@77orange77 wrote:
We are planning on separating/divorcing. When I got married, I added my husband to my checking and savings accounts. He maintained and kept checking and savings accounts in his own name as well. He told me that he wanted to keep these separate accounts because he was self-employed and used them as "business" accounts. Do I have right to the money in those accounts? Also, I have two separate savings accounts for my children. I am the only one that has rights to add or take out money from those accounts. If I wanted to put away some money into those accounts, would my husband have any rights to it after we divorce? Should I be opening up my own checking and savings account now? Or would he get 50% of those accounts because we are married right now? I am in IL (not a community property state).
He has a lot of "equipment" that he bought over the years we have been married....he tells me that since he bought it under his friend's business account that I would not have any rights to it. I know he claims some of his purchases as business purchases on income taxes - because of that, would I have any rights to it? I'm thinking that I could use this as a bargaining chip with him. I want to keep the house (I bought it right after we married, but he is not on any of the paperwork)...and with the housing market the way it is, we would not get any extra money if we tried to sell right now. We have three young children, and I can't imagine he would force me to sell the home. I do want to make it so that once we divorce that he has no rights to the house. Do people do that?
Also, he apparently has a credit issues that were from before we were married. None of his unpaid balances have ever been attached to my name - and none of them have ever showed up on my credit report. For example, I just saw he got another collection agency letter from a credit card he never paid. Would I be responsible for his debt that occurred before our marriage?
First of all, even though Illinois is not a community property state, it is an equitable division state and property is divided according to "fairness." In general, property acquired by either spouse after the marriage and before a judgment of dissolution of marriage is presumed to be marital property, regardless of how titled.
In general, non-marital property belongs to the individual spouse. In Illinois, non-marital property often includes property used predominantly for business purposes. Funds set aside for education of the children is usually marital property, but the court could order that the custodial parent retain use of those funds or else establish an education trust.
It is difficult to say about the house, but one common scenario is that the custodial parent gets the house, but will lose other property valued at half of the home's value.
Unless you can segregate all debt that your husband incurred prior to marriage from that incurred subsequent to marriage, you may be liable for his credit card debt. Unless you have been married for a relatively short period of time, segregation is difficult. If the cards were used for everyday necessities the debt is simply another form of marital debt.
I would strongly advise retaining a local attorney in this matter as the law -- and even the way individual courts handle property division -- can be very complex. I would also strongly encourage a negotiated settlement unless you want to spend a lot more than $5k in legal fees and related expenses. Also, courts take a dim view of those whose demands were not satisfied through negotiation due to unreasonableness.
