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My Husband is threatening to press forgery charges against me

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K

kval151

Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Nevada

Recently my best friend and her husband have been fighting alot and he keeps threatening to kick her out of the house, file for divorce and press charges against her for forgery.

For the entire marraige he has controlled all the money and she is not even on the checking account and has no access to any money unless he gives it to her. She has two children and is a stay at home mother her weekly allowance is $20.00 and he needs to know where it goes. Throughout the marriage he has had her sign his name to checks and she did it without thinking anything was wrong. He recently began getting credit card checks and had her sign a few of them (with his permission of course) and said nothing about it. She was tired of being without any money so she took three checks and wrote them over a period of a month in the amount of 800.00 total. He of course found out and they fought them he dropped it. Last night they got into another fight and he told her if she didn't start acting the way he wanted he would divorce her take the kids and press charges of forgery against her. Can he do this? If so what should she do now?

Thanks for you advice
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
kval151 said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Nevada

Recently my best friend and her husband have been fighting alot and he keeps threatening to kick her out of the house, file for divorce and press charges against her for forgery.

For the entire marraige he has controlled all the money and she is not even on the checking account and has no access to any money unless he gives it to her. She has two children and is a stay at home mother her weekly allowance is $20.00 and he needs to know where it goes. Throughout the marriage he has had her sign his name to checks and she did it without thinking anything was wrong. He recently began getting credit card checks and had her sign a few of them (with his permission of course) and said nothing about it. She was tired of being without any money so she took three checks and wrote them over a period of a month in the amount of 800.00 total. He of course found out and they fought them he dropped it. Last night they got into another fight and he told her if she didn't start acting the way he wanted he would divorce her take the kids and press charges of forgery against her. Can he do this? If so what should she do now?

Thanks for you advice
She probably needs to get a consult with a criminal law attorney. Since they are married and his money is a marital asset she may be ok, however only a criminal law attorney can tell her for sure. However I would urge her NOT to sign any further checks, with or without his permission....even if he insists.
 
K

kval151

Guest
Thanks

I just wanted to say thank you for the information I will pass it on
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
LdiJ said:
She probably needs to get a consult with a criminal law attorney. Since they are married and his money is a marital asset she may be ok, however only a criminal law attorney can tell her for sure. However I would urge her NOT to sign any further checks, with or without his permission....even if he insists.

My response:

First, LdiJ doesn't know what the hell she's talking about. There is no "forgery" between spouses; i.e., no criminal acts in our writer's scenario. I just wanted to make that exceedingly clear.

Second, Nevada is a Community Property State; i.e., it's a "what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine" State. Therefore, the checks belonged to our writer's friend just as much as they belonged to the friend's husband. She could do as she wishes with the money, and there's not a damn thing her husband can do about it.

Third, and in the absence of a Petition for Dissolution, a spouse has "implied and ostensible authority" at the very least - - if not actual authority - - to sign the name of the other spouse [see In re Nelson (9th Cir. 1985) 761 F.2d 1320, 1323--H deemed to have "actual implied authority" in signing W's name on deeds of trust]

Theoretically, and in a Community Property State, one spouse can completely ruin the other and legally bind them both to obligations. As a matter of fact, one spouse has the authority to empty accounts and take all of the money (if both names are on the account) and there's not a damn thing the other spouse can do about it.

The "husband" in our writer's scenario is emotionally "jailing" his wife, without any authority in the law. He's merely wielding an "emotional stick" and because of the wife's ignorance of the law, she is falling prey and victim to the whims and bullcrap of her husband. In other words, in a Community Property State, she has just as much "power" as he has - - only she doesn't know it.

Caveat: Under most State laws, it is a misdemeanor for a person to sign his or her spouse's name on an income tax return (or any schedules or attachments thereto) without the spouse's actual consent. [Ca Rev & Tax § 19701.5--punishable by maximum $5,000 fine and/or maximum 1-year imprisonment. Exception: An incapacitated spouse.

IAAL
 
C

candllewax

Guest
Colorado

When I divorced my husband in Colorado in 1999,he tried to get me for forgery of his pay checks which I signed to deposit in our joint account when he was not around to do so, and a bank loan we were behind on, the judge said if he put every wife in jail that had ever signed a check for her husband, the jails would be over filled, and as for the bank loan papers...it was an extention on a loan and no money changed hands, the judge said it benifited both parties and so would not put me in jail for that either... :)




LdiJ said:
She probably needs to get a consult with a criminal law attorney. Since they are married and his money is a marital asset she may be ok, however only a criminal law attorney can tell her for sure. However I would urge her NOT to sign any further checks, with or without his permission....even if he insists.
 

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