For a stay-at-home parent or a spouse who earns substantially less than their husband or wife, the financial side of divorce can be intimidating before the case even begins.
What happens if your spouse stops putting money into the joint account? Who pays the mortgage? Can they cancel your health insurance? What if you need somewhere else to live? And how are you supposed to hire a divorce lawyer if your spouse controls most of the household income?
Tennessee law provides several protections that can become important in these situations. Depending on the circumstances, a court can address temporary financial support, household expenses, access to marital property, insurance coverage, attorney’s fees, and other financial issues while the divorce is still pending.
Can Your Spouse Cut You Off Financially After You File for Divorce?
Filing for divorce does not give either spouse unlimited control over marital property. Tennessee law imposes temporary injunctions that restrict both spouses from transferring, concealing, borrowing against, dissipating, or disposing of marital property without the other spouse’s consent or a court order. Ordinary expenditures from current income to maintain the marital standard of living are still permitted. These protections are contained in Tennessee Code § 36-4-106.
The automatic injunction does not resolve every financial problem that can arise after separation. If one spouse changes the way household money is handled and the other cannot meet basic expenses, additional temporary orders may be necessary.
What If Your Spouse Stops Depositing Money Into a Joint Bank Account?
A common problem arises when one spouse has historically deposited their paycheck into a joint account used to pay the family’s expenses, then redirects that income after the divorce begins. The mortgage, utilities, groceries, car payments, and other bills may continue even though the money normally used to pay them is no longer available.
The automatic injunction protecting marital property does not necessarily require a spouse to keep depositing each paycheck into the same account. However, a financially disadvantaged spouse can ask the court to address support and household expenses while the case is pending. The appropriate request depends on the couple’s income, expenses, accounts, and existing financial arrangements.
Useful records may include:
- Recent bank statements
- Pay stubs and tax returns
- Mortgage or rent payments
- Utility and insurance bills
- Car payments
- Credit-card statements
- A list of regular household expenses
If financial information is incomplete or disputed, our guide to the discovery process in a Tennessee divorce explains how formal discovery can be used to obtain income, account, property, and debt information.
Can the Court Require Your Spouse to Keep Paying Household Expenses?
A Tennessee court can enter temporary financial orders while a divorce is pending. Under Tennessee Code § 36-5-121(b), the court may order one spouse to pay amounts necessary for the support and maintenance of the other spouse after considering each spouse’s financial needs and ability to pay.
That gives the court flexibility to address financial problems that cannot reasonably wait until the divorce is finished. The exact order depends on the facts of the case rather than a fixed formula. A judge may need to consider where the parties are living, what expenses existed during the marriage, what each spouse earns, and which expenses must continue to be paid.
Depending on the circumstances, those expenses may involve:
- Mortgage or rent
- Utilities
- Transportation
- Insurance
- Food
- Other necessary living costs
Can You Get Temporary Spousal Support During a Tennessee Divorce?
Yes. Tennessee courts may award temporary support while a divorce is pending when the financial circumstances justify it. This is sometimes called pendente lite support, meaning support during the litigation. Tennessee law directs the court to consider the financial needs of both spouses as well as their respective ability to meet those needs. Temporary support is separate from the final alimony decision made when the divorce is resolved.
There is no automatic amount simply because one spouse earns more. Income, reasonable expenses, financial resources, and the circumstances of the marriage can all matter.
For a broader explanation of the different forms of long-term support, see our Knoxville alimony lawyer resource.
Does Tennessee Law Protect Stay-at-Home Parents During Divorce?
Tennessee law specifically recognizes that marriages sometimes involve one spouse focusing on earning income while the other assumes greater responsibility for children and the household. The legislature states that homemaking and parenting contributions have equal dignity and importance to economic contributions to the marriage.
That does not guarantee a particular amount of support, but it does mean a spouse’s lack of current earnings is not viewed in isolation. A parent who stepped away from a career, reduced working hours, or otherwise sacrificed earning potential for the family may face a very different financial situation when the marriage ends.
Relevant considerations can include:
- Each spouse’s income and earning capacity
- Education and employment opportunities
- Length of the marriage
- Responsibility for minor children
- Property and financial resources
- The marital standard of living
- Financial and nonfinancial contributions to the marriage
These considerations are among the factors Tennessee courts use when evaluating alimony.
What If You Need Somewhere Else to Live During the Divorce?
Temporary housing can become part of the financial issues that need to be addressed during a divorce. If remaining in the marital home is not practical, a spouse may need money for rent, deposits, utilities, transportation, or other expenses associated with maintaining a separate household. Those costs can be considered when the court evaluates temporary financial need.
That does not mean a court will automatically require one spouse to pay every expense requested by the other. Supporting two households usually costs more than supporting one, and the court must consider both spouses’ financial circumstances and ability to pay. Temporary orders are intended to address reasonable needs while the case proceeds.
Should You Move Out of the Marital Home Before or During a Divorce?
There is no rule requiring someone to move out simply because a Tennessee divorce has been filed. Whether leaving is advisable depends on the circumstances, including finances, children, property issues, available housing, and safety concerns. Because moving can affect several practical parts of a divorce at once, it is worth discussing the decision with an attorney before assuming that one spouse must immediately leave.
Safety is different. If domestic abuse creates an immediate danger, Tennessee courts can issue an ex parte order of protection when the legal requirements are met. Tennessee Code § 36-3-605 explains the procedure for these emergency orders.
