QUESTION
About divorce law state of Wisconsin forged checks
Asked on Sep 30th, 2016 on Divorce - Wisconsin
More details to this question:
Hopefully to Atty. David B. Karp. My son is divorcing his wife. Within the last year his wife has been forging her own signature on checks from my son's personal checking account for a total of $6,000 dollars. Each check has a different scribble mark on the signature. He was incarcerated at this time, so it was impossible for him to write these checks. Can these forged checks be included in the divorce settlement, or does he have to contact the district attorney's office and pay for another lawyer to handle this separately. The District Attorney at Franklin, WI. said he will do nothing and that this should be handled as part of the divorce settlement. His divorce attorney wants $5,000 more to take her to court to recover the $6,000. This is very confusing. I would think that the easiest route would be to litigate this along with the divorce settlement. Very confusing, so what do you think??, forgery
1 ANSWER
4 Awards
Understand that whether the wife is fraudulently writing checks or not, it is not $6,000 at stake, only half. Half the money is hers to being with, under marital property law. I am not condoing her behavior or saying it is alright for her to be doing what she is doing, but, unless the money is gfted or inherited, she would have to account for his one half share of the $6,000 as part of the divorce case, not 100%. I assume the reason the DA isn't pressing charges is due to the fact that they are married, and technically, the money being used or taken is "marital money, " as pointed out above. I also don't understand why your son's attorney isn't handling this, if the case is not finalized they have an obligation to continue with the case. it is unthical for a lawyer to "demand more money" to do work on the case or threaten to stop doing work if a bill isn't paid, if past due. Rather, the attorney has a right to file a motion to wtihdraw from thye case, if it can be done without harming the client's case in any way.
Answered on Sep 30th, 2016 at 2:13 PM
David B. Karp Karp & Iancu, S.C. 933 North Mayfair Road #300 Milwaukee, WI 53226 414 453 0800 dbk@karplawfirm.com www.karplawfirm.com