Legal Question in Family Law in California
I live in California. My husband was a city cop drawing an early medical retirement when I met and married him. Three short years ago. His retirement has always been deposited into a checking account that we turned joint after our marriage. Part of my wages were direct deposited as well. He worked seasonal at a farm in the beginning not making a lot but his retirement and my monies as a nurse covered all bills, including a bankruptcy from his previous marriage. We paid that off in a little over a year. His income began growing as he started PI work. I had an ATM card to the account but used it maybe a dozen times. I saw registers and bank statements but didn't scrutinize. About 6-8 months ago I noticed balance decreasing. Upon looking I saw that he was making 5,000-10,000 withdrawals. Usually one per month. I asked he stated he purchased CD. OK Last week my personnel calls direct deposit returned account closed. Total monies that I know of so far 60,000. He had gone in 10 days prior to closing acct and opened sole checking. Acct was closed 9 days later telling bank we were consolidating accounts and before I knew. No mutual agreement obviously. I was stunned. I called him he stated those were his retirement monies and I had no right to them. He now works full time for the county public defenders office as the Chief Investigator. LOL. Working on his second retirement. The other monies from my job went into an old checking account of mine but I can easily show that at least 3/4 of my earnings went to our family bills etc. What is my legal standing?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The first question you have to ask yourself is whether or not your relationship remains intact or if you were on the verge of going through divorce action. If you feel that you need to proceed with the divorce, you should immediately file and serve your petition for divorce. There are property restraining orders that control you when you file and your spouse when he is served.
As spouses, both of you are entitled to protections under fiduciary management and control rules that affect your marital partnership and property.
You should send a demand to him in writing with a deadline that he produce any and all records and information concerning these monies accounts and explain why he's claiming these resources are separate property.
You would benefit greatly by retaining the services of an experienced family law attorney..
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