Property Disposition Report: Fill & Download for Free

I'm not any kind of attorney, but I still remember a story I read years ago about the man who had just become the new Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court.In a magazine article he reminisced about the career that had brought him to this position. At one time he had heard divorce cases, and one day a couple and their attorneys stood before him with a problem. They were both amenable to the divorce and had settled all the issues: alimony, child support, custody, property division — actually, all the issues except one: they couldn't agree on who was to get their waffle iron.The new Chief Justice said he assumed that the waffle iron held some symbolic meaning that only the couple understood, but it didn't matter to him; he was only angry that the court's time was being taken up with such a trivial matter. He announced that he was calling a 15-minute recess, and if at the end, the parties hadn't agreed on the disposition of the waffle iron, he would order a sale of all their property, including the waffle iron, on the courthouse steps. He would split the proceeds 50–50, after which both spouses could buy as many waffle irons as they wanted.When he returned to the courtroom after the recess, the parties informed him that they had settled the waffle iron issue, so he signed the order granting the divorce. So who ended up with the waffle iron? Damned if I know, because the article didn't say. Having read it that far, I was frustrated at not finding out. But at the time I read the article, I was a newspaper reporter, and years later, I became a legal secretary. From the perspective of my experience in both fields, I was sure it was not a case of the writer's forgetting to ask. More likely the Chief Justice had either forgotten or had never even asked the couple, because who got the waffle iron hadn't really mattered to him; he would have cared only that there were two signatures on the settlement agreement.

If one has a high standard for “proof” then the best example is the New York State legal proceeding to dissolve the Trump Foundation. Corruption was proven in court that charitable funds were used for personal purposes.[1] And second, I would cite Trump University that was found to have defrauded its customers.Beyond those proven examples, I will list things that may be the subject of future legal proceedings where a conviction would be proof:Tax fraud by the Fred Trump estate, Donald Trump executor, detailed in a Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles by the New York Times.Corruption in the disposition of the Trump estate regarding Mary Trump (lawsuit ongoing).Tax fraud by Donald Trump as detailed by the New York Times in a series of articles, including massive write-offs that were not legal and evasion of gift taxes.Obstruction of justice, as detailed in Volume II of the Mueller Report.Perjury by Trump in regards to written statements about his conversations with Roger Stone — pardoned by Trump possibly in exchange for his silence.Corrupt pardons for political donorsTax fraud, insurance fraud and bank fraud relating to how Trump valued his properties for different purposes (Michael Cohen allegation).Election finance violation in regards a payoff to Stormy Daniels for her silence.Self-dealing at inflated prices between the Trump inaugural committee and the Trump family businesses. Trump kept the FEC from taking action by not appointing a quorum to the Commission.That’s what I can come up with just off the top of my head. Any criminal behavior related to the Trump estate is beyond the statute of limitations. It will be interesting to see what if any future prosecutions and/or lawsuits are brought.Footnotes[1] Donald J. Trump Foundation - Wikipedia

Most law enforcement agencies collect far more crime reports than they can fully investigate. If someone breaks into the shed in your back yard and steals your $300 lawn mower, it might theoretically be possible to devote enough investigative resources to it to solve the crime and/or recover the property. However, because there were also three other burglaries that day that had a much higher monetary loss, yours is going to the bottom of the pile.Once in a while, fortune shines on the detective that has this pile of cases. An officer who is called on a domestic violence report happens to get a peek into the garage and notices there are 40 lawn mowers in there. Unless the resident runs a small engine repair shop, those are probably stolen. He gets a search warrant and recovers the mowers. One of them is yours. Good for you.More likely, your mower will be sold at a distant swap meet or on Craigslist, and you’re never going to see it again. Yes, we know you’re mad, and you pay taxes, and you have a right to police service. But others pay taxes and need service, too, and we can’t go to the wall on every crime report.When you call that detective or records clerk for the disposition of the case and are told it’s “suspended,” it means there are no investigative leads and the investigator has devoted his attention to other things. That case will probably never again see the light of day. It’s basically closed. If some cop stumbles on a treasure trove of lawn mowers, it might get reopened, but don’t hold your breath.