Manipulative Spouse

[acwildcats]

New Jersey

My wife and I have been married for 5 years and we have an 11 year old son.(I legally adopted him). My wife has refused to sign our new lease and has stated that she will not contribute to paying either. She also said that she doesnt have to leave and she's not. She has run up her personal credit cards(I'm not on any of them) and has listed them as matrial debt(I'm in the process of filing for divorce). She refuses to allow me to see the statements and says that she will not release that information to me and that's it!! Can she do that? Can she stay in the house without paying a dime? Please help?

 

[tuffbrk]

Presumably your'e referring to her CIS when you state that she is listing the debt as marital debt? That's what I'm guessing. I asked my NJ attn'y the same question as to repayment obligation of debts incurred while waiting for divorce and he advised that if the STBX can show the money was spent on necessities (home items, food, gas for example) that it is considered to be marital debt; however if it is spent on non-necessity items (jewlery, LeCross pens, perfumes, cruise, for example) then you can claim dissipation of marital assets. You need to s/w your attorney on the lease issue and BTW -if you're in the middle of a divorce, why sign a new lease? Can't you go month to month or something? In any event, depending on the financial circumstances between the 2 of you, you may be able to file a pendente lite support motion indicating that she is not contributing to household expenses - but you most likely would need to complete a new CIS. Presumably the one that you've completed to date reflects her "typical" contribution. Any time the financial picture changes you need to update it anyway so you probably would need to change it to show you paying the lease - maybe the utilities as well? There's not a great deal of info in your post to go on.....but based on how the financials look on the CIS for each of you, you MIGHT be able to file the motion and have the judge grant some type of monetary relief.