A History of Financial Disagreement
An example of this is a recent case of a couple that had been together for 27 years. Throughout their marriage, they had a joint account – a common place where they both placed their earnings. That shared bank account was what they used to pay for all their expenses and bills.
For their entire 27 years of being married, money was always a sore subject for this couple. They were always fighting about finances. They either contended because money was being spent beyond their income and they differed on how to fix that problem, or they disagreed on methods of meeting their financial obligations that seemed beyond their means.
A Critical Decision to Open Separate Accounts That Would Have Terrible Consequences
When the time came that their children were all grown and had moved out of the house, the couple decided to create separate bank accounts, and no longer operate out of a common one. This decision actually worked great for them, and it diffused the problems regarding finances that they had long been struggling with throughout their marriage. They no longer had any financial disagreements.
Years passed by and this couple eventually grew apart, and they finally decided to go ahead and get a divorce. This decision was amicable, or so they thought.
Husband’s Hidden Decisions Negatively Affect Wife and Make Divorce More Difficult
When they started their divorce process, it was discovered that the husband had incurred a lot of credit card bills that he had kept secret. The wife had no idea about these problems because of the separate accounts. This discovery led to a heated confrontation, which fractured their relationship severely.
The divorce process became more contentious because the debts incurred by the husband are still subject to community property laws, making the wife equally financially responsible for the husband’s decisions. Although financial infidelity was not the reason for their divorce, it certainly caused a huge strain on their relationship and destroyed their supposedly amicable divorce process.