Are You Afraid Your Spouse Will Clean You Out?

By Robin Roshkind, Esquire, West Palm Beach, Florida.

If you are in  divorce proceedings in Palm Beach County, you may have wondered about tapping out the joint bank accounts or having that done to you by your spouse, leaving you with no household funds, grocery money, or available cash for the basic daily necessities.  While it does happen, there is something you can do to prevent this, if you plan correctly. 

The first suggestion is to pay off all or most of the marital debts.  If you owe on joint credit card, cell acount,  car loans, taxes, HOA fees, the housekeeper, pay them!   Use joint accounts to do so.  The lowers your marital liability while preventing your spouse from realizing all the spoils of the marriage.

The second suggestion to guard against being cleaned out while the divorce is proceeding, is to get one half of all the marital liquid assets and put them into an account in your name only.   The catch here is to take just one half, but you also need to be ready to pay one half of all the daily living expenses.   Also, cancel any joint cell phone accounts, joint credit card accounts, and the like, to prevent your spouse from running up joint debts. 

In divorce court, it is important to learn how to protect yourself from the very person who used to be on your side. For more helpful hints, call one of the divorce lawyers at ROBIN ROSHKIND, P.A. at 561 835 9091 or click on the Firm’s web site at www.familylawwpb.com for more information.