W e have a good friend that what appeared from the outside was in a great marriage. They have three beautiful children that had just recently graduated from a top university in the Northeast and have all secured jobs. They had beautiful home, nice cars and whenever anyone saw them, they looked as the happiest family.

Being married for about thirty years, the wife left all of the household finances to the husband. In this case, the wife was the main salary that came into the house. The husband had jobs on and off over the years but never kept a job for more than three years. So the wife’s good income as a Tenured School Teacher was more than sufficient for them to live on.

About four or five years ago the husband started slowly taking money from all of their savings and brokerage accounts and placing into bank accounts of his own.  The wife had no idea this was happening and went about her business as normal until one day he tells her that he is unhappy in the marriage, wants to leave her and is demanding full alimony as she is the families main source of income.  He also wanted her to start proceedings to sell the house.

Now the wife opens all her bank accounts with her divorce attorney and discovers the removal of the money from the accounts by the husband who was able to very easily as he was a signer on all of the accounts.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. People are blind-sided by divorce every day in this country and in many cases there are so many discrepancies with funds that were removed from joint accounts.

No matter how much you can trust the person you love, it is always good measure to check on all of your accounts on a regular basis.
It may not have to be every month – but at least once or twice a year, accounts should be reviewed.    They should be checked for withdrawals that were not authorized by both spouses and any unusual activities or changes.

Keeping track of all of your accounts on a regular basis is a great start.  Having an emergency account of funds in your name solely is also a good idea for these types of emergencies that can occur. Once Divorce proceedings begin, shared funds and accounts can be frozen until the divorce is settled, so having your own account is never a bad idea.

When the time for Divorce does come, having a knowledgeable experienced Divorce Attorney like Ledezma Law Firm on your side is the key of getting through the complications that finances often provide.
A good attorney will analyze every aspect of your finances and property so your assets and funds are equally and fairly distributed and who will fight to avoid paying spousal support when the other party is clearly able to earn a living.