If you’re going through a divorce, you certainly still have to spend money to meet your basic needs. You need to buy food, pay the rent, pay off credit cards and much more. All of this is fine.
What you want to avoid, however, is excessive spending that is out of the norm. This can be seen as a way of trying to deplete the family assets, which may be interpreted by the court as you attempting to take those assets from your ex. You’re supposed to divide everything that you own, and spending a lot of extra money right before this process means that your ex loses out on their portion of that money.
Dissipation of marital assets
Spending that is deemed irresponsible or frivolous can often be classified as the dissipation of marital assets. This is a way of hiding assets that divorce courts view negatively.
Dissipation is an issue when it means that the other person loses out on the money that was spent. If you bought a physical item, the court might determine that you need to return the item and split the money or that your spouse will get something else that’s worth the same amount. But the trouble comes when you spend on things that you cannot return. For instance, if you spent $30,000 on a vacation, there’s no way to get any of that money back, and only you benefited from it, so the court may rule against you.
This may be an honest mistake, but it’s important to be wary of how you use your money when you’re going through a divorce so that you don’t make any mistakes like this. You also need to know about all the legal options at your disposal if your spouse does it to you.