I am sorry you are going through this. Open a new checking account. Put your earnings in that account. Close the joint account. You could borrow against your 401K, but consider that carefully. See an attorney. Do you have a separation agreement? If not, get your attorney to draw one up. Ask her to sign it. Be polite. Be ruthless. If she is seeing someone else it might be a good time to get her to sign one. She may be “wanting to move on” and all that. That will change once the wolf starts to bite.
Bankruptcy is a problem. Have you seen the new bankruptcy rules? You will have to do 6 months of credit counseling before you file. You will have to hire an attorney to even file for bankruptcy. Those attorneys only take cash. Talk to your creditors. See if you can negotiate something.
I am not sure what your question is. Are you asking if you can withdraw money from your 401(k)?
P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com/live for details
Helena M. Nevicosi
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm
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Hi,
I’m in a situation where my wife and I separated about 4 months ago. We have a joint checking account and she doesn’t work. She has been staying with a girl friend, but now that situation has run it’s course. Every since the separation, we have gotten further and further behind on bills, to the point that my credit is suffering and I’m beginning of bankruptcy is the only course of action left. While I make enough money to pay bills, there are too may purchases, including hotels and cash withdraws, to keep up. These are being my by my wife. Recently, I have reason to believe she is seeing someone else, although I have no positive proof. Only circumstantial proof that I find very compelling. There are problems with the house that make us unable to see or refinance, so any equity is tied up. I do have 401k, but I’m not sure if I can touch that for such a situation.