Defendant recently received a summons to appear in a case to remove his name from ownership of a property he jointly owned with the mother of his child. Defendant acquired interest in the subject property as tenants-in common. Upon their parting in 1995, the plaintiff and the defendant had verbally agreed that she could live in the house as long as the child was a minor and that this was his "child support." This verbal order was not accepted by the courts and an additional child support order was put in place under which he now owes a substantial amount of back-due child support. The complaint states, "Plaintiff, in an effort to collect a portion of the unpaid child support due to her from defendant, in entitled to have all of the Defendant's interest in the subject property transferred to her, which Plaintiff values at $6,800. Once the title to the subject property is quieted in Plaintiff's name alone, Plaintiff will be able to sell the subject property, whereupon Plaintiff will file with the Court a partial satisfaction of the unpaid child support judgment in the amount of $6,800, whereupon the records maintained by the Oregon Child Support Program may be updated accordingly.
The Plaintiff prays for a general judgment from the court as follows: a)Quieting title in the subject property described above in the name of the Plaintiff and b)Granting such other relief as the Court may determine is just and equitable." The court papers he received state that if he does not file a motion in 30 days that the court will automatically find in the favor of the Plaintiff.
My questions--1) Is the defendant justified in asking for his half of the proceeds of the sale of the jointly owned property minus all back child support owed? 2) Is there an easy way for him to file the necessary motion on his own without obtaining a lawyer? 3) What kind of resources are available to help him do this legal work on his own?