Financial abuse and the divorce process

I’m in my late 60s and I’ve been married to my husband for over 40 years. He’s been abusive the entire time – mentally, emotionally, financially.

Recently he filed for divorce and has predictably been trying to take away as much from me as possible by cheating the system. There’s a lot of gray area in our finances because he runs a small business and we own our home plus a small rental property which he’s managed. Everything we own is community property.

Since the day we got married, he has demanded that I handover my paycheck and has controlled all of our finances. He’s even made up an email address with my name to do online bill pay for my credit cards. I can’t even get into my own accounts because of this because they’re already registered to another email that I don’t have access to.

Every single legal document that I’ve ever signed has been him shoving it in my face and yelling at me until I sign it, and making it extra terrible if I asked any questions. He made me give him every receipt and he’s berated me if there’s ever an expense that he doesn’t think is necessary.

As I was reading the pieces about financial abuse, it checked every single box in my marriage.

Yes, I am currently looking for a lawyer who specializes in DV cases, which is a lot harder to find than you would think. but want to educate myself and hear examples from others.

Has anyone had a divorce that includes elements of financial abuse? Can you share with me anything about it?