I sent money to myself from my husband's bank account without his permission, what crime is this?

Question

My husband left me in October of last year with a promise that we would file our taxes jointly and split the money evenly, and then he filed without me and claimed one of my children. I transferred half of the money from his account to my bank account through paypal without him knowing of course. I know he will bring charges against me when he finds out what I done, anyone have an idea of what I might be facing?

Answer 1

"left" you means, the two of you are now separated? Divorce in the works? Usually a separation agreement and/or a divorce decree or divorce settlement states which parent gets to claim which children as dependents on his or her tax return. If your husband says anything about the money you transferred, you tell him that he committed tax fraud (maybe he did, maybe not) and that you will call the IRS and the FBI and have him arrested. (Do not call the local police or 911--they will not care or even understand the problem.)

The crimes you may POSSIBLY have committed are theft, embezzlement, forgery, and so on. BUT you may have had a legal right to that money, in which case you did not commit any crime. Was the account in both names? Even if not in both names was it his money from that account that normally supported the family? If so, that money belonged to both of you. In a divorce, you would both divide the money (not 50-50; you would probably get more than half). He can't just get up and leave without providing for support or giving your half of his earnings. YES, YOUR HALF (or MORE) of HIS earnings. If you were married what's yours is his and what's his is yours. Especially when you have children to care for.

IF HE CALLS THE POLICE, and they show up at` your door, YOU tell them that the dispute is a dispute over marital property and that it will be determined by the divorce court, AND you tell the cops that in fact, he will be paying you a lot more than that disputed money by the time it is all over 18 years from now when the last kid is an adult. If the cops try to arrest you, you immediately call 911 and demand to be connected to the FBI--this will scare the cops. If they won't let you call, you tell them that you are calling the FBI because they are interfering with an interstate distribution of money owed in a pending divorce. This will confuse and scare them, ad they might back down from arresting you. BUT what you should really do is go see a lawyer tomorrow at 9am. If you do not have money look up "Legal Services Program" in your state for a free lawyer. They will at least tell you what your next step should be.

Answer 2

It's not you or him, it's drugs, he is addicted, he needs help. He took the money without asking because he did not want to hear any negative words from you about it. When you are addicted any means is ok as long as you get your fix. Yes he will feel like you are trying to control him because you are, but his addiction will not allow him to think in a rational manner that you really are trying to help him. His body is crying out for the drug and he can't resist and will lash out at you for standing in his way. If he can't realize that he has a problem there is nothing you can do but make the situation worse. Don't leave money where it is available for him further his addiction, Personally I don't like counseling but in this case I don't see any alternative. Somehow he has to be shown the error he is making. I personally think that your attempts to block him from his drug buddies will only result in more discontent as he will find a way to get his fix no matter what you do and this is making you look like a control freak which will just fuel the fire. So he has an addiction and there are lots of books and groups you can attend even if you have to go alone to try to understand what is going on and hopefully you can find an avenue to get him off these drugs.

Answer 3

Sounds like some sort of theft, but the situation is too complicated and relies a lot on state laws surrounding marriage and theft. I would contact a lawyer, especially considering the underlying tax issues of your question. The IRS is one of the last groups you want to have problems with so I would recommend contacting a lawyer sooner rather then later.

Answer 4

If you aren't divorced or there is no legal separation yet, you might be OK. Otherwise you need to call a lawyer and get the divorce taken care of and the lawyer will more then likely make him start paying you child support or alimony depending on what state you live in.

Answer 5

If you are part owner of the account, your fine. If you have a community property state, and no separation agreement has been set up, you're fine.

My sister's ex left her and their kids, he ran up all her credit cards to the max, and never paid them. He also emptied their bank account. This was totally okay to the state.

If you know his paypal info, does that imply he gave you permission to use it?

If you aren't allowed to use his account, then the crime is theft.

Answer 6

I have heard that there cannot be theft between married people but I have no source and am not sure it is true. Is there any kind of legal asssitant in your community you could ask? It might also depend on the state.

Answer 7

Yes you'll do prison time it's a fedrail affence you should go to the IRS and explane why you did that and report him of putting the childs name on his tax returns

Answer 8

You would have been better off reporting him for claiming a child he wasnt looking after because he could have got done for fraud.
as it is i dont really know if you're in trouble

Answer 9

theft, plain and simple. And since you did it through a banking system, that makes it federal. You are in a lot of trouble.

Answer 10

it's called the crime of passion