Lien on me.

When we made the offer on the property, we did so with the incentive of closing whenever the owner wanted to close. Sixty days? OK. Thirty? No problem. Two weeks? Why the hell not. We had already secured a home equity line on our current house, and that, along with a no-interest-parental loan, meant we were ready to go whenever.

The owner decided to close on the house in thirty days, so we planned accordingly. We hired a lawyer to handle the legalities, doubled checked on all our financing and were ready to take ownership on June 22nd.

Shortly after Mr. D passed away, his girlfriend moved out of the house. Now mind you that he was in his 70’s and this very nice woman had been living with him for probably over 20 years, using the term girlfriend may be accurate, but it doesn’t quite do the relationship justice. Anyway, that is when the house became empty. The neighborhood stories professed that she was asked to cease residing in the house by his family and that there was some animosity and bad blood between them. We heard that there were legal battles over the ownership of the house, and after it became empty and sat so long, it seemed that this may well be true.

When we made the offer on the house, we were informed by the listing agent that the current owner of the house was Mr. D’s wife who resides in Florida and has been there since splitting up with Mr. D in 1981. However, they were never divorced and the house was in her name only - never in Mr. D’s. So, that leaves Mr. D with a wife in Florida and a girlfriend in Barrington and no real ownership of any home of his own. The girlfriend had indeed put a lien on the house under the argument that she had been residing there for over 20 years, helping to pay the mortgage, taxes, upkeep and utilities, and therefore, in the event of a sale, was entitled to either all or a portion of the proceeds of the house - that was never in her name nor even her boyfriend’s. The listing agent said that the matter was settled and would not cause any problems with us buying the property.

GREAT!!

Until, a week before our closing was scheduled to take place we received a sheepish sounding call from the listing agent. “I was just informed that the matter is not settled and that it is actually going before a judge two days from now for a decision.” Hmmmm.... I asked what that meant for us and our closing date.

1. If the judge ruled for the wife - meaning she got all money from the sale - then the girlfriend has the opportunity to appeal the decision and continue to tie up the property in the lien putting off our closing.

2. If the judge ruled for the girlfriend - meaning she gets all or a portion of the money from the sale - then the wife has the opportunity to appeal and again continue to tie up the property and put off our closing.

3. The judge could continue the hearing and make no decision - you guessed it - further tieing up the property in the lien, putting off our closing.

It didn’t look good. The listing agent assured us of two things. First, that the wife was tired of this dragging on and was prepared to accept whatever decision was made and just wanted to get on with her life. Secondly, that the girlfriend had been dropped by her first lawyer because she couldn’t pay, and therefore, would not have the money to appeal a decision not in her favor. I didn’t feel particularly confident about the listing agent’s assessment of the situation, as she was trying to keep everyone happy and not lose a sale. She may have been completely telling the truth, but she could have just as easily been trying to keep us calm so that we didn’t panic and back out of the deal, which would be well within our rights if the closing was put off due to appeals.

“Let’s just wait and see what happens,” was her advice. And, I couldn’t have agreed more. There was nothing to worry about yet. We would wait for an answer, and then deal with whatever came our way.

The day of the hearing the listing agent called us. It was good news. A scenario we had not anticipated. The very wise judge had pounded his gavel down with the decision of no decision. He would not yet decide which party got what from the sale, but he would clear the lien, allowing for the sale to go through and take the proceeds from it and put it all in escrow. Then allow the fight to continue over real money instead of fighting over eventual money.

We would buy the house on June 22nd and they would continue the good fight over the cash. Four months later, I still do not know what happened to the money. I can see both sides, both their cases were valid. But I do hope for their sakes that the matter has been settled and each are at peace with the decision. Although, I think that Mr. D. would love the fact that two woman were bitching and squabbling over “his” house.... Oh yes, he would love this... he was a lover AND a fighter!