QLD Wife gambled all savings

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Wisdom Seeker

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1 November 2018
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My sons wife gambled away almost $190000 from their joint bank account over the last 18 months. This money was a combination of a payout he received from a work related incident and early payment from his superannuation. My son (stupidly ) did not keep track of the bank account and let his wife look after the finances. When he finally realised this he confronted her and she has since left the marital home and placed a dvo on my son. Is there a legal avenue he can persue to recoup some of the funds.
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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Based on what you have said, and unless she has other assets solely in her name, the answer is likely to be - no.

Joint marital property means either party can use the property.

However if there are remaining assets in your son's name, he should make sure they stay in his name and keep as many records and evidence of the gambling losses as he can because those losses may be able to be used to say your son should keep 100% of the remaining property.