292:
Surely, if the only posts worth reading are those that say "go to a lawyer" or "get a sparky in" then this forum is largely redundant. What next "take it to an IT guy" for any tech problem?

Of course, a family lawyer will say "go to a family lawyer" for a family law problem. That doesn't make the experiences of non-lawyers uninteresting or useless.

Indeed you are correct,
Unfortunately if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. (to a Lawyer, everything needs a legalese solution),

And advice/Insights from people who have been through the process, can be more valuable than lawyers who only know one solution/approach & have a vested interest in it going through them.

There is a wide raft of other approaches which are often far more productive to resolve Relationship breakdown and disputes. Including the FDR (Family Disputes Resolution) process, which was set up to resolve while specifically preventing Lawers from being involved and manipulating things to their own advantage.
While Lawyers pushed back strongly against its establishment and managed to 'water it down somewhat' it is a solid channel to explore, way before approaching a Lawyer.
Unfortunately lawyers have developed a 'Silver Bullet' strategy to try circumvent the FDR process, further destroy trust of the parties in the process and working to Lawers advantage to create additional conflict. (and expence).

A lawyer could be one of the worst things to do, at this early point in the relationship breakdown.

One thing which would highly benefit the OP is to get a 'Registered Valuation' of the property - as this is the only document which the numbers will have any validity, And other 'opinions' of the properties value are simply that and have no legal standing.

While the property may be planned to 'sell' at this point in the OPs view - this can change at multiple times throughout the process.

(Judges can (and do) ignore registered valuations, when it suits them.) - but it's one of the wisest steps for the OP to do at this point in the breakup.

If the OP wishes to DM me, I'm happy to discuss further, without the eyes of the public, as it may require understanding the full financial position the OP is in.
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