Hot Rods Court ordered to be sold?

Had a friend go through this long ago. It's not about value, its about revenge. He had two Shelby Mustang's he had spent years restoring himself. One traditional white with blue stripes, the other a black and gold Hertz car. He too had them appraised, and offered half of the appraisal value. She refused. Offered to have them appraised by the Shelby American Club appraisers. She refused. She knew how much work he had put into them, and she just wanted to push it into court where he would be forced to sell them both to split the money. Like I said, revenge. She just wanted him to lose the cars. Even her attorney thought she was a bitch.

Got to court and the judge saw what was happening. His ruling was that if the parties could not agree on a value of the asset that he was forced to order the asset sold and the proceeds split. He felt however that in this case he had some discretion - his decision was that since the two cars were virtually identical he would consider the two cars as one asset, and give her one car of her choosing, and she could do with it as she chose.

She flipped out on the judge - "I don't want that F**king car! I want money!" Judge said fine, I have in my hand a certified appraisal you have previously rejected. You can have the value of the appraisal, or you are getting the actual car. I am not going to rule that they both be sold. If you do not agree to the appraisal, you have 24 hours to take possession of the car. She took the money.

 

I offered my x the daily so I could keep my rod. She went for it like a fly to a turd.

 

I would throw it up on ebay, then if a friend or someone who knows the car gets it so what? They had to bid against the general public to get it.

 

HAHA !!! My buddy inadvertently went thru this in a bankruptcy. Had a huge collection of parts & pieces, & 2 derelict Fords. One 1940 coupe, the other a '56 F100. Family pieces.

Bankruptcy asset lawyer deemed them worthless. Here on the HAMB, easy $20k plus. Good for him.

Business partner, screwed him once already. Almost twice.

 

eBay sucks. It used to be you could cancel a listing before the closing date with no charge. They wised up and now charge you the listing fee up front. There are way to many free For Sale web sites available. HAMB, Racing Junk, Facebook has numerous sites almost all free.

 

Don't play nice. Have all of her shit appraised and ordered sold too when you don't approve of the value affixed. Rings, furniture, family heirlooms, clothes, purses, shoes, her daily driver, sewing machine and anything else she claims is hers. The pendulum swings both ways, right now she is trying to hold it over to her side. When it swings freely you will get a fair transaction. A divorce is strictly business, remove your emotions and treat it like any partnership that is being dissolved.

I know some may say your thread has little to do with traditional hot rods but my opinion differs, what can be more traditional? I lost a nice 36 five window and my high school sweetheart many, many years ago in a galaxy far, far away in a nasty divorce. Hardly a day passes that I don't miss that car.

 

Quite often the Vindictive part comes out a lot stronger than the common sense part in a divorce. The "If he enjoyed it, I'm going to make him get rid of it". Nonsense seems to run strong with that type be it hot rod, Harley or boat.

I can't tell for sure if Classicdreamer is saying that he offered to give her half the appraisal value and keep the car or if he is intending to sell the car for appraised value and she is saying that is too low.
I'd agree that if the court gets involved in the sale she is going to come out with far less cash than she would have if she had just accepted his offer though.

 

From my previous experience your spouse gets half of the marriage property.
What you’re fighting for is how much of your half you’ll get to keep.

 

Yeah, every phone call with the lawyer the time clock is running, every letter or communication sent the same thing. Court fees, lawyer bills, etc, all eats away at the total. But sometimes it's about more than money.

 

Appraised and Market values are like apples and oranges

 

I,m sorry for your problems but that is why I had a pre nup.
That is why when my wife left,the divorce cost me $250(court costs)

 

Guys, don't get married

 

Blues4U has it right. The Lawyers are the ones who make out in a divorce. They'll talk to you all day long on the phone as the clock keeps ticking $250/hour.

 

damn, it's threads like this that help me work at keeping mama happy!

 

There was a fellow sitting on his steps lamenting
his unhappy plight. Along came his brother and
asked "why so distraught bro?" The fellow replied
"I was contemplating killing my wife, but you talked
me out of the deed!" "Yes, said his brother, they would
have given you 20 years in prison for such a thing."
"True enough, but today I would be a free man!"
I know its a lame joke, but a little levity is good
on a Friday with my favorite bar closed!

