Justice Jeffrey Sunshine
At issue was whether a pendente lite award of maintenance and counsel fees to defendant husband is appropriate where he purposefully concealed his unemployment from plaintiff wife during the final seven years of the marriage and stopped filing joint tax returns in 2007. The defendant claimed that his financial failures during the marriage were a result of his mental health illness which, he alleged, plaintiff, who holds a doctorate degree in psychology and is engaged in private practice, knew about prior to the marriage. He admitted in sworn papers that he purposefully misled plaintiff to believe that he was employed during the last seven years of the marriage, but added that plaintiff was complicit in any financial losses that the parties suffered due to his investment choices and his failure to file tax returns between 2007 and 2011 because she put him in charge of the parties’ finances, without supervision, despite knowing of his long history of mental illness and financial failures. The court granted defendant pendente lite maintenance and counsel fees, noting that he has been unemployed for many years and is not the monied spouse.
