It looks like he lives in Virginia.

I agree; I feel like you need to seek legal advice on this matter, though I've never been married, so I don't know how or what type (anyone who has been through the legal system care to weigh in?)

It sounds like her family wanted to marry her off to pay off her debt, and that they are all just plain dysfunctional. I would assume that the dysfunction started with the parents, and trickled down to the kids (your wife, her sister), and that this is the only way they know how to handle life and relationships. I'm sorry that they accuse you of abuse, and I know that, culturally, divorce is unacceptable. However, staying in a marriage like this is not doing either of you any good, and in my opinion, the concept of "staying for the children" is flawed. Children see the dysfunction. I feel it is better for children for a marriage that is completely broken to be dissolved than for the parents to stick it out and make the kids live through the brokenness of that.