One hallmark of a domestic abusers is that they rarely stop and only escalate their abuse. This is why victims are always advised to find a way to get out of the relationship as soon as humanly possible. But, just because you found your bravery to get out does not mean that your abuser will not still try to find ways to continue their abuse.
Freezing cash and credit
The first thing that abusers normally do is freeze, cancel or take you off of all of your shared cash and credit accounts, and they may even attempt to do the same to your personal accounts, if you have any. The goal, of course, is to make your desperate.
Taking out loans and additional credit
Even worse is that they may take out additional loans and credit in your name. Their goal? To bring your credit score down as much as possible. They may stop paying bills that have your name or Social Security Number attached, which will further reduce your credit score. And, since many, if not all, of those bills are sent to the home that you no longer live at, you may not even know they are doing this until it has already hit your credit.
They may use the children as pawns as well
If you have a shared custody arrangement, an abuser may use your children as pawns. This may be true even if they have never done anything to the children before. This can take the form of promising them things that they never intended to buy, signing them up for activities without paying for them upfront, or just “misplacing” items that you are then forced to buy again. The point is to continue the abuse against you.
You can fight back
Your exit strategy should be designed, preferably, with the help of your attorney. They can help you file a protective order and protect your accounts. This may require some clandestine planning and execution, but you want to take as much power out of the hands of your abuser as possible. In addition, it may require asking for specific orders to protect your financial wellbeing.