Can Your Spouse Cancel Your Health or Other Insurance During a Divorce?
Generally, a spouse cannot simply cancel certain existing insurance coverage after Tennessee’s statutory divorce injunction takes effect. Tennessee Code § 36-4-106 prohibits either spouse from voluntarily canceling, modifying, terminating, assigning, or allowing covered insurance policies to lapse without the other spouse’s consent or a court order.
The statute specifically includes policies such as:
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Disability insurance
- Homeowners or renters insurance
- Automobile insurance
The protection applies when the policy covers either spouse or the children, or names them as beneficiaries. This can be particularly important when one spouse receives health or other insurance through the higher-earning spouse’s employment.
What If You Cannot Afford a Divorce Lawyer?
Having less access to household income does not necessarily mean you have no way to obtain representation. Tennessee Code § 36-5-121(b) gives courts authority, while a divorce is pending, to order amounts necessary to enable a spouse to prosecute or defend the case. The court must consider each spouse’s financial need and ability to pay.
Attorney’s fees are not automatically shifted to the higher-earning spouse. However, the law gives courts a way to address a significant financial imbalance when appropriate. Tennessee law also permits certain attorney’s fees and expenses to be awarded as alimony in solido under appropriate circumstances.
This can matter when one spouse has substantially greater access to income or marital resources and the other would otherwise struggle to participate effectively in the divorce.
Does the Higher-Earning Spouse Have More Rights to Marital Money?
No. Earning more income does not by itself give one spouse greater ownership rights over marital property. Tennessee distinguishes between marital property and separate property, and marital property is ultimately divided under Tennessee’s equitable-distribution rules rather than according to which spouse earned the larger paycheck.
The same principle applies to contributions during the marriage. Tennessee law expressly recognizes both economic contributions and contributions made as a homemaker or parent.
That can be especially important when one spouse built a career while the other handled more childcare or household responsibilities. Income is an important financial fact, but it is not the only contribution Tennessee law recognizes when a marriage ends.
Our Knoxville divorce lawyer page provides a broader overview of property, support, debt, parenting, and the other issues that may need to be resolved during a divorce.
What Financial Information Should You Gather Before Filing for Divorce?
Before filing, it can be useful to gather records showing how the household actually operates financially. That may include tax returns, recent pay records, bank and investment statements, retirement accounts, mortgage information, credit-card balances, insurance policies, vehicle loans, and recurring monthly expenses.
You do not need to know every financial detail before speaking with an attorney. The goal is to preserve the information already available to you and give your attorney a clearer picture of the household’s income, property, debts, and immediate expenses.
Our guide to how a divorce starts in Tennessee discusses additional information that can be useful at the beginning of a case.
If important financial information is unavailable, formal discovery may later be used to obtain relevant records.
Can Agreeing on Some Issues Make Divorce Less Expensive?
Often, yes. A contested divorce can become more expensive as the parties spend time litigating disputes, conducting extensive discovery, taking depositions, hiring experts, or preparing issues for trial. Resolving issues that genuinely are not disputed can reduce the amount of attorney time and court involvement required.
That does not mean a spouse should agree to an unfavorable financial arrangement simply to avoid conflict. Before agreeing to property division, support, debt allocation, or another significant financial issue, both spouses should understand what property exists, what it is worth, what debts are involved, and how the proposed agreement affects them.
Our contested divorce guide explains how negotiation, mediation, and litigation can fit into the Tennessee divorce process.
What Should You Do If Financial Fear Is Keeping You From Filing for Divorce?
Do not assume that filing automatically means losing access to marital resources, being unable to pay ordinary expenses, or having no way to hire an attorney. Tennessee law gives courts tools to address financial issues while a divorce is pending, but the appropriate relief depends on the circumstances of the marriage.
An attorney can review how income has historically been handled, what expenses need to be paid, what property and accounts exist, whether financial arrangements have recently changed, and whether temporary support or another court order should be requested.
For someone who has depended financially on a spouse for years, understanding those options before filing can make the financial consequences of starting a divorce much easier to evaluate.
Talk With a Knoxville Divorce Lawyer About Financial Concerns
Financial dependence can make the prospect of divorce seem impossible. A stay-at-home parent or lower-earning spouse may worry about housing, bills, insurance, attorney’s fees, or simply having enough money to get through the case.
Those concerns should be evaluated before assuming that the higher-earning spouse will control what happens financially.
Barnes & Fersten represents clients in Knoxville and throughout East Tennessee in divorces involving temporary support, alimony, property division, marital debt, financial discovery, parenting disputes, and other family-law issues.
If you are considering divorce and are concerned about how you would support yourself while the case is pending, contact Barnes & Fersten at 865-805-5703 or fill out our contact form to schedule a consultation with a Knoxville divorce lawyer.
This article provides general information about Tennessee law and is not legal advice for any particular case.
Associate Attorney
Dakota Vermillion is a Knoxville attorney practicing family law, including divorce and child custody, as well as DUI defense and criminal defense. Dakota brings experience from several areas of the legal system, including work as a family law judicial clerk, private family law attorney, police officer, and prosecutor. While attending Nashville School of Law, he worked as a law clerk in the Fourth Circuit Court of Davidson County, which primarily handles family law matters. He later practiced family law involving divorce and child custody matters before serving as an Assistant District Attorney with the Knox County District Attorney’s Office. Dakota’s background in family law, law enforcement, prosecution, and criminal defense gives him a broad perspective when representing clients facing significant legal matters.
