He's really gone nuts now.
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| Mon, 04-09-2007 - 3:43pm |
Well, I posted about this on the Domestic Abuse board, but I thought I'd post about it here too.
About a month ago, DS and I changed the lock we had at our mini storage. We did this because X has an additional key there. X and I owned this mini storage facility, and DSs and I had a unit there with our household items, as our house is on the market. When I was doing the invoicing for the mini storage, I had taken our unit off the books-- X knew about his, and was ok with it. Anyway, X hooks up with this skanky woman, and she's caused a lot of bad blood between DS, DS's GF and his father. DS and I do not trust the skank gf, and X is very lax about security-- he has car keys and one of the keys to our lock out in the open, for anyone to walk in and take. Keep in mind that X did not have any items in our storage unit. So, DS and I changed the lock.
2 weeks ago, X discovers that we had changed the lock, and went BALLISTIC. He informed me that we were locked out of our unit, and we owed him $95 per month. He was FURIOUS that I did not get his permission to change the lock. None of our other customers have to inform X when they change the locks, and none of them have to give X a key to their locks. So, the next day, he sent me an invoice. The invoice was dated 3/20/07. He also sent me a move-in receipt, which indicated that we had moved into the unit on 3/26/07, and that the unit was paid through 3/31/07. Doesn't make sense, does it...? Now, I did the invoicing, so I know what is what. He was demanding payment also. Now, I had never signed a lease with him, The next day, he sends me a lease, which he wants me to sign. I'm thinking, "BS on this." So that Friday, I told X we were moving out, and DS and I moved our stuff out on Saturday, the day that X said we were "paid through".
Everything was fine for a day or so...
So last Monday, I'm pulling out of the driveway for a business appointment. As I'm at the bottom of my driveway, I see X's truck on the street, with 2 police cars behind him. X motions for me to stop, and he and 2 cops come to my window. I ask X what is going on, and he says "I want my car and the 2 sets of keys back." WHAAA???
In our divorce settlement, we agreed that since X has several cars at his disposal (2 pickup trucks, a classic muscle car, a huge SUV, and 2 race cars), then I would keep possession of my SUV (I've been driving it as the family car since 1997, but it is in X's name), and when my house sold, then I would get another car for myself, and X would get my SUV.
Well, X is still p.o.'d about the lock on the storage unit being changed, so here he comes with the cops. I was furious. I told him he was a vindictive little $%^&*, and that what he wanted was not what we agreed to. He, of course, had an opposite viewpoint. The officer said that he couldn't force me to hand over the car-- X would have to get a court order to do so-- that I was free to refuse to hand the car over. So I said let him get a court order, and I left for my appointment.
The NEXT day, last Tuesday, X knocks on the door and informs me that he's taken his plates off the car. AGAIN he has the local cops with him. I guess he thinks I'm going to accost him with my knitting needles, or some such nonsense. I called our insurance lady, and she told me that X had taken me of the insurance. Come to find out, that was in his name, even though I'd been paying for it all these months. OK.
Much emailing and calling my lawyer ensues. She assures me that X can't do this, that it violates our agreement, and that he's just angry because he cannot have control over me any more. She assures me that we're going to try to get a hearing before the judge who adjudicated our divorce.
I looked thru some of my documents, and I believe what I found supports my case. In my X's long form financial statement that he submitted to the court, he lists 5 vehicles as some of his assets, and NONE of them are my car. In my short form financial statement, while it is not listed by name, the value of my SUV is given.
On last year's car insurance policy for my SUV, X had written "Susieyippin's SUV 2006".
Also, in our cash settlement, X skimmed some of that money to pay "Susieyippin's insurance", which he conveniently wrote on some of the insurance policy statements, as well as some of the checks.... also the car registration was paid out of the cash settlement.
If it were HIS SUV, why would he have taken the money out of my settlement money? Especially to renew the registration for HIS vehicle? Hmmmm? LOL
I've put about $1850. total that I put into "his" car in the last year as far as repairs, insurance, etc... Funny, we've had the car 10 years, and he's driven it about 10 times in all those years. When he borrowed it in the summer of 2005, to take DS somewhere, he allowed DS to ride in the front seat. When I chided him on that because our son was 9 and the front seat has airbags and cautions for kids under age 12, X said to me, "It's YOUR car, how am I supposed to know where DS sits?"
