Wife and I are divorcing. After agreeing to not take action until the end of the school year, and also to split income tax return after vehi...

Question

Wife and I are divorcing. After agreeing to not take action until the end of the school year, and also to split income tax return after vehicle maintenance, she took the remainder to get her own legal counsel. The paperwork is supposedly going to be filed today. I have been told by her, according to her attorney that I am not allowed to pull any money from our joint account, or stop my paychecks from being deposited into that account so that I may open my own and save for my own legal counsel.

Answer

First of all, stop taking advice from someone who lied to you and broke her promise. Once the lawsuit is filed, with Standing Orders injunctions, AND you are served; then there are restrictions on what you can do or spend. Even then you are allowed to spend on attorney fees. But none of that has happened yet. Collect your retainer and go hire your lawyer. Today.

Answer

If you know of an injunction being filed - usually in Texas called standing orders (you can look them up your county court's website), you are to abide by those orders (injunction) until the hearing and/or until the Judge tells you otherwise, even if you have not been served with them, as of yet.

Next, the standing orders should allow you to pull money out to hire your own attorney and to support yourself. Your attorney can look into this,

If there is no money left that is liquid, possibly a family member can help with your legal fees? or maybe there is a 401K that you can borrow from?

As for setting up a new account, in Texas, BOTH of your incomes are community property until the divorce is finalized as in Texas there is no legal separation. Therefore, even if you set up a new account, just as if she would, the money in that account would still be joint community money. I would also bring this up at the temporary orders hearing and hopefully her attorney set a hearing - you will need an attorney to represent you.

At this hearing, the judge will decide as to who gets what money and what you both should or should not be able to do.

If she has been greedy and has taken more than half of what you had liquid, your attorney can argue that the funds that were taken were not equal and they can ask for you to receive funds so that it is equitable.

Goldstein & Scopellite, PC has qualified divorce attorneys, family law lawyers and litigation attorneys available to represent you at either one of their law offices located in Dallas, Texas and Tucson, Arizona - Please visit their websites at www.LawyersDallas.com and www.Lawyers-Tucson.com for more information or to contact them. Thank you.