The first major issue concerned the house. Mark had foolishly assumed that transferring the title to his name meant he automatically retained full ownership of the equity. Real estate law did not work that way.
The official records proved that a substantial portion of the original down payment had come directly from a private inheritance account I had owned prior to our wedding. Furthermore, subsequent mortgage payments had been funded heavily by my earnings as a senior software architect.
According to the legal calculations reviewed by Sarah, my separate property equity claim equaled two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. Mark could certainly keep the house if he wished, but he was legally required to pay out my claim in full. That meant he would have to secure new loan terms and face a harsh evaluation of whether he could actually afford the property on his single income.
Then there were the vehicles. The luxury sedan he loved driving had been purchased outright using funds from my personal savings. Additionally, there was forty-two thousand dollars sitting in our joint bank account, alongside an investment account Mark had casually assumed belonged to the shared estate.
