Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
ive been married since dec 09, i found out he cheated on me sept 10 while i was pregnant with our child. We are both recently seperated veterans, my husbands father died july 11 and he recieved a life insurance check (38000) and another check from money that was probated im guessing 10000 or more. he has sent all this money to his aunt who is the VP for BNY Mellon. she has put it in an account for him and sends him money when he needs it. he does not help contribute to our family, and sits around playing video games all day while i work and our 14 month old is in daycare. do i have any legal right to this money that was sent to his aunt to hide from me without my consent.
1 Answer from Attorneys
That's a little complicated. The short answer is that no, YOU do not have a right to that money. Gifts and inheritances a spouse receives are not considered to be community property. On the other hand, he does have a duty to support his child. Theoretically, you can collect child support and remain married (though given the situation you describe, I'm not sure you really want to do that). Either way, that money is subject to child support payments, but you'd have to file for child support to get it. The fact that he's choosing not to work perhaps complicates the situation a bit, since you can't just calculate the usual 20% of his net monthly resources based in his paycheck, but definitely it can be done. Assuming he's perfectly capable of working if he wants to, he'd be assessed at least whatever 20% of a minimum wage, full-time salary, and any money he has in those accounts or anywhere else can be used to pay the child support, even if he doesn't have a job that provides him with monthly income. I'd warn you, though, that even if he were to still have the $50K or so that he started out with, that money could be gone almost overnight, whether he just decided to blow it all, uses it for living expenses, or spends it on legal fees. There are things that can be done to try to prevent that, but you need to find out where the money is and immediately bring it to the attention of whatever attorney you choose to hire.