Financial abuse in a relationship doesn’t always look like control over spending; sometimes it’s the quiet freeze of every account you thought you shared. Alyssa Bach, associate lawyer at Shulman & Partners, walks through the signs most people miss until a breakup forces them to look.
Some of it isn’t intentional control at all. It’s a financial picture built on assumptions nobody ever confirmed, until a retirement plan turns out to rest on debt no one flagged. Bach separates convenience from concealment, and names the one habit that catches trouble before separation does.
When separation turns adversarial, the tactics get specific: joint credit lines drained overnight, cards used for one last spree before they’re cut off, one partner betting the other can’t afford to fight. Bach lays out what the courts actually do about it, and why the law rarely cares who ended things.
Topics: financial abuse, divorce, separation, financial control, joint credit line
GUEST: Alyssa Bach | http://schulman.ca
Originally aired on2026-09-23
