I thought “keep” meant keep, and the judge who is presiding over the lawsuit my ex has brought to partition the property agreed.

However, the first judge did not include the legal description of the property. Therefore, it was not a legal conveyance, and the second judge ordered the partition of the property, summary judgment.

Do I have any rights? The house was part of my settlement. I understand that it gets partitioned, but shouldn’t I be allowed to keep the proceeds from the sale? This house was where I was going to live in retirement.

I have remodeled and maintained this property on my own, and all of the insurance claims paid out went to him because he was the one in the mortgage. He kept this money and never used it to repair my home.

I am 60. I cannot afford to take on a mortgage. Don’t I at least have squatter’s rights? Can I bring legal action against the title company who facilitated the sale of the Tampa marital property, without my permission?

Sincerely,

Spurned in Sunny Florida

‘The Big Move’ is a MarketWatch column looking at the ins and outs of real estate, from navigating the search for a new home to applying for a mortgage.

Do you have a question about buying or selling a home? Do you want to know where your next move should be? Email Jacob Passy at TheBigMove@marketwatch.com.

Dear Spurned,

A financial expert once told me that going through a divorce is like experiencing your own personal recession. If you were to ask my colleague, The Moneyist, he could list of myriad stories where the dissolution of a marriage had major financial consequences. I’ve even interviewed a woman who said her divorce cost her around $1 million in retirement savings — the experience even inspired her to become a financial analyst who specializes in divorce cases.

I mention all of this to underscore that you’re not alone in feeling like you were wronged by your ex-husband — and that the precarious financial state you’re now in is unfair or unjust. That, however, doesn’t inherently mean that he’s done anything wrong, or that the judge made the wrong decision.

Florida state law spells out that, in a divorce, marital assets are to be divided equitably. But equitable doesn’t mean equal. In many cases, yes, assets will be split 50-50. But there will be situations where a judge may decide that splitting the marital property in half isn’t fair. That might be the case here.

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Without knowing how the rest of your assets were divided or whether your ex-husband was ordered to pay you alimony, it’s difficult for me to pass immediate judgment on what transpired. If the first judge spelled out that the Tampa property would go completely to your ex-husband, it stands to reason that he was within his rights to sell it without your consent.

That said, it sounds as though the second judge revised the terms of the divorce settlement, and reassessed how the property you two mutually owned in your marriage would be divided. If you believe that the second judge erred in revising the settlement, you could consider pursuing an appeal. I will warn you, though, that there is a time limit within which this appeal must be recorded, and it may be too late.

Assuming the second judge partitioned the home you’re currently living in, you will get a portion of the proceeds of any sale that were to occur. If the home was portioned in half, you would receive half the proceeds. Your ex-husband could attempt to force the sale through the court, but otherwise the two of you could seek to maximize your profit from the sale.

Just because you live in the home does not mean you have squatter’s rights. In Florida, a person must meet specific requirements to qualify as a squatter under so-called “adverse possession” laws.

I would venture to say that by definition, as a co-owner of the property, you would not qualify. One condition squatters in Florida must meet is hostile possession, meaning that they did not have permission from the property’s owner to live in it. Since you’re the owner, it would be difficult to argue that you didn’t give yourself permission to be there.

To be sure, you could consider pursuing legal action, whether that be against your ex-husband, the title company associated with the sale of the Tampa home or the judge who neglected to record the terms of your original divorce settlement properly. If you decide to approach lawyers about such a case, I would tread with caution. Don’t hire someone because they’re saying what you want to hear. If you are advised by multiple attorneys against pursuing legal action, trust their judgment.

You might find that a more valuable use of your time, energy and money would be to hire a financial adviser who could guide you through this volatile time in your life. If and when your current home is sold, you will receive some sort of profit. What you do with that money could determine how financially protected you are in the future, whether that means putting it toward the down payment on a new home, investing it or saving it to use for future rent payments.

Additionally, I want you to give yourself space to mourn. I can only imagine how stressful and unsettling this all has been for you. Allow yourself to feel those emotions now, so that hopefully you can make these next crucial decisions with a clear mind. I wish you the best of luck as you navigate these hurdles.

By emailing your questions, you agree to having them published anonymously on MarketWatch. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

March silver 
SIH22,
-0.03%
rose 0.1% to $22.31 an ounce. On Thursday, the precious metal  fell 2 cents to $22.316 an ounce, a day after posting a decline of 2.1%.

Investors are waiting on November U.S. payrolls data, expected to show 573,000 new jobs created and a slight rise from 531,000 gains the prior month, according to economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Investors will also get the unemployment rate, average hourly earnings, then later the Institute for Supply Management’s services index for November, followed by factory orders and a revision of core capital goods, both for October.

That’s as investors continue to watch for updates on the omicron variant that was brought to the world’s attention late last week by South African scientists, and which has triggered days of market turmoil.

