My Husband Gave Me An Ultimatum To Protect His Thieving Mother. I Chose “Or Else” And Discovered His $63,000 Secret. What Should My Next Move Be?

Legal Strategy

She showed me how to use the drill, and I helped her line up the new deadbolts. When we finished, I called the security company and updated all the access codes. The person on the phone asked if I wanted to add any new emergency contacts, and I gave them Joanne’s number.

I felt relieved and scared at the same time. Relieved that he was gone and could not just walk back in whenever he wanted. Scared about what would happen next and how bad this would get before it was over.

That afternoon, I drove to Marcela’s office for our scheduled meeting. She had a corner office on the third floor of a building downtown. The waiting room had nice furniture and art on the walls.

Her assistant told me to go right in. Marcela was sitting behind her desk reviewing papers when I walked in. She looked up and smiled, but it was not a happy smile. It was the kind of smile that said she knew this was going to be difficult, but we would get through it.

She gestured to the chair across from her desk, and I sat down. She spent the next 40 minutes explaining the divorce process in detail. She used words I did not fully understand at first, like discovery and deposition and marital assets.

She drew diagrams on a notepad to show me how the timeline would work. She explained that given the financial fraud and his choice to bail out his mother after my ultimatum, I had a very strong case for fault-based divorce. She said the judge would likely be sympathetic to my position, especially with all the documented evidence.

She asked me questions about our finances and our property and how long we had been married. I answered everything as clearly as I could, but my head was spinning.

When we finished going through the process, she leaned back in her chair and looked at me seriously. She told me I needed to freeze all joint accounts immediately. She said I should open new individual accounts at a different bank, not just a different branch of the same bank.

She also suggested I get a credit monitoring service to make sure he did not open any more fraudulent accounts in my name. She said people do desperate things during divorces and I needed to protect myself financially.

I wrote down everything she told me to do. She gave me a list of banks and credit monitoring services she recommended. Before I left, she reminded me not to communicate with him directly about anything. Everything had to go through the lawyers now.

Taking Action

I went straight to a new bank after leaving her office and opened a checking and savings account. The banker asked if I wanted to add anyone else to the accounts, and I said:

“No, just me.”

I transferred half of what was left in our joint savings before I froze the account. Marcela said I was entitled to half and I should take it before he tried to drain everything. The banker helped me set up the credit monitoring service too. She was patient and explained how it worked and what alerts I would get.

When I finished at the bank, I sat in my car for a few minutes just breathing. Everything felt surreal. Two days ago, I was married and living in my house with my husband. Now I was changing locks and opening separate bank accounts and meeting with divorce lawyers.

Over the next two days, my phone exploded with messages from his family. His aunts and uncles and cousins all had my number, and they used it. They called me every horrible name imaginable.

His aunt Teresa started a group chat specifically to harass me. She added 12 family members to it, and they all took turns sending me messages about what a terrible person I was. They said I destroyed the family. They said his mother was a sweet old lady who made a mistake. They said I was cruel and heartless for pressing charges.

His cousin started posting things on social media. They did not use my name, but it was obvious who they were talking about. Vague posts about family loyalty and forgiveness and how some people care more about material things than relationships.

I screenshot every single message, every text, and every social media post and every voicemail. I created a folder on my computer and saved everything with dates and times. Then I forwarded it all to Marcela.

She called me back within an hour. She said this behavior actually helped our case. She said it showed a pattern of harassment and intimidation. She was already drafting cease and desist letters to send to the family members who were most aggressive.

She told me not to respond to any of them, not a single message. Just keep documenting everything and sending it to her.

The Settlement Offer

3 days after I filed for divorce, Marcela called me with news. My husband’s lawyer, Conrad Pennington, had contacted her trying to negotiate a quick settlement. She said Conrad suggested we divide assets 50/50 and both walk away. No fault divorce, clean break.

She laughed when she told me this. She said it was obvious they were hoping I would not pursue the credit card fraud issue. They wanted to settle fast before I could dig deeper into the finances.

Marcela told Conrad we were rejecting the offer completely. She had already filed motions to freeze all marital assets and require a full forensic accounting of our finances. She said we were not settling for anything less than what I deserved, and what I deserved was a lot more than half after what he did.

She sounded almost excited when she talked about the forensic accounting. She said once we got a professional to review everything, we would probably find even more financial misconduct.

I felt something shift inside me when she said that. I realized I was not just protecting myself anymore. I was making sure he faced real consequences for everything he did.

I walked back into my office building on Monday morning after 3 days away, and everything looked different somehow. The familiar lobby felt strange. My badge scanned at the security gate, and I rode the elevator up to the fourth floor where my desk waited.

When I stepped through the glass doors into the open workspace, several of my co-workers looked up. Sarah from accounting came over immediately and touched my arm. She asked if I was okay because she heard I was dealing with some personal stuff.

I told her very briefly that I was going through a divorce and needed to handle some legal things. She nodded and said she was sorry and if I needed anything to just ask. Two other co-workers stopped by my desk throughout the morning with similar messages. Nobody asked for details, and I was grateful for that.

Around 11, my boss Angela knocked on the frame of my cubicle and asked if I could come to her office for a minute. My stomach dropped because I worried she was upset about the time off. But when I sat down across from her, she smiled gently.

She said she wanted me to know the company was supportive during difficult personal situations. She told me if I needed flexible scheduling for legal appointments or court dates to just let her know in advance and we would work it out. I thanked her and felt some of the tension leave my shoulders. At least my job was secure while everything else fell apart.