My wife and I have been divorced for over 2 years and, have just signed a purchase and sale agreement for the sale of our home. Our divorce decree states that we split the proceeds 50/50 after closing costs and the payment of our mortgage and, I give my ex-wife $4000 for the timeshare we own in Aruba.

The decree also mentions the fair distribution of our personal property. She took approximately 80% of the items we accumulated during a 30 year marriage. I was fine with that, until she presented this next wrinkle:

She now is claiming that I owe her $3,700 for extra work she did on the house to prepare it to be put on the market. She did spend more hours at the house but, I have rheumatoid arthritis and, my right coronary artery has been 100% blocked since I was 38 years old. That is twenty years now. I cannot do more than 3-4 hours of physical labor on most days. I feel she is exploiting my disabilities here.

Also, I have been unemployed since I was laid off in March of this year.

I signed a form she presented to me this week, agreeing to set $5,000 in escrow at the closing, to be mediated upon.

If this has to go to mediation and/or court, all I want is that whatever sum she says I owe her for extra work hours, be offset by what I say she owes me for the lion's share of our personal property she took.

If it turns out that she owes me money, I don't want it, I will call it square.

I need to know whether, in your opinion, my arguments here will hold up with a mediator or, a judge.