gavra wrote: “For joint assets such as bank accounts, etc. just her threat to withhold permission to divide Al Pi Halacha (and go through secular court) might be enough, via the din of Ei Shaskis. I am not a Dayan, so someone who knows more about it could elucidate more.”
im not proficient with ei shaskis, so perhaps you can fill that in. nevertheless, for her to threaten to violate halacha through seizing the joint account via the secular court, wouldnt be much different than someone threatening to rob the house of someone on an extended trip overseas unless he signed the dotted lines agreeing to x, y, and z. it’s halachic theft in either case. a wife cannot, even while happily married, make a donation to tzedaka (tzedaka no less!) if her husband doesnt allow her to (s”a 248:4)! so here were she is sure he doesnt allow her to take the money, surely it is theft.
gavra wrote: “One can usually find an opinion that agrees with what you want, if you look hard enough.”
if this point were correct, it would effectively mean you can negate repaying almost anyone in any dispute if you have possession (muchzak). that would seem to border on the preposterous. also, doesnt relying on an opinion for kim li need to be a rishon or achron (not just any rabbi in the phone book)?
charliehall wrote: “That is a problem in community property jurisdictions. Basically, the husband has no right whatsoever to half his earnings from the very day they are earned. They aren’t his, they never were his, he never established a kinyan.”
two points: a) community property jurisdictions (in secular law) mean it is joint ownership, where each party has 100% ownership of it and right to use it. (not 50% each.) so if he earns $1000 a week at work, he (and she) owns the full $1000; not just $500. so he made a “kinyan” on the full funds and he has full rights to the full funds. b) even if i were wrong about point a, and that were not the case, he (and not she) made a full kinyan halachicly and is the owner exclusively, for the halachic reasons as discussed by the op and throughout the thread. (as she cannot halachicly make a kinyan; it is only his to make the kinyan on.)