Do different issues affect the outcome
Find a Conversation
Do different issues affect the outcome
| Sun, 06-19-2005 - 12:30am |
I have been married 17 years, we have 2 daughters 16 & 13. My husband has been abusive (physically many times...tried to strangle me/few years ago & also verbally/mentally. I have cought him having an affair about 7 years ago. He is out 3 times a week at the tavern playing cards. He has a brand new vette, boat, etc. but won't put out any money for my daughters upcoming college. Right now he is into "mind games" and I have to beg him for money and explain exaclty where it goes. He just recenlty took my name off of our business account so I have access to NO money. Anyway, I have decided that I want out. I have no idea what to do to get the atttorney retainer fee, I might ask a friend if I can borrow it. We do have our home which has close to 500,000 in equity and my husband makes a good amount of money, but from his business. My first question is, do the circumstances of the marriage ie. above have any merit as far as determining who get's what. How does that normally work? I guess my third question is "am I going to get screwed because he is in business for himself? He keeps telling me to get out or that I will be living in the gutter so I am very scared. Thanks for reading my post, any advice appreciated.

Hi there and welcome to the boards :)
I think your attorney would be best to ask these questions. You can go get a consultation for next to nothing if not free.
In my opinion, you will be entitled to half of all marital assets. Regardless of who did what. Go for the gold, you deserve it... but please please get legal help.
Hugs and good luck!
Angelena
You really want to find an attorney that will fight to get your share of assets out of the marriage, and that includes the business. A good attorney will know how to get paid even though he's cut you off, by forcing him to pay enough temporary spousal and child support that you can live and pay for the attorney. You don't want to get an attorney that's going to bleed you dry though. You are entitled to 1/2 the equity and some of the business, but that is for you and the children, not to make the attorney rich. If I were you, I would go interview a few attorneys and the one that proposes the best approach to fighting this without seeming like you are a gold mine is the one I would hire.
You can also put yourselves on the hook for paying for college by stating so in the divorce decree, talk to the attorney's about this.
In general though his being abusive won't affect much in the divorce, especially if you file for a no fault divorce (fault divorces taking a lot longer and are more expensive, so they are less attractive for those reasons). If he has been abusive to the children, and you can prove it in court, that could affect what kind of parenting time he gets.
Edited 6/19/2005 12:40 pm ET ET by firstamendment
Westieluvr...You are entitled to half of all marital assets, it makes no difference who's name may or may not be on the title. Half the value of his Vette is yours, half the value of the house, etc, etc. Half the debts/expenses are his..including your children's education.
How the business is spilt up depends on a lot of factors...where you live, what kind of entity it is set up as ( sole ownership, partnership, limited liability, etc ). If the two of you invested marital money into setting this company up, then that makes you a shareholder. Your husband should not have legally been able to take your name off of the company books or bank account without your permission and signature....check with your bank and find out why they did this ( if they did ) and you may have legal recourse against them.( again, depending on how it was originally set up ).
As for the implications of running his own company...yes, he can use this to try to pay less support for you and the kids...like my ex is now doing. He can pretty much charge back most of his 'income' to the company as expenses, showing a very small income when in fact he makes a great deal more.
As for his abusive behavior...it will have no effect on division of marital property at all. You may however be able to use it to your advantage to get an order to get him out of the house and give you sole authority to live there. ( if you fear for your safety )
Don't let him bully you into thinking he owns everything and that you will get nothing if you leave him...that is NOT true at all...you are entitled to half of all of the assets since you both came into the marriage with basically nothing.