Am I in trouble?

[Lorenzo 0]

I am worried we will be short on evidence when I file in March because my wife and I have separate bank accounts and credit cards.

I did have several bills set up to include both of our names and the T-Mobile account shows all our phone numbers and the calls made. I also have a Vonage account showing both names with many calls to Ukraine.

My wife and stepson are shown on my health insurance policy but for some reason my auto insurance has them listed but not on the insurance card itself. They are in the system. It is quite possible I can obtain a letter from State Farm. I am purchasing a car for my wife but I left it in my name since I make all the payments and I rarely drive the car. This can be changed but I was told I will need a new contract with the finance company.

This is my first marriage and in the beginning I chose to not have a joint bank account because she did not understand our money system or how to save money. I made the decision to just give her money each week from my account. I have until March 7 to get the evidence together. Are there any changes I can make to be able to have more evidence? We do have plenty of photographs. The other problem is that I rent the house from my family and there is no formal lease (it is a verbal contract).

Thank you.

[athena_ny 1]

I am worried we will be short on evidence when I file in March because my wife and I have separate bank accounts and credit cards.

I did have several bills set up to include both of our names and the T-Mobile account shows all our phone numbers and the calls made. I also have a Vonage account showing both names with many calls to Ukraine.

My wife and stepson are shown on my health insurance policy but for some reason my auto insurance has them listed but not on the insurance card itself. They are in the system. It is quite possible I can obtain a letter from State Farm. I am purchasing a car for my wife but I left it in my name since I make all the payments and I rarely drive the car. This can be changed but I was told I will need a new contract with the finance company.

This is my first marriage and in the beginning I chose to not have a joint bank account because she did not understand our money system or how to save money. I made the decision to just give her money each week from my account. I have until March 7 to get the evidence together. Are there any changes I can make to be able to have more evidence? We do have plenty of photographs. The other problem is that I rent the house from my family and there is no formal lease (it is a verbal contract).

Thank you.

Can you have a formal contract written up for the lease?

We keep separate bank accounts to (his name is on mine, but doesn't use it) and credit cards - I don't see that as a problem in and of itself, different people choose to do their finances differently.

Can you get a copy of your car insurance policy listing your wife and stepson?

[bettenan 1]

I am worried we will be short on evidence when I file in March because my wife and I have separate bank accounts and credit cards.

I did have several bills set up to include both of our names and the T-Mobile account shows all our phone numbers and the calls made. I also have a Vonage account showing both names with many calls to Ukraine.

My wife and stepson are shown on my health insurance policy but for some reason my auto insurance has them listed but not on the insurance card itself. They are in the system. It is quite possible I can obtain a letter from State Farm. I am purchasing a car for my wife but I left it in my name since I make all the payments and I rarely drive the car. This can be changed but I was told I will need a new contract with the finance company.

This is my first marriage and in the beginning I chose to not have a joint bank account because she did not understand our money system or how to save money. I made the decision to just give her money each week from my account. I have until March 7 to get the evidence together. Are there any changes I can make to be able to have more evidence? We do have plenty of photographs. The other problem is that I rent the house from my family and there is no formal lease (it is a verbal contract).

Thank you.

How about joint taxes ??? If you filed joint taxes be sure to get the transcrpt from the IRS.

I know our application was "heavy" on financials but did not have letters from friends or family or photos. Since you are light on financials you may want to consider letters and photos.

Good luck and

[Marilyn. 340]

all the evidence doesn't have to be in your both your names...

i included some bills etc. that were joint and then I also included some bills that were just in my name and some that were just in my hubby's name but they all showed that we lived at the same address....

[Lorenzo 0]

all the evidence doesn't have to be in your both your names...

i included some bills etc. that were joint and then I also included some bills that were just in my name and some that were just in my hubby's name but they all showed that we lived at the same address....

It sounds like the lifting of conditions requires less in legal documents but more in actual proof of a legitimate marriage. Except for the USCIS form and biometrics, I do not see that evidence is required such as proof of birth, passport, divorce decree etc. The real work now is gathering the evidence to establish a lasting marriage. I have plenty of time to get it together. Edited January 2, 2008 by Lorenzo

[*JG* 2]

Call your State Farm agent and have them add them to the card. I did that and they sent me a temporary card within days, the permanent one in about 2 weeks.

