Different states handle it differently. If I remember correctly it's called "Sovereign Immunity". My car was parked when hit by a city owned vehicle and all they had to pay was my deductible. My insurance paid for the repairs, but it wasn't counted as an at-fault accident and my premiums did not go up.

Were you hit by a Municipal vehicle? (police car, county plow truck, ambulance etc)

In some cases, Municipalities (town/county/state) are exempt from liability and you do indeed have to go through your own insurance, while they pay your deductible & rental if you do not have that coverage on your own policy. That was my first thought reading this question.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the responsibility is on you to verify coverage with your insurance provider, not your healthcare provider. Same goes with dental coverage.

Hospital does not care about your credit score. Their job is to get money or write it off/send to collections and move on. Also as an example, a hospital sued my stepdad for 900$ when he was brought into their ER, unconscious and uninsured. He never even signed anything or agreed to go to the hospital.

Your best bet is ask if they offer any discount for paying in full. That usually nets my parents 10-20% off.

He promised me babies "when we had more money in the bank' 'better health insurance' 'fixed up the house to be safe for a baby' and a half dozen other valid sounding excuses. Once I realized he was trying to run my clock out, I thought I was 'too old' to start over. (I wasn't). Then the crash of 08 hit. Took me another 10 years to climb out of that financially. I was okay being the breadwinner. The dealbreaker was when I was given a chance to adopt a newborn and he blocked the homestudy. Done. Took me two more years but I was done the day he refused the homestudy. I walked away and never looked back.

So it may be different in your state, but I owned my house before my ex and I got together. I paid every payment from my own account, and we never co-mingled money in it.

My lawyer (correctly) advised me that he was not entitled to anything I owned before we got together, but if we had mixed money he would have been entitled to half the increased equity.

However, since the house was purchased before they got together and your stepmom only owns half, best case scenario, at least in my state, would be the increased value of 1/2 of the house, and only if they co-mingled money. Since Dad paid rent to Stepgrandma, I don't think that is the case. It establishes a tenant/landlord relationship.

If there is a second mortgage on the house, it is most likely in both stepmom and stepgrandmas name. Dad isn't entitled to any of Step Gma's wealth.

Definitely meet with a lawyer, find out Dads rights. If you don't like that lawyer, interview another. I think SMom probably had her ducks in a row before the split. Good luck.

>I mean, after 25 years, this nest egg was built together. Just because she had the banger job doesn't mean he contributed any less....

Pffft. In the 20+ years my ex and I were together, he worked low value under the table jobs or no job at all. "We" did not build any nest egg 'together'. -I- worked my arse off 60-80 hours a week to keep heat, food and the house from going into foreclosure. He in no way deserved half, and he didn't get it either.

I was in a similar position. I purchased my house before we got together. I made sure I paid every single payment directly from my own money and account so he would have no claim on it.

This veers into relationship territory vs personal finance, but is part of the reason they are splitting after fostering + 20 years together because she wanted kids and he didn't? Because that is 1000% why I left mine after the same time frame. I paid a very expensive lawyer a lot of money to make sure I got out with all of my assets. (I did have a heart though. I rented him a place for a year and paid all the utilities so he had somewhere to go. After that it was on him to get a job and figure life out)

Anyhoo. The point is. Stepmom will likely pay an expensive lawyer to preserve as much of her wealth as she can. Dad is going to NEED a good lawyer if he hopes to come out of this in decent shape. She seems to have laid a good groundwork to protect her assets.

They have a 'baby' so I'm thinking under 2, and wife is pregnant. They're looking at at least 6 years of childcare, 3 with 2 kids. Childcare will be hefty.

No because you have to be able to and available for work to collect unemployment.