On behalf of Platt Hopwood Attorneys at Law PLLC posted in Domestic Violence on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.
In Florida and throughout the country, allegations of domestic violence might be accompanied by accusations of other types of abuse as well. One of these is financial abuse. Behaviors that constitute financial abuse may run the gamut from controlling how money is spent to forbidding a person from working.
Financial abuse is commonly understood as a way of manipulating a person in a relationship and preventing them from leaving. If a person does not have access to funds, it may be impossible for them to gather the resources to leave the relationship, or they may leave and be forced to return due to money problems.
Financial abuse may be subtle or overt. Some of the more subtle approaches might include preventing a person from taking opportunities to advance at work or refusing to get a job. More overt approaches might include stealing a person’s identity or inheritance, forcing them to fill out fraudulent tax forms, filing false insurance claims and failing to pay child support.
The overt approaches described above include criminal actions, and as a result, a person accused of domestic violence might find themselves facing criminal charges related to financial matters along with charges such as battery. A person in such a situation might want to consult an attorney. It might be possible to produce a financial paper trail to defend against such accusations. For example, if a person says that they were forced to file fraudulent tax returns, it may be possible to produce those returns and financial records that back them. In other cases, the approach to defense may be more complex, and an attorney might be able to advise regarding the best course of action. It also may be possible to get such charges dismissed if there is insufficient evidence.
