Question:
Ok, my wife took a loan from her mother to pay her lawyers retaining fee and had a promisary note wrote up to pay her back after the house gets sold, etc. She says I can't use any of our marital money to pay for my lawyer, or if I get money from my parents we need to split that 50/50 unless that is put as a loan to just me. Anybody have any ideas? I'm all new to this divorce stuff.
Answer:
I recommend not taking legal advice from your soon to be ex-wife. You should be allowed to used marital assets to pay for your attorney unless a court order prevents you from doing so. If you do take money from a joint account, keep a paper trail of where the money goes. That money will be considered part of the marital estate even if it no longer exists when the divorce if final. If the divorce has been filed then any money you receive from this point on would not be considered marital property. Your wife would not be entitled to one-half of money loaned from your parents. Since I am not licensed in Illinois, I recommend that you also speak to an attorney licensed in your state to receive state specific advice.
