In many relationships, one of the spouses will be the breadwinner, bringing in significantly more money than the other party. The other spouse may or may not work, or may make not be in control of the money. Often, the advantaged spouse will try to push a divorce through onto the disadvantaged spouse by starving them out and not allowing them access to funds to hire a lawyer.
The court has seen this sort of thing before. Many times, if you are the disadvantaged spouse and the other spouse has funds, you can move the court for something called pendente lite spousal support. This support can include attorney fees. It is not uncommon for a good attorney to know how to file the necessary paperwork and get you attorney fees. A good attorney may also be able to get you attorney fees even if you are the spouse that files for the divorce.
The worst thing you can do in this situation is to ignore the divorce papers. Our law office frequently works with disadvantaged spouses to make sure they get the funds necessary to defend the divorce proceeding and not be taken advantage of by the other spouse. If you ignore the papers, a default may come down and then you could be screwed out of alimony, custody, and other support and property that you would have been entitled to in the divorce proceeding.
If you are a disadvantaged spouse, make sure to contact counsel as soon as you are served with divorce papers or if they are withholding spending money or access to marital funds from you. The earlier in the proceeding the attorney intervenes on your behalf, the easier it is for that lawyer to get you pendente lite attorney fees and other support.
Does this article apply to you? Contact Middle Tennessee Divorce Lawyer Morgan Smith at (615) 620-5848 to set up an appointment. Attorney Morgan Smith has experience in obtaining pendente lite support for disadvantaged spouses as well as defending against actions for temporary spousal support.
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