Dissipation of assets, wasteful spending by spouse

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justice4ever

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WASTEFUL SPENDING/DISSIPATION OF ASSETS BY SPOUSE: Married for 23 years, 4 children, stay home mother. Discovered husband's extramarital affair of 1 year and wasteful spending on girlfriend. Husband didn't want to move out of the home or get any agreement or legal action for about 2 years. He has kept the relationship with his mistress until today (about 4 yrs.), and has kept spending on international trips, hotels, restaurants, flowers, jewelry, lingerie, gifts, International phone calls, you name it! We are getting legally separated. After 3 years there is finally a temporary order. I decided to go through the Discovery Process, so far I have found more than $60K in wasteful spending. He an his lawyer say that he is entitled to spend money for recreational purposes and have a life. How about his own family? What are my real chances of getting at least 50% of that money back?. Obviously he doesn't have the money, but my lawyer says I might get a higher percentage of the house. What would be the best and most economical way to prove his wasteful spending?. I need to protect my children. We don't even own our house yet, having an equity of $130K and huge debts: 22K Home Equity, 70K in credit cards (big part spent on the affair). I feel completely stuck and that the system is letting him have his cake and eat it since both lawyers are saying that it will cots too much money to prove the dissipation of assets. It is clear as water, I have all the credit card statements, bank statements, phone bills that prove all his expenses. Any ideas?
 
You can have the judge allocate the credit card debt to him. Sue him for cause, don't sue for irretrievably broken or "no fault." A judge or jury will not look kindly on his actions. You can certainly get an unequal share of the marital assets.
 
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately Wisconsin is a "no fault" state. The only ground to file for divorce or legal separation is exactly that the relationship is "irretrievably broken" there is no other option. Where I am stuck is how to prove the wasteful spending without incurring in a big expense on legal fees. I think I have a strong and good case, but my lawyer has said several times that I could end up with almost no profit.
 
Consider another lawyer. I've done dozens of divorces (granted not in WS) this just doesn't sound like a case of more than 5k at worst.
 
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