Took half of joint account - spouse lossing it

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Braj19

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Hi
This is my first post. On December 31, I found out my husband was havin an affair. Before I confronted him, I took half of the money out of our joint account as I planned on moving out ASAP and would need some cash to get on my feet. I'm on maternity leave so I don't have much income. He has flown off the handle about how I stole his money. He says that we needed to pay off his line of credit first before splitting any money. The line of credit is in his name only, the bank account is joint. Although its a joint account, it's his income that goes into this account. So, I'm wondering, if I made a mistake by taking this money on that date? I also have my own personal account, will he be entitled to half? And what is the date that you determine to split finances? Do you have to wait until court documents are filed? He's wanting me to go to the bank and take my name off the joint account, he doesn't like how I can see what he's spending his money on. Not sure if I should do this?
 
Yes, you should become financially independent and dispose of joint accounts etc.

It was a joint account, and you took half of the cash out of it - quite reasonable.

It is a joint account, so you don't have to take your name off it, but it seems reasonable to take your name off of it so he can keep using it - you are separate now so joint anything is a bad idea.

During equalization your joint and non joint accounts will be balanced so that you both end up with the same net worth (assuming you had nothing when you met). So it really doesn't matter who's name is on what debt or asset. You keep whatever has just your name on it, split joint accounts, and one pays the other a cash settlement such that you both end up with the same net worth considering who kept what (like houses, cars, cash, debt) etc. This includes pensions as well.

You will equalize based on date of separation.

You can go to mysupportcalculator.ca to see what is normal for support.

Equalizing assets/debts should really not be a big deal. Child support is standardized for the most part. Spousal support is really the only thing you should argue about.

Also, the two of you have to decide the access schedule for your baby and any other children you have. 50/50 would be best and probably cause the least amount of fighting.
 
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If you already absconded with half of the money out of the joint bank account, what makes you think he'll keep using a joint account with you? That doesn't make any sense.

Or if you have left, then why would you keep yourself on the account?
 
The reason I kept myself on the account, was that I had to set up mortgage and other bills to come out automatically as he's taking on all the costs of our house. He works out of town so I've tried to be helpful to make things easy for him. My lawyer told me that I don't need to take myself off the account, and since the mortgage is coming out of it, I wanted to be able to see that it's being paid on time (he has mentioned how he will just stop paying mortgage so that my credit gets affected and doesn't care about his as he plans on putting things in his parents name). I want to just take myself off the account, just want to make sure I won't regret it for some reason.
 
Do you also contribute to the mortgage? Do you still reside in the house?

One of the first things most people suggest is to close joint accounts and to funnel their income to a separate account. Then only transfer over enough money to cover their 1/2 of the household bills to the account where the bills are paid from.

It is quite normal to close joint accounts, freeze joint lines of credits and credit cards so that the other spouse can't run up household debt.
 
No I moved out of the house so I'm not paying any bills or mortgage. It's unfortunate for me as I love our house but it is on a huge farm and I can't afford the mortgage or the maintenance/ upkeep of the property by myself.
 
Braj19 said:
No I moved out of the house so I'm not paying any bills or mortgage. It's unfortunate for me as I love our house but it is on a huge farm and I can't afford the mortgage or the maintenance/ upkeep of the property by myself.
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Then why are you still on the account?

If you are on title, you are entitled 1/2 the equity in the house. If you aren't paying the mortgage and don't live there, if I were your ex I'd close the joint account, deposit my pay in my personal account and pay the mortgage from there.

You don't live there. You don't contribute. There is no reason for you to be on the account outside of monitoring payments. What happens if your ex misses payments? Are you going to email them to say they should pay? They can just ignore that request as easily as the banks request for funds.

If you are out of the house and not helping with the mortgage by putting funds into the account, there is no good reason for the joint account.
 
Yeah....I learned that one pretty quick on here, close all the joint accounts and protect yourself. Not only did I close the accounts, I also reduced the limits on them. Furthermore, I got the bank to take away the overdraft from the joint chequing account as I never use it.

Nothing stopping that pissed off other party running up the account.
 
also, if it hasn't been done already...freeze any lines of credit that are jointly held. (basically you cannot close the account with a balance owing, BUT you can prevent any further withdrawals from occuring from it).

The money you "took" will get accounted for in equalization. So your ex can rest assured that "his" money will get looked after :D
 
Oh yes it will....to the OP, don't try and pull a "fast one", it always comes out in the end. stbx tried to do just that with a short period pension contribution in the middle of mediation sessions and kept mum about. I found out about it, and you can imagine the reaction after

The usual BS of "controlling". I am not the one being dishonest

Just imagine the question in court, did you plan to mention this at any point or did you just think you could get away with it? I wasn't shocked because there is a history of this kind of behaviour from the "joint account"

NBDad said:
The money you "took" will get accounted for in equalization. So your ex can rest assured that "his" money will get looked after :D
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Before I kicked my ex out of the house my lawyer told me to get my hands on as much cash as I could. I didn't take his advice as I just didn't feel right about at the time. That was a HUGE mistake.
 
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