goodyblue Posted October 14, 2013 Posted October 14, 2013 I read in another post about marital assets and the money being spent on the OW etc. I am curious if this is true after the date of separation as well? If the MM spends money on the OW after the separation, is it considered marital money being spent still? Does anyone know?
carhill Posted October 14, 2013 Posted October 14, 2013 In my jurisdiction, if the separation is legal, any marital monies spent after the filing are accounted for in the financial settlement. If 'un' legal, meaning not documented with the court, then the matter turns upon presentation of verifiable evidence to the court during any subsequent actions relevant to the divorce lawsuit. As this kind of contest can result in horrendous legal and forensic accounting costs, it generally is limited to large spending of marital assets in favor of an affair partner. One example would be buying, for cash, an affair partner a domicile. If one spends 10-50K to recover a few hundred K, that's a pretty valid ROI. My lawyer advised me to avoid such a pissing contest if at all possible and quoted the general costs of weathering one. The bottom line is anyone can essentially sue over anything. Whether that suit is cost-effective and can pass court scrutiny is entirely another matter, hence the reason for having competent legal counsel to advise one on such matters.
whatatangledweb Posted October 14, 2013 Posted October 14, 2013 Here it is true if the separation is not legal. Someone just moving out does not make it a legal separation. So any money spent the wife or husband can go after it.
Author goodyblue Posted October 14, 2013 Author Posted October 14, 2013 Thank you for the info Carhill. Tangled, I was thinking more along the lines of after the divorce has been filed. My friend is involved with a man, not an affair, but after he left and had filed for divorce. She is concerned that the money he spends on her will come back to haunt him.
carhill Posted October 14, 2013 Posted October 14, 2013 Money spent after the divorce papers are filed is trackable, save for cash hordes, so can be the subject of contest if the divorce is contested. The particulars are relevant to jurisdiction so YMMV. A smart adversary converts assets/income to cash in a way which isn't trackable and hordes it. Usually, unless the person is very good at what they do, they invariably slip up. Regardless, given what legal and forensic accounting fees are and what court time costs, the numbers usually need to be pretty big to make it worthwhile. In your case, with the friend, if the trackable expenditures can be compared to the filing date and financial disclosures and it appears or can be proven that marital assets were spent on them, then he could have a 'problem'. If his spending came from personal income/separate assets post-filing, IME 'no problem'. An example of the latter would be money from his personal checking account or personal credit card to buy a gift. Another would be buying the person a car from an inheritance he received and maintained separately. Etc, Etc. Again, in any case, unless the amount is large (say like buying the person a new car for cash), the risk of 'problems' is relatively low. However, if his net worth is large, he could become a target regardless of the specifics, so anything is possible. Lawyers earn their fees by examining and advising on such possibilities, hence my prior advice.
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