This situation boggles my mind. It's happening to a close female relative of mine (the wife in the husband/wife situation).
The wife drove about a week ago to another state to visit her parents. Husband had been acting a bit strange recently, per the wife (strange = forgetful, irritated). His mother passed away last year and suffered from dementia. So it's conceivable that it's hitting him.
He calls his wife while she's at her parents and tells her to just stay and not come home...that he's filing for divorce.
He claims the wife owes him several thousand dollars, and he won't let her have her belongings (furniture, clothes, title to her car that's solely in her name). She sold another older car recently and gave him $5,000 of the $5,500 she got for it. She "owes" him about another $5,000.
Now, the wife has managed to waste A LOT of money in the last 10 years that she obtained from a previous ex-husband. I mean A LOT. She has nothing now except a house in another state that is being rented (under contract to sell to renters in about 1 year). Her equity will be about $50,000. The rent payment she receives now doesn't cover what she owes monthly on her consolidated credit card debt (about $390).
The husband is an armed prepper, and he has been a bit weird lately. Legally, he can't hold her stuff. But is calling the police a good idea? It will make him mad. Plus all of us are in another state.
Legal aid says they can't help her until she's divorced?? Couldn't they advise her on bankruptcy or how to handle a husband holding her belongings hostage?
Not sure of the best way to advise her to proceed.
(Why am I involved? She is staying with her parents--they live below the poverty line--and the parents are stressed. I'm trying to intervene so this problem doesn't fall in their laps and cause them health problems. Plus the wife in this situation is overly dramatic, emotional, and weak...incapable of being logical and rational in this situation.)
This whole situation just flabbergasts me. Seems like it's something you'd see on one of those "Judge Judy" shows. Thanks for any advice.