 

Years ago when I went through mine we had two daily drivers, a 1986 caprice and a 1981 F 150 4X4. She wanted my work truck. I tore the transmission out and had it apart in the bed all laid out. Sold all of my tools for a penny. Sold all of my guns for another penny. When I got back home 2 1/2 weeks later the house was emptied out but the F 150 was still in the garage. Judge was going to order me to have to work on her car when it broke down. The judge was informed that I had sold my tools to pay off one of her credit cards so that order to work on her car was dismissed. When it came to guns, same thing. When it came to the F-150, it was still in the garage with the trans out and apart, no tools, dismissed as the only other thing I had was a 1970 Volvo, she had the 1986 caprice. There are ways but as has been said they are not cheap. I still have the '81 F 150 and all of my tools and guns to this very day.

 

As a battle-tested veteran of the divorce wars (3 exes), I'd say this is more about revenge than the money. With that said...

How recent are your appraisals? Did they furnish documentation to support their value? Ask your attorney (you do have one, right? If not get one...) to require your ex to furnish her own appraisal with supporting documentation, maybe even offer to pay for it. As a general rule the courts will only require a forced sale if no legitimate agreement on value can be reached and/or if it appears that the losing party will be unable to furnish the cash value. If she refuses to furnish her own appraisal (and again, you should offer to pay for it) and goes into court and insists 'she thinks' it's worth more than a legitimate appraisal, that won't cut any ice with the judge. This is a commonly used blackmail tactic in negotiations but usually won't fly once you get to court IF you show up prepared.

But how far off is her perceived value? If she's within 35% more-or-less of the appraised value, you'll probably be money ahead to just pay the difference. If she's crazy off, the judge will see that.

There's still wild cards in the mix. Which judge you get. Any other issues that may make the court sympathetic towards one party over the other. Financial hardship issues for either party, although this is generally an issue for the woman. Don't bring those here, talk to your attorney.

Above all, be reasonable, particularly in the face of any unreasonableness on her part. And don't expect to escape unscathed; at the end of my last one, I had no TV, little furniture, and had to refurnish my life out of the Goodwill and charity of friends. But the wounds heal over time...

Good luck....

 

Three divorces? You would be the last person I would ask for advise...

 

That is the car, I don’t want to sell it!

 

I divorced them.... And I didn't repeat my mistakes, each one was unique... LOL.

 

Let’s not even discuss the cost of this divorce I could have bought rob idas all original Winfield 32 roadster. It’s insane. I had 2 appraisals, one came in for 10250 and she said the car is worth 20000 and I needed to get a second appraisal and use another company she chose. So I did, and that appraiser came and said the car was worth 7500 because it is FAR from perfect! I am trying to buy her out of the car but she isn’t having it and still assumes it worth $20k.

 

Spend a day on the computer and search similar cars (hemmings, ebay, auction site results etc) to get market prices, down load results. Or you can take it to that "Pawn Stars" guy RICK, he will get his buddy who is an expert to get you a price and Rick will shoot you an offer, That offer is Market Value.
The court does not realize that we are in a depressed market and toys are not selling because the market is flooded with desperate sellers. Even in a good market, takes years to get the right price for it. Now , the people with real money, are sitting on their wallets waiting for the prices to even come down further

 

Actually, he is exactly who I would ask. Not for marriage advice but divorce, you bet.

 

It is the screwing you get for the screwing you got

 

Isn't that always the case?

Ben

 

Save the appraisals for the Judge, some times it is best for a Judge to decide, her lawyer is messing with your head looking for concessions.

 

The thing I learned when going thru a divorce is that if the distribution of property is truly fair and equal, both parties will feel that they lost!

 

Went thru something similar with the house during my first divorce, she would not accept the market value as what it was. House was on market for months with me paying the costs. One day I found in the mail a copy of a realtors appraisal she had ordered, it was the same range as the house was listed for.
The next time we went to court my attorney asked if she had ever had an appraisal done, she said no.
You should have seen the look on her attorneys face when my attorney picked up the copy of the appraisal. Judge ordered an immediate price cut, and a further cut every month till it sold.