My 2nd husband and I have both been fairly financially successful. He, being very fugal,Left me to use my income to buy our house, cars, fur...

Question

My 2nd husband and I have both been fairly financially successful. He, being very fugal,

Left me to use my income to buy our house, cars, furniture et. While he being the financial brain did the investing. I now find out that 12-14 years ago he set up multiple

Limited Partnerships for his two children (previous marriage) and is funneling a lot of our community property funds to them while my 2 children (previous marriage) are not receiving anything. He has made many bad investments over the past 12 years and now that I'm retired I'm feeling. Broke while his kids have received hundreds of thousands of dollars. What should I do?

Answer

First question is are you planning on getting a divorce? If you are you may have some remedies, the main one being fiduciary breach of duties. In a marriage both husband and wife act as fiduciaries to the other. This meaning that both have to look out for the best interests of the other in laymen terms. His syphaning community property without your knowledge and consent to your children may qualify as a breach of those duties. Under the Family Code the result could be 100% of the assets which he funneled to the children. Now if you do not intend to divorce him, filing suit against him will likely result in him filing for dissolution. So you may end up in a much better financial position but will have some strained familial relationships as well. There is a cost benefit to every suit. As an attorney we can only advise you of your rights and what we think is best. That being said no one except you can say whether the benefits of the suit will outweigh the emotional costs. Good Luck and if you do intend to go this route you will need an attorney. Give me a call at 925-225-1025.