So today, I went and got a rental car for a few days. Since X so graciously booted me off the insurance (that I'VE paid for for a year), I had to get insurance through the rental company, which is costing me about $40 a day EXTRA.
Gawd, I hope we get into court SOON with this!!!
Anyone have any advice for me?

Why exactly did your Ex need to get into the storage space to begin with? Did he have a valid reason?
I would start by providing proof that you have been paying for the insurance on the vehicle. Have it with you when you go to court.
I'd also start looking for a new vehicle now. It's just not worth the grief you're getting over a vehicle when you can so easily get one of your own, even if it's just a beater that you can use until the house sells.
Hang in there. I know how it is when they get loopy because they realize that they're losing control.
X would first say that he never went into my storage unit. Then he would say he "put a few things" in that belonged to our son. He'd say whatever suited the situation, basically. With him, it's just a control thing. When we were married, I'd have to prove where I was when I said I was going to be there-- having to produce a store receipt, which showed te time and date stamp, etc. He wouldn't show ME any receipts to prove he was where he said HE would be...
I actually have a TON on documentation... including X writing on canceled checks "Susieyppin's Durango insurance"; "susieyippin's car", etc... I have my own canceled checks for the car excise tax payments from the past few years... car insurance checks, repair receipts for the car... the documents submitted to the court... I think my case is fairly solid against him.
Also, he gave me NO warning or indication whatsoever that he was going to repo the car. He ambushed me with the cops. If he'd come to me and said "hey, the house is taking a while to sell, what will work for you?", then it might be a different story. Instead, he has knee-jerk reactions and backs people into a corner. Well, I think this will be his undoing.
The thing is, I can't afford to buy another vehicle now. I am unable to work because of severe chronic fatigue; the credit card bills are over $1,000 per month; X will no longer pay the mortgage, which is $1,200 per month... in order to get the house on the market, I had to fix a lot of the things that X had screwed up-- hazardous wiring, replacing rotted sections of the house and front steps, finish the siding that he screwed up... the list goes on of what I had to fix because of him , and the only way to pay for it was to put in on plastic. I'm just praying for the house to sell so I can get this stuff paid off and get myself another vehicle.
On a brighter note, today my acupuncture lady, Laurie, called me. She said that one of her clients is in an emotionally abusive relationship-- that her H is an alcoholic who is emotionally abusive, and the lady has no one to talk to... that she has a little girl, and is really hurting. Laurie said that she thought of me, and how much progress I've made over the last year, and would I be willing to speak with this other lady.
!!!!!
I said, "Sure, Laurie. I'd love to talk to her." She said that she hadn't given the other lady any personal info about me, just that she had another client who'd been through this, and she'd see if I'd offer any advice.
It feels good that I've come along enough that I can say that I've been there and survived.
Don't know if the lady will call me, Laurie said she's very scared and alone.
You can get your own auto insurance (even if you don't own a car, perse) and then you won't need the extra (and expensive) insurance from the rental company.
But, I must say... that was pretty stupid, and a HUGE liability on his part, to drop the insurance on "his SUV".
Karen ~ wildlucky4me ~
He violated your divorce agreement, your house hasn't sold yet, he's in violation of your divorce agreement, he cancelled your car insurance, make sure you get your lawyer to make him pay for all the days you had to rent a car as well included into your court costs for taking him back to court for violating the divorce agreement.
Smile,
Deirdre
Here's the LATEST:
My attorney calls this morning, and told me that X's attorney wanted to have ME pay their court costs, because the title was supposed to have been signed over to me already!
I told my atty: "That's news to me. I've never heard that before, have you?" She said, "no, I haven't. See what X says and get back to me."
So I call X, and relay to him what my atty said HIS atty told her.
Of course X has to put a totally NEW spin on everything, and says, "That $6400 settlement I gave you was supposed to buy a car." I said "No, it wasn't. Maybe you were thinking of the proposed ORIGINAL settlement of 30K, and that you thought I'd get a car with that." X says, "what 30K settlement? I don't remember that." Well, we got talked down to 15K from the 30K, because X said he couldn't afford that... and I told X, "the final settlement was to go toward paying the mortgage until the house sold, because logically, there was no way I could do both-- get another car, AND pay the mortgage."
Again, he said that the car was supposed to be his. I said, "Call your atty."
So, it looks like X's atty is pretty much saying the same thing we are, but in a different vein.
I called my atty back and left a message. We'll see what happens next.