article: But such habits can build into controlling behaviours, which leave you in fear every time you open your wallet. Financial abuse, as it is called, can involve your partner spending your jointly-earned money, taking out loans in your name, making you pay the utility bills, or scrutinising every penny you spend. Worse, it can be the fore-runner of even more serious emotional, or physical, abuse. While the vast majority of victims are women, men too can be vulnerable, particularly if they have disabilities. New laws are on their way to try to stop coercive behaviour, including in financial matters, but no one yet knows how effective they will be. So how bad can financial abuse get, and can you detect it at an early stage? Many people have to budget carefully, but Jane (not her real name and age) became the victim of obsessive financial control. She says her former husband - and his mother too - would inspect the fridge to find out whether the milk had been bought in Waitrose, rather than Lidl. "I would find myself in the shop, thinking this liquid hand soap is 70p in Sainsbury's, but I can get some for 40p in Superdrug - but Superdrug is down the road. The logical thing was to buy the one in Sainsbury's, but I knew my husband and mother-in-law would pull me up." All financial decisions - from holidays to furniture - were taken by her husband. "He chose my car. On one occasion, as we were driving away from my parents' house, he shouted out of the window: 'She got to choose the colour.' It was very derogatory." When her husband began to withdraw large sums of money from their joint account to spend on motor bikes, she tried to warn the bank. Eventually her husband used up all their savings, and was declared bankrupt. Jane inherited the debts, and over Â£4,000 of arrears on the mortgage. She now lives with her five year-old daughter in her parents' house. Due to her poor credit rating, she will not be able to get a mortgage - or rent a private flat - for at least six years. A recent report for the TUC and the charity Women's Aid - called Unequal Trapped and Controlled - found that financial abuse was often the first sign of further emotional or domestic abuse. The authors of that report, Marilyn Howard and Amy Skipp, say the ten most frequent signs to look out for are a partner who: Under the Serious Crime Act - which has received royal assent, and which will be implemented later this year - coercive and controlling behaviour between partners will become illegal for the first time. Section 76 of the Act allows for a maximum prison sentence of five years, where someone's behaviour causes alarm or serious distress to their partner. This can include financial abuse. As a result, the Police will be given training in how to spot instances of coercive control. Polly Neate, the chief executive of Women's Aid, believes the law will encourage
summary: It can start innocently enough: Perhaps your partner asks to see a receipt for the supermarket shop, or explains that he or she opened your bank statement by mistake.