Protecting Assets Before Divorce: Legal Advice Needed
What If Your Wife Drains the Joint Accounts Before Filing for Divorce?
So your wife drained the joint accounts right before filing for divorce. What do you do? Does she get in trouble? Is it legal?
Legal Insight
Hi, I’m Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings. I practice here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I focus on fathers’ rights, and this is my 25th year of experience.
This happens all the time—by men and women. It’s a natural reaction when divorce is looming: people get paranoid, they want to protect assets, and sometimes they try to beat the other person to the punch.
Key Points to Remember
Here’s the key: the automatic temporary injunction (ATI) does not take effect until the divorce is filed. That means if she withdrew the money before filing, she technically hasn’t violated the ATI. So she won’t be held in contempt just for draining the accounts.
However, that doesn’t mean she gets away with it. The divorce process is specifically meant to divide marital assets fairly. She will still have to account for all funds—whether marital or separate—no matter what she did with them. If she’s already spent some of it, she can be held responsible for dissipating assets, and the judge can adjust the property division to make up for it.
Take Action
If you need a consultation on this or any other issue, give Tulsa men’s divorce attorney Clint Hastings a call at 918-962-0900. We’ll be glad to help.
