Husband left w/o warning

[MomInNeed]

I am an Oregon resident and I have been married for 1 1/2 years. We have 2 children and I have always been a stay at home mom. 2 weeks ago my husband left, decided he was "done" and moved in with his mom. He left 2 days before rent was due, and a stack of bills on the desk, minimal food and no gas in the car. He will not give me a dime while I am looking for employment, I have an eviction notice because he won't pay the rent. I have no money, can't afford an attorney, and legal aid in my state does not help with family law. What do I do?

 

[JETX]

Obviously, your first immediate need is to get some cashflow so that you can get to the next step.

Take a look at your wallet. Do you have ANY credit cards that he is SOLELY responsible for (his card, you as a user)?? Use HIS cards to buy clothes, groceries, pay the bills, etc. If possible, get CASH from his cards, as much as you can as often as you can. Do as many transactions as needed to MAX out HIS cards. Do not do this with cards that you have any responsibility for, since they will surely come back on you.

Make sure that you contact ALL credit cards that YOU are responsible for and CLOSE those accounts.

Also, if you have a bank account, go there NOW and cash a check for the full remaining balance. Then, look through your checkbook and contact anyone that YOU wrote checks to. Advise them that "due to circumstances beyond you control", you had to close that account and that you will be glad to 'buyback' the check with cash. You do NOT want to leave yourself in a situation where you have additional problems. Do NOT buy back any of HIS checks.

Then, after you have some cash and groceries, gas, etc. you can determine your next options.

 

[LegalBeagle]

You also have to assume that with his mother behind him, he is going to file for custody of those children. He may even take them from you and refuse you access. First thing to do is ensure he has no access to those children for the time being. Also, document everything.. a man will not be awarded custody if you can show he walked out and left you and the children to be thrown out onto the streets.