Four Helpful Tips For Divorcing A Financially Abusive Partner

29 July 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog

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If your partner is abusing you financially, and you wish to divorce him or her, then you need to prepare yourself for the difficult task ahead. Such a partner may restrict your access to funds, bar you from making independent discussions or even taking steps to secure your financial future. In such a situation, handling a divorce may be difficult, but you can prepare yourself if you use these four tips:

Set Up Private Mail

Divorce involves a lot of paperwork (things like bank statements and letters from lawyers), most of which will be delivered to your mail. You will agree that this may not work to your favor if you have the same mailing address as your abusive partner. Apart from making him or her privy to information that he or she may use against you, he or she may even get hold of and hide or destroy your crucial documents. Therefore, it's best to get a separate/secret address for your mails.

Get a Secure Storage Area

Apart from receiving your mails privately, you will need somewhere to keep them away from the prying eyes of your spouse. Get a secure self-storage area, rent a safe deposit box or use a safe at a trusted relative's house (such as your parents). The idea is to have a storage area that you can access easily, is secure and is unknown to your partner.

Get Individual Credit and Debit Cards

One tactic used by abusive persons is to limit their partners' spending power. Your spouse can do this, for example, by limiting your use of a joint credit card. In such a case, getting an individual credit card without your partner's involvement would be a good move. You should be able to do this as long as the credit card company is satisfied by your credit profile. As for a debit card, just get prepaid cards and load them with a reasonable amount of money. Don't forget to use unique PIN codes that your spouse cannot guess should he or she have access to your cards.

Have a Separate Bank Account

You will need some money separate from the family funds that your partner may be in charge of. Therefore, open a separate bank account in your name and keep some money there. If you have a job, then you can channel your paycheck to this new account. You can also solicit money from your relatives and save it. The cash will come in handy when starting the divorce process before the court can grant you some money for temporary support.

Although you may win temporary alimony or child support from your spouse, it may not be instantaneous. Your partner may even refuse to make the payments, which means you may have to petition the court to garnish his or her wages. Therefore, the more you are prepared, the easier the divorce process will be for you. For more information, check with professionals at a firm like Granowitz, White & Weber Attorneys at Law.