Have your family write a letter or some kind of a lease and have it notarized. We do not hold a formal lease from our landlord; but are planning on doing the same thing.

Rustle up some mail (Christmas cards), junk mail, etc. with both your names on it too.

Is she on your life insurance policy as beneficiary? If not, do that and get a copy.

Did you fill out an Advanced Directive in healthcare decisions should you become incapacitated and unable to make your own decisions? If not, you can both do that, naming the other. You can find them on the internet, at the library, office supply stores.....just have them notarized.

I think I would add her to your bank account(s) if I were you.

[Marilyn. 340]

just to give you an idea this is what we included in our package ....

copy of baby's hospital certificate

copy of baby's death certificate

copy of rental agreement

copy of car insurance

copy of one recent joint tax form

copy of 401K that states that I am the primary beneficiary

copy of health care statement showing that I am covered under hubby's health care insurance

copy of one recent gas bill

copy of one recent phone bill

copy of one recent cable bill

copy of recent bank statements

copy of paper showing that hubby added me to his bank account

Copy of some bills (Sirius, Netflix etc) with just hubby's name and our address on it

Copy of some bills with just my name on it and our address (recent electric bill etc..)

Some envelopes with both our names and address on them...

I just sent in the most recent bill for each utility.... The phone and gas were in my name but I added hubby's name, the electric company didn't let me add my hubby's name...... and I just included the most recent bank statement.... and the application that we filled out to add me to hubby's account...

[*JG* 2]

The packet I am preparing is pretty similar to the one mentioned above (sans any birth certificates), except that I am including one per quarter of all our bills & statements evidence since we filed AOS and added my husband to the accounts and both years tax returns.

[Cassie 8]

all the evidence doesn't have to be in your both your names...

i included some bills etc. that were joint and then I also included some bills that were just in my name and some that were just in my hubby's name but they all showed that we lived at the same address....

It sounds like the lifting of conditions requires less in legal documents but more in actual proof of a legitimate marriage. Except for the USCIS form and biometrics, I do not see that evidence is required such as proof of birth, passport, divorce decree etc. The real work now is gathering the evidence to establish a lasting marriage. I have plenty of time to get it together.

The most common RFE I have seen reported in this forum is for lack of financial evidence -- they really look for evidence of financial co-mingling of assets and liabilities. The key is making sure that you have a good balance of financial evidence and other bonafide relationship evidence.

[*JG* 2]

Here's what I wrote a few months ago about all I have been collecting:

Would I make you smile if I said that I have TWO copies of the following in folders:

Joint bank accounts

Joint bills

Joint Rental agreement

Junk mail with his name on it

All insurance policies, either joint or with one of us as beneficiary for the other.

Copies of our Advanced Directives, listing each other as responsible party in life-threatening emergencies

2006 joint Tax return

The health insurance letter thingee that comes when we stopped him covered under mine (something about continuous coverage or something like that) a copy of that old insurance card with his name on it and my employer, and a copy of the hospital bills we had for him under said insurance.

Copies of joint credit cards

Joint YMCA membership

Color Copies of scrapbook pages of us at different events thus far: 6 Flags, Christmas, In Washington, D.C., 4th of July Parade, Friend's weddings, Pumpkin patch, our link up with other VJ'ers a few weeks ago.....Note: My pages inlude names, dates, and lots of pictures with us around other people. I also tried to use different seasons to show continual togetherness. Probably didn't say that right; but you probably get the point.

I still have to have the title of my car transferred in both our names. They are driving my crazy with their runaround.

I will add 2007 tax return and anything else that come up till August.

Otherwise, I have saved, copied, collated, and filed pretty much from the day of the AOS. I know, I know....I'm #######. But I'm scared. And, I WILL NOT be running around doing all this later. I'll fill out the paperwork, bind it all together somehow, add a check, and send it off. Doesnt' that sound wonderfully easy? Not the story of my life, so we'll just see.