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Investors are hoping to learn more news about the variant in coming days and weeks, but gold has disappointed investors in recent days who were hoping the precious metal would get haven bids and retake the psychologically important level of $1,800 an ounce.

“A flattening of the yield curve is weighing on the yellow metal and a strong jobs report today could further exacerbate its woes,” said Craig Erlam, senior market
analyst at OANDA, in a note to clients.

“Of course, there are multiple factors to watch at the minute as far as gold is concerned but the fact that the central bank’s hands are tied means bad news on the Omicron variant may not be as bullish for gold as it has in the past. Unless, of course, the central bank gives priority to the economy over inflation which would be a massive risk,” he said.

Whlie Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell revealed this week that the central believes it’s time to start tapering faster, which could mean faster interest rate rises, Erlam said omicron’s developments could complicate matters. “A strong report today leaves the Fed well and truly backed into a corner,” he said.

Among other metals traded on Comex, March copper 
HGF22,
+0.22%
 was flat at $4.300 a pound.

January platinum
PLF22,
+1.06%
rose 0.9% to $941.50 an ounce, while March palladium
PAH22,
+3.76%
added 4% to $1,844 an ounce.

Read: Platinum, palladium buck an overall upward trend for commodities, poised for hefty 2021 losses

What are yields going?

• The 10-year Treasury note
  TMUBMUSD10Y,
  1.435%
  yields 1.431%, down slightly from 1.447% at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. Yields fall as prices for Treasurys rise.

• The 2-year Treasury note
  TMUBMUSD02Y,
  0.619%
  yields 0.619%, holding steady compared with 0.619% a day ago.

• The 30-year Treasury
  TMUBMUSD30Y,
  1.775%,
  aka the long bond, was yielding 1.750%, down from 1.768% on Thursday.

• For the week, the 10-year Treasury note is down 5.3 basis points, the 2-year note is up 10.1 basis points, while the long bond has down 8 basis points, based on last Friday’s 3 p.m. levels.

What’s driving the market?

The U.S. economy swings squarely into focus on Friday, with November nonfarm payrolls that are expected to show 573,000 new jobs created, up slightly from 531,000 the prior month, according to economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, alongside the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings.

Numbers that are in line or exceed expectations could prompt a selloff in bonds, pushing yields higher, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and other members of the central bank’s rate-setting committee have suggested that a faster tapering of asset purchases could be warranted to combat rising inflation pressures.

Earlier this week, Powell surprised market participants by opening the door to speeding the tapering process when policy makers meet later this month. He also said he wanted to retire the word “transitory” when referring to inflation.

Next week, the Fed enters a media blackout period ahead of its Dec. 14-15 policy gathering, its last one of 2021.

On Thursday, the widely followed spread between 2- and 10-year rates shrank below 83 basis points, marking the narrowest since Jan. 4, according to Tradeweb data. Meanwhile, the gap between 5- and 30-year yields tightened to a level not seen since March 9, 2020. Such movements usually imply that investors hold a downbeat longer-term outlook for the economy.

Looking beyond jobs, investors will also watch for a November reading from IHS Markit’s purchasing managers index geared to the service sector at 9:45 a.m., ahead of the more closely watched services reading for the same month from the Institute for Supply Mangement that comes out at 10 a.m. A report on factory orders for October also will be released at the same time.

What strategists are saying

• “Treasuries stabilized overnight and have found a modest bid as investors await this morning’s payrolls report,” wrote Ian Lyngen and Ben Jeffery, rate strategists at BMO Capital Markets, in Friday note. “Unlike in recent months, NFP is less likely to define the near-term path for US rates given Powell’s recent hawkish pivot. This isn’t to imply payrolls will be a nonevent; rather that the bar is high for the data to meaningfully shift expectations for the December 15 FOMC meeting.”

Based on available data, there continues to be a greater likelihood than usual that the “X Date” will fall toward the front portion of the range, the think-tank said.

“Those who believe the debt limit can safely be pushed to the back of the December legislative pileup are misinformed,” said Shai Akabas, BPC director of economic policy.

“Congress would be flirting with financial disaster if it leaves for the holiday recess without addressing the debt limit,” he said.

This gives Congress only a few weeks to act.

Since early this month, Treasury has been using extraordinary measures to stay under the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said these measures are likely to run out on Dec 15.

Earlier this week, Yellen warned a failure to deal with the debt limit would “eviscerate” the U.S. economic recovery.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his chamber will take action on raising the federal government’s borrowing limit by Yellen’s Dec. 15 deadline. But lawmakers are still casting around for the best way to move the debt limit extension through Congress. A plan hatched in the Senate to tie the debt limit to the must-pass defense authorization bill was rejected by House leaders.

Late Thursday, Congress averted a shutdown when the Senate voted to extend government funding into February.

Treasury is already paying higher interest rates on securities that are maturing around the “X Date.” The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.427%
has inched lower to 1.432% ahead of the key November unemployment report.