The Watega Factor

It is a very common occurrence in divorce that the person who can first grab control of the finances-usually the man- will use that control for economic coercion to gain advantage in the divorce. Usually the husband will arrange a loss in income, or a new debt or some reason he cannot make house payments and push for early disposal of the home, with or without you in it.

Yes, guys, I know you will say you would never be such a jerk, but the statistics show the man is the one who takes this approach 88 percent of the time. But listen up ladies, if this is happening to you IT IS WRONG AND PROBABLY NOT LEGAL!

Lesley Watega and her husband divorced in Alaska. They owned a home that was part of the property to be divided, but the divorce was not yet over. Lesley, like me, refused to allow the sale of her home, but the court overruled her objections. Leslie was forced to out of her home, and her ex arranged a sale that provided no funds or benefit to her, but provided something of a windfall to the buyers in the form of a short sale.

As in the Watega divorce, my case had allegations by the husband that foreclosure would occur, but the sale of the home would have gained nothing for the marital estate. In Watega there was no evidence the marital home would be jeopardized if the husband would have paid the mortgage. In my case, except for refusal of the ex to comply with court orders and pay the mortgage, and the lack of enforcement from the court, the home would not have been jeopardized. As in Watega, there was at least a ninety day window by which the mortgage could have been brought current to adequately preserve the investment, except for the fact the ex just refused to pay up.

Lesley Watega brought her case to the Alaska Supreme Court a few years before my case began. The Alaska Supreme Court rendered its written opinion in her case on September 8, 2006. Regarding the sale of a marital home while a divorce is pending, the Court stated:

“Courts may only exercise their authority to order sales in exceptional circumstances not present in this case.” ( Watega v Watega 143 Pd 3 58{09/08/2006} Alaska).

This is important. Pay attention.

You. Cannot. Be. Deprived. Of. Property. Without. Due. Process.

Without hearings. Without cause. Remember your eight grade civics class when you studied the United States Constitution? This is it in action. Look it up. Simply put, this protects you every day.

The Alaska Supreme Court went on to say that while statutes do not provide any limitation on a court’s ability to permit sale of marital property "the courts do not have unlimited discretion to permit sale of property prior to the division of property in a divorce judgment. Instead, courts should permit sales sparingly and only for pressing reasons, such as the prevention of waste of marital assets."

This was such a precedent setting case that it was reported across the country in law journals. Remember the recess in court? The judge went off the bench to consider his ruling? (It's right under this post.) The judge looked up his options, and found Watega v. Watega.

I understand the lady still lives in Alaska. Wherever she lives, kudos to Lesley. Because she fought something she knew was wrong, she got her house back. The people who lived there for two years while she fought her case? Thrown out. And because this lady went through such a terrible hardship, I didn't have to.

My ex had packed what was left of my belongings in a connex. His attorney was smug. Even my pastor told me this home was not for me. But I never saw that sign I asked for, the one that would have shown me another direction, and would have shown me a way to give up on my home. After 10 weeks, even my friends had given up hope. No one I knew thought I had the chance of a snowball in hell to recover my home, except me. I couldn't give up what I knew was and felt right.

When the court came back from recess, the judge ruled that the sale would not be completed. My home was returned to me pending ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.

It was almost winter in Alaska. My good friend was looking for a place to park her motor home before the snow flew. I called her in tears, and I was crying so hard she thought something bad had happened in court. I finally managed to say, " come park your motor home in my driveway". I was going home.