Legal Question in Family Law in Florida

I have been married 25yrs, and have one daughter in college. I raised our daughter, and we lived separated from my husband for the past 7yrs. During that time he convinced me not to divorce, based on several factors, such as health insurance, property ownership, etc. I chose not to divorce because I loved him, and he always led me to believe we would get back together. Also, I have physical and mental health issues, have not worked outside home for 20yrs., and am dependent, especially considering everything I ever owned was long ago tied financially to him. It is a long, complicated story, full of raw emotion, and hard to fit in a box, but basically my problem is: when we separated we had lots of money, great credit etc.,recently I found out he has been misleading me, telling me everything was OK, while for years running up credit cards, destroying our credit,withdrawing money form our 401K and not paying taxes. Suddenly we went from great to broke, and all of our lifelines, such as the good credit are gone. Our primary assets are gulf-front vacation condos, first crushed by real estate balloon, then economy, no loans, etc. now BP oil spill. We can't just sell our property quickly and pay our debts, or borrow against it. The IRS wants a lump sum, and I think I am literally in shock. I have never lived this way, had no idea, and now don't know if I have any rights regarding what I feel he has stolen from me, or if I am equally culpable even though I had no idea what he was doing? I guess I need a divorce, but this seems so much more complicated due to the circumstances. I feel like I want to have him put in jail, but his not having a job is in no one's best interest. I am ill now, and have no money. I live only on the cash he gives me monthly, which I help my daughter pay her expenses with. I don't know who to call, or where to start. Can someone advise me please?


Asked on 5/27/10, 1:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

First of all tell you daughter to apply for a student loan and get a part time job. May not be easy but not hard either- many students have to face the real world.

Secondly, get yourself a lawyer - you are too articulate to be mentally ill and therefore think perhaps you are just looking for sympathy. A lawyer can back track your financial affairs and make the spouse responsible for duping your funds.

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Answered on 5/28/10, 8:32 am


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