What if my spouse spends a lot of money during the divorce on stupid things?
If, after the point at which the marriage breaks down, your spouse starts spending money on paramours, gambling, drugs, get-rich-quick schemes, or the like, he or she can be charged with dissipation. Only expenditures unrelated to the marriage after the breakdown of the marriage, and made from marital funds, are considered. Money dissipated is treated as an advance distribution of marital property to the spouse guilty of the frivolous expenditure. For example, if the marital estate would have been worth $100,000, but is now only worth $50,000 because your spouse used $50,000 of marital funds to buy his or her paramour a condominium during the divorce case, and if the judge thinks a 50/50 division of the marital estate is appropriate, the judge will give you the remaining $50,000, the paramour will keep the condominium, and your spouse will get nothing.
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