Jim acknowledges that he failed his partner by hiding his debt and spending habits due to embarrassment and a desire to maintain the role of a provider.

“I knew that I had failed utterly I was in debt an incredible amount and didn't know if I was going to be able to claw my way back out of it”

Dana feels deeply betrayed by the secret accumulation of significant debt and equates this behavior to a breach of marital trust similar to an affair.

“I kept thinking where's $77,000 I don't see what we got for that and he was unable to tell me how it was spent I was Furious that whole concept of financial infidelity like you've hidden 77,000 and you come to me now but I tried to be calm in a moment because it's a problem and it had to be fixed”

Financial infidelity in a marriage can be sufficient grounds for divorce because it involves betraying trust and negatively impacting the welfare of the children.

“Financial infidelity would be a dealbreaker for many otherwise rocksolid relationships. This is a giant hole that may be hard to recover from, but it can be done. Honestly, that was a really good response. It was a really good response. Honestly, she has a point. Financial infidelity is a thing. If ”