So did you talk to a Lawyer yet? If just for the professional information you can get from an initial meeting, I sure hope that you did.
As for the rest...
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">1) we really own nothing to split, she took everything she wanted when she left 7 months ago (that’s how I knew she will never come back) and there isn’t really much left except $8000 debt on my credit card that we both used.
What happens there?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">So no major joint property then? Cars, boats, houses, businesses, that sort of thing? If not, and it's just miscellaneous personal property, then I doubt paying for full fledged legal proceedings will do much good. Heck, in a lot of cases, the $4000 you might save by "forcing" her to cover half of the credit card debt would be eaten up by the cost of the lawyer. Plus, if that credit card was opened in your name only, with her as nothing more than an additional card holder, not as a joint-applicant, then from my understanding of the law, she's not legally responsible for it anyway, at least based on the advice given to me by my lawyer. Even if you agreed to split that debt 50/50, that'd be nothing more than an agreement between the two of you, and would not be at all binding as far as the creditor is concerned. Their contract for repayment was with whomever opened the account, nothing more, nothing less.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">2) Me and my dad are thinking of opening a restaurant after I file for a divorce, do I have to wait till the D is final? or can I do it after I file?
Can she come after me and demand half of that? All the money is coming from my dad and none of it is from our marriage, what to do?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'd really hope you get a professional opinion on this one, because I really don't know. All I can say from experience here is that
most things are "protected" once the Divorce is filed and recorded with the court. In my case, that has primarily been as a way of protecting me from the over $5000 of credit card debt that she has incurred since she filed the Divorce papers. Essentially, once it's filed, everything from that point forward is considered seperate. However, the fact that the money would be coming from you Dad should protect you anyway, as long as that clearly documented, just in case you need to prove it for the Judge. My comparison for this would be thus.
Shortly before our marriage, my wife and I purchased a house. The down-payment for the house came in the form of a $10,000 gift to me from my parents. Since we have documentation of that gift, specifically to me, for the purchase of the house,
before we were married (i.e. when everything was still legally seperate), I am able to protect that investment, and the first $10,000 of equity in the house belongs to me as separate property.
In the same way, this could apply to a business partnership as you've described, but as I said, I really don't know, and really suggest you getting a professional opinion on it.
One other thing I'd add as far as retaining a lawyer for the Divorce would be the possibility of paying Alimony. If there is enough of a difference in your incomes, it could make a difference to have legal representation to insure that know your rights regarding any kind of spousal support, as well as the division of assets and liabilities, and how they could all affect the final outcome.
Best of luck to you.
