What To Do When A Spouse Empties Joint Bank Accounts In An Illinois Divorce?

In Illinois, if your spouse empties a joint bank account before or during a divorce, you can’t rely on automatic protections but you can file a motion for temporary relief or to maintain the financial status quo. Courts can order the funds restored or award you temporary support. Act quickly and consult an attorney to restore financial security to your household. Can A Spouse Legally Empty A Joint Bank Account Before Or During An Illinois Divorce? Before a divorce is filed, there is no mechanism to prevent anyone from emptying a bank account. The parties are only limited by the rules the bank set for the account. Unfortunately, after a divorce is filed there is no automatic mechanism in Illinois to prevent a spouse from emptying a bank account before or during an Illinois divorce. It may seem ridiculous that one spouse can go nuclear and deprive the other spouse of any money to spend, live on or even eat. Other states have something called an “automatic stay” that prevents bad behavior like emptying/closing bank accounts and failing to pay bills as a divorcing party had in the past. Illinois, however, does not automatically freeze divorcing parties’ financial lives so that both spouses can maintain their standard of living until further order of court. Illinois used to have this commonsense legislation but an Illinois Supreme Court case found the law to be unconstitutional. Messenger v. Edgar, 623 N.E.2d 310 (Ill. 1993) Because Illinois law allows for bad behavior, the victim of financial abuse such as emptying a bank account must act retroactively when the abuse happens in order to preserve their rights. Advising Your Spouse To Not Empty The Joint Bank Accounts In An Illinois Divorce At the beginning of a divorce, a strongly worded letter should go out to your spouse advising them that any failure to pay a current bill, closure of an account, or unnecessary withdrawals from any existing account will have serious penalties. The spouse should be warned that any financial shenanigans will be met with an emergency motion to maintain the status quo, a petition for attorney’s fees to pay the emergency motion and a dissipation of assets claim. Both spouses and/or their attorneys should convene to discuss what the “new normal” should be for the parties finances as the divorce proceeds. Undoing The Emptying Of A Joint Bank Account In An Illinois Divorce If […]

from Russell D. Knight | Family Lawyer Chicago https://rdklegal.com/what-to-do-when-a-spouse-empties-joint-bank-accounts-in-an-illinois-divorce/