Hidden Assets In The Divorce Process
People in the midst of a divorce are bitter. This is completely understandable and is perhaps the most natural way to approach such a terrible situation. When in this state of mind, and when trying to secure the best future for themselves (and perhaps their children, too), people may be tempted to hide their assets.
Rationale
The rationale behind hiding assets from their spouses is that, if they don’t know about it, then they – and the divorce courts – cannot have a piece of it. They may see these assets as being rightfully theirs, or they may just be greedy about keeping it all for themselves. The rationale might be a fear of not having enough once the divorce is finished to be able to support themselves or their children.
Whatever the rationale behind hiding assets from their spouses – and from the divorce process and its administrators – the idea is a very bad one. Not only is hiding assets illegal, but it simply doesn’t lend itself to an equitable split. We are not trying to judge people or to arbitrate on situations that we don’t know anything about, but these are purely the facts on a logical level.
Tell Your Divorce Attorney
Being absolutely honest with your divorce attorney is without a doubt the best policy. On the other side of the coin, if you suspect your ex-spouse is lying – or asset hiding – then tell your divorce attorney immediately. Something can be done, whether it is now, or whether the behaviour is used as a bargaining chip later in the divorce process. Remember: you know your spouse better than anyone, so it is largely up to you to ‘blow the whistle’ on such behaviour.
Know What Assets You Have
In order to be aware of the potential problem of asset hiding, you need to be fully informed about the assets; if you don’t have the full picture then you simply can’t expect to be able to expect when something untoward occurs.
Compilation of documents before divorce starts may be one option open to you. Think bank statements, checks, receipts pension or 401k statements, bills, and anything else you can think of. Records of any real estate you own should be easy to find (but it’s unlikely that your spouse can attempt to hide the value of your house from the courts: it’s simply too obvious).
If you do not have access to your financial documentation then you might want to try to contact the IRS. At the very least you can obtain any tax returns that you have signed in the past. Remember to have these things mailed to a different address so that you spouse is not aware that you are collecting this information.
Check the transfers out of your bank accounts, and see if your spouse is not transferring money to a private account that you are not aware of. Likewise check that they are not transferring money to someone else with the idea that they will hold on to it for the duration of the divorce.
Valuables
Catalog all the valuables in your house. Make a list of all vehicles, antiques, jewelery, art, or anything else of value. If you have any appraisals of the value of these things then that’s great! Make copies of these, too. Unfortunately it is not that uncommon for people to try to hide items of value once a divorce starts. If there is no record then there is no way for you to prove what was originally there.
Once you’ve collected all this information, give it to your divorce attorney. It might seem like all this sneaking around is tantamount to spying, but remember that the only reason you were driven to this is that your spouse was attempting to hide things from you!
Your divorce attorney can subpoena records if he or she knows something is amiss. Give your advocate this chance by providing the absolute best basis you can.
