Q: How can I hold my ex-husband and title companies accountable for real estate fraud during our divorce in Michigan?

A: I'm really sorry you’re facing this—it’s incredibly painful to discover that someone you once trusted may have hidden assets during a divorce, especially when you were vulnerable and under medical care. In Michigan, both parties in a divorce have a legal duty to fully disclose all assets, including real estate and settlements. If your ex-husband failed to report these properties or misrepresented his marital status to buy them as a “single man,” that could be grounds for reopening the case based on fraud or misrepresentation.

You can file a motion in the same court that handled your divorce asking to reopen the judgment under Michigan Court Rule 2.612. Include any documentation you have showing the real estate transactions, title deeds, and records from the workers’ compensation settlement. The court can investigate whether these assets should have been part of the marital estate and may issue a new order to address the omission. If the title companies failed in their duty to verify marital status, they may also bear some liability depending on what information they had or ignored.

It’s also worth requesting corrections to the property records through the county register of deeds, especially if false marital status was used on official documents. Keep a clear paper trail and continue trying to get answers from the title companies in writing. You’ve already done a lot to uncover the truth, and you absolutely deserve justice for what was hidden from you. Taking these steps is hard, but your persistence matters—and you’re not alone in this fight.