Why TORI SPELLING and DEAN MCDERMOTT are trapped in their marriage.

couples drama fights — troubled couple Mounting debt and blowout hit a sad new low Tori Spelling and Dean Mcdermott

Neighbors in Tori Spelling and Dean Mcdermott’s gated community knew the couple was having trouble. “Their loud arguments can be heard down the street,” says a source. “Tori’s yelling and hysterical crying is unmistakable.” But in recent weeks, things took a dramatic turn for the worse: Police were called to the actors-turned-reality stars’ rental home in LA’S Woodland Hills neighborhood, two days in a row — first when Tori thought she heard a burglar on Feb. 28 (it was Dean returning to the home), and again when a “female mental illness” situation arose around 7 a.m. the next day, leading to speculation that Tori had snapped.

The nearly 12-year marriage is beyond repair, some friends believe. “She loves him and has always tried to keep the relationship together, but she’s at the end of her rope,” the source tells Life & Style. Tori, 44, and Dean, 51, “are at each other’s throats over so many issues — everything from their dire financial situation to neither of them having a steady job to not being able to adequately support their five children.” The marriage, which was already tested in 2014 after Dean confessed he’d cheated on Tori, is now so strained, a few pals have suggested the constantly warring couple should split. But there’s one major obstacle: Tori and Dean, says the source, “are too broke to divorce.”

FINANCIAL WOES

Breakups, especially in Hollywood, are expensive. And Tori and Dean don’t have money to spare. “Tori’s uncontrollable spending and their inability to bring in a regular income have put them in the worst money crunch of their lives, especially with five hungry mouths to feed,” the source says, referring to kids Liam, 10, Stella, 9, Hattie, 6, Finn, 5, and Beau, 1. In the past few years, they’ve been sued by American Express for almost $90,000 in credit card bills and by City National Bank for nearly $ 200,000 in unpaid loan costs. The IRS hit them with a $700,000 back-taxes bill and Dean reportedly was almost jailed for failing to fork over more than $100,000 in past-due child support for his son with ex-wife Mary Jo Eustace. “They were living paycheck to paycheck, but the paychecks have stopped coming in,” says the source. (Their last reality show together, True Tori, wrapped in 2014). “Tori has begged and borrowed money from her mom [see box], but it’s not enough to keep the family afloat.”

Splitting up would mean paying more bills — and each other. A celebrity divorce can cost $250,000 just for lawyers’ fees, custody evaluators and forensic accounting, explains family law attorney Goldie Schon, who doesn’t represent the couple, “and once the fighting and litigation starts, it can go up exponentially.”

TRAPPED TOGETHER

So for now, they feel they have no choice but to stay together. “Friends have told Tori that much of the burden and angst she feels would go away if she left Dean, and Dean would have far less stress if they were to split,” explains the source. “It’s a sad irony: They’re being pulled apart by money, but money’s the reason they can’t split up.”