Spouses who can’t get along sometimes take their frustrations out in unexpected ways. Unfortunately, unhappy marriages too often lead to physical and verbal abuse, and New Jersey spouses faced with this sort of situation need to be aware of their legal options.
Financial bullying is another type of abuse that may be more common among spouses than you might expect. Many people who have been through a divorce will tell you that money troubles were a major issue in the marriage, and according to a survey by CreditKarma.com, financial bullying is also relatively common among spouses.
Out of the 1,036 couples who responded to the survey, one in 10 regarded their partner or spouse as a financial bully. In other words, a sizeable number of people apparently use money as a tool to control or intimidate their significant others.
For example, maybe one spouse becomes verbally abusive if the other spouse buys anything besides groceries. Or maybe one spouse demands that the other provide receipts for every little purchase. Or maybe one spouse keeps control over all of the money as a way of controlling the other spouse.
These issues may become especially problematic in the event of divorce. In our post, “Are you aware of all of your marital property?” we discussed the possibility of one spouse hiding assets from the other. Hiding assets from a divorce settlement is illegal, and anyone going through a divorce should be aware of the available options for achieving a fair divorce settlement.
For more on the division of assets in a New Jersey divorce, please visit our pages on marital property.
Source: Trib Live, “Survey: 1 in 10 financially bullied by significant other,” Dec. 29, 2013
