I totally understand what you're saying, but here is my outlook on the situation. Wife and I have been equal partners since we got together 12 years ago. Everything WE have done together is ours to share, split, throw away, whatever. The problem is, many of the things we have were gifts, favors or forms of financial support provided by 3rd parties, namely my parents. The house for instance. It is sitting on property that does not belong to us. Not 2 cents of if belongs to us, it never has. However, my Mother (Dad passed away 6 years ago) has promised it to us in her inheritence. She has told us that some day this property will be ours. Eventually, the business, property and all of the assets will be passed down. That's a very nice thing, and I am extremely fortunate that my parents were willing and able to pass this good fortune along to my siblings and I. I definitely feel blessed in that regard. But the fact of the matter is, Wife and I don't own that piece of property today. For obvious reasons, I am pretty sure my Mother will be changing her will, probably already has. I have no control over that, and to be honest I would totally agree with her removing an EX-daughter in law from her will. Regardless, my Wife feels that the property is ours and that it should be considered during our divorce, because "someday" I will own it. She feels the same way about the house, even though she hasn't put 2 red cents into making a payment or upkeep on it for well over 9 months. In a normal situation, this house would have already been under foreclosure proceedings. My Mother has been able to help me with wifes portion of the payment for some time. For all intents and purposes, my Mother has been providing housing and utilities for my wife since the very day she decided to abandone our household. I haven't. I can't even afford to pay the bills she left me behind with. To me it seems assinine that wife has a sense of entitlement to things SHE and I are not providing for ourselves. She feels entitled to a portion of my LLC shares, which were gifted (to me personally by the way). Wife and I didn't build this business. It was established and flourishing before wife was even born. Why SHOULD she be entitled to a portion of it? She was paid for every minute worth of effort she put in here. Why should she be entitled to anything that she and I didn't grow together. For the most part, she and I lived paycheck to paycheck. All of the nice things we had in life were gifted to us, even the house was funded in a good part by my parents. Sure, I understand they were gifts and she is indeed entitled to THOSE things....but W sure wants to reap the rewards of all those gifts and favors, and she wishes to assume no accountability to me personally for my financial obligations. She feels, "my family can afford it", so therefore I can afford it. She expects my family to keep paying for it and split whatever profits are left with her. Man, I sure wish I could find a business partner that would play the same role...haha. It just isn't right. My attorney feels that the courts will also look at it in this way. Her expectations are not realisitc given OUR personal finances. I am not being greedy, vindictive or unrealsic. I am simply looking at the true honest facts. Wife and I made a meager living. We were fortunate to have my families support. Wife was fortunate to be included in that while we were together. Now, we are no longer together and more than likely things are going to change. It is what it is.
