Can You Sell the Marital Home While a Divorce Appeal is Pending

[beastieboys3927]

My question involves a marriage in the state of: Tennessee
I just received an Opinion and Memorandum from a judge regarding my divorce case. It was a 2yr marriage, and I purchased my home prior to the marriage. The judge ruled the home to be marital property, along with several other errors in his ruling. We are going to appeal it. The judge awarded my wife transitional alimony, allowing her to remain in the home while I continue to pay for mortgage and all expenses, until the sale of the house, at which point she will receive 100k from the proceeds. Our first move is to file a Stay of Execution in order to remove her from the home, and stop alimony (which has been going on for the last two years when she first filed for divorce). The next move will be a Notice of Appeal.

Question: Is it possible to put the house on the market, sell it, and freeze her proceeds (100k) in an escrow account until the appeals process is final? That will allow me to get rid of the home and essentially stop paying her alimony.

Thanks in advance.

[adjusterjack]

Do you have a lawyer?

[Taxing Matters]

Question: Is it possible to put the house on the market, sell it, and freeze her proceeds (100k) in an escrow account until the appeals process is final? That will allow me to get rid of the home and essentially stop paying her alimony.

Thanks in advance.

J

Does the order as it now stands allow you to sell it immediately? If so, you could sell it, but you’d have to give her her share of the sales proceeds as the order directs unless you get an order that allows you to hold the proceeds in escrow pending the outcome of the appeal. If you get the stay of execution then the order is stayed and that may block you from selling it. You really need to discuss this with your lawyer, and I do hope you have one.

[beastieboys3927]

Sorry, yes I do have an attorney. This has been a very ugly case subsequently following a 2yr marriage prior to wife filing for divorce back in 9/2015, and submitting an Order of Protection against me which judge awarded for 1yr. After realizing court's bias toward herself, wife brought additional false accusations against me alleging abuse, and submitting into record pictures of herself depicting horrific bruising (which incidentally surfaced in 4/2016, ironically with coinciding dates on images). This was followed up with a motion to amend for punitive damages from her newly hired attorney claiming Assault & Battery (initial attorney pulled out due to the obvious fraudulent actions by wife). Because of this, I had to hire 3 expert witnesses (Digital Forensics Expert, Movie Make-up artist expert, and Medical Pathologist/Examiner) to debunk her story, which we successfully did. However, the judge being biased, took sides with the woman, stating "husband was least credible". Keep in mind, wife had no witnesses, no police reports, and no medical records to corroborate her story. Wife failed to bring in a rebuttal against our Medical doctor who opined images were "fake" due to several characteristics either missing or blatantly wrong in the bruising on specific parts of her body. In the end, the judge totally screwed up the case. Again, as part of his ruling, he determined my pre-marital home was "gifted" to my wife (not true), whereby she will remain in the home (as she has since the filing of divorce) while I continue to maintain mortgage and all expenses, until the sale of the house, at which time she receives $100k from proceeds. Judge completely disregarded the $145k down payment (equity) I used when purchasing the home months prior to marriage. Needless to say, the judge erred on several issues. Now we are left to appeal it.

Our next steps will be to file a Stay of Execution, which the trial judge will naturally deny, and then be sent up to the appellate court for a decision. The "Stay" is to give possession back to husband, and so-called "transitional alimony" stop. This will run parallel with our Appeal.

This goes back to my original question: While we appeal the case, and let's assume the Stay of Execution is unsuccessful, I'm curious if I can sell my home asap, and freeze wife's proceeds in an escrow account until ruling from Appellate court comes back? This will at least get her out of the house and stop the alimony.

.... And yes, I am posing the same question to my attorney, but wanted to post it out in forum to hear other's opinion since it's such a complicated matter.

P.S. - I'm in the process of writing a book on my case. What I described above is just the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks,
J

[llworking]

You cannot do any of it without the blessing of the court. You cannot get a stay, you cannot get provisional alimony stopped, you cannot sell the house and freeze her share pending the appeal, unless you have the agreement of the courts to do one or more of those things.

[adjusterjack]

as part of his ruling, he determined my pre-marital home was "gifted" to my wife (not true), whereby she will remain in the home (as she has since the filing of divorce) while I continue to maintain mortgage and all expenses, until the sale of the house, at which time she receives $100k from proceeds.

My guess is that you are paraphrasing and not quoting the order word for word.

Selling the house is not going to stop the alimony unless the order says she gets the $100k in lieu of alimony.

The key is whether you can put your ex wife out when you sell it, not whether you can sell it or not.

Quote the ruling word for word.

[beastieboys3927]

You cannot do any of it without the blessing of the court. You cannot get a stay, you cannot get provisional alimony stopped, you cannot sell the house and freeze her share pending the appeal, unless you have the agreement of the courts to do one or more of those things.

Yes, I completely agree. Just trying to determine best strategy at this point. Thank you.

J

My guess is that you are paraphrasing and not quoting the order word for word.

Selling the house is not going to stop the alimony unless the order says she gets the $100k in lieu of alimony.

The key is whether you can put your ex wife out when you sell it, not whether you can sell it or not.

Quote the ruling word for word.

Yes, I am paraphrasing. I'd rather not include ruling verbatim. I agree. Just trying to determine best strategy. Thanks for your help.

J