Marital Misconduct: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right
Financial betrayals are at least as common a cause of divorce as extramarital affairs. If your spouse lies to you about money or makes major financial decisions without consulting you, it hurts as much as if your spouse dates someone else while still married to you or opens up over text messages to a friend who, based on their age and sex, would be a potential partner for your spouse if your spouse were single. The pain is more acute the worse your financial stress was before you found out about the betrayal, but the thing you are the most upset about losing is not money but rather trust and respect. You are upset about the effort that you put into earning the money that your spouse squandered without consulting you or the high credit score you achieved before your spouse sabotaged it by borrowing a loan and not repaying it. If you decide that, because of your spouse’s financial infidelity, your marriage is beyond repair, you will not be the first person to reach such a decision. You should not, however, attempt to cause your spouse additional financial harm in retaliation for the financial harm that your spouse caused you. If you are going through a divorce because of financial infidelity, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
Status Quo Orders Can Stop Divorce From Becoming a War of Escalation
Recently, a married man wrote to Moneywise, asking whether it was justifiable for him to close his and his wife’s joint bank account without his wife’s consent after she had made a major transaction without consulting him. The couple are in their 30s, and the husband works 60 hours per week, while the wife is not in the workforce. The wife withdrew $15,000 from the couple’s joint account and gave it to her parents for a kitchen renovation project; the wife’s parents do not live with the couple, so the couple would not benefit from the newly renovated kitchen. The husband did not say in the letter whether he has decided to divorce his wife, but her actions have broken his trust in her.
The columnist advised the husband not to close the account without his wife’s consent. If he files for divorce, the divorce court will have the same reaction. In fact, family courts discourage couples from making major changes to their financial situation while their divorce case is pending. It might even issue a status quo order, which forbids either party to close bank accounts, take out new loans, or sell assets while the divorce case is pending, except by written permission from the court. If you make major changes to your financial situation right before you file for divorce, the court might count this as marital misconduct and count it against you in its decisions about property division.
Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce After Financial Infidelity
A South Florida family law attorney can help you divorce on fair terms after your spouse lied to you about money. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
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