Signals that your spouse is hiding assets in a divorce

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Starting to notice changes? Tend to be you worried that your husband is hiding money before divorce? Stressed about whether your wife is hiding assets? Needless to say, divorces are aggravating. Not only splitting from someone emotionally but also financially can take its toll on everybody. But as unfortunate as it is, men and women will take advantage of their spouse in this vulnerable time.
 
One of the most significant issues people run into during a divorce is dividing up their assets -- particularly when one seems to be hiding theirs. Unsurprisingly it’s very typical for spouses to in fact conceal money and assets prior to and during the course of a divorce.
 
Hiding assets to prevent sharing fairly during the course of divorce is a dishonest and unlawful practice, frequently found all over the world.
 
Does your spouse get defensive when you question them about their finances? Are you finding ATM receipts for accounts you are not familiar with? Are large withdrawals being made from your joint account without discussion? These might be signs that your spouse is up to something.
 
Your possessions may consist of your matrimonial home (primary residence), holiday home, financial investments, bank accounts, savings, shares, your retirement funds, pension plans, cash value on life insurance, a professional practice, a business and much more. Instead of depending on your spouse’s honesty or putting your trust in fair and just conduct of legal advisors, wise up and look out for these tell-tale signs and strategies:
 
The main objectives of concealing assets in a divorce are to:

• Not declare them at all, depreciate assets or conceal the extent thereof.
• Overstate debts to announce insolvency.
• Document revenue (income) to be less than it really is.
• Claim expenditures to be greater than they truly are.

 
 The most predictable tactics during divorce are:

• Secretly trying to hide unrecorded cash.
• Implementing complex accounting schemes to covertly extract recorded cash.
• Engaging a co-conspirator to manipulate the timing of revenue (income) or accounts receivable (invoicing creditors).
• Moving ownership of assets to family or friends, to hold until the divorce is final.
• Lying under oath.

 
Here are some of the oldest tricks in the book:
 
Accounting:

• Eliminate financial accounting programmes.
• Maintain that a computer containing crucial financial records has mysteriously crashed. Eliminate the hard-drive to attempt recovery of the data but fail to do so.
• Befriend a financial advisor and go “out of town on business” (to set up remote schemes).

 
Assets:

• Report an extraordinary decline in the value of marital and/or business assets & investments to dissuade suspicion.
• Transfer assets to family or friends (to be reversed after the divorce).
• Sell assets to family or friends posing as independent buyers (to share profits after the divorce).

 
Banking:

• Preserve or obtain total control of bank accounts, banking information and passwords.
• Open several personal or business bank accounts to shift funds.
• Set up bank accounts in the name of a child or friend to hide funds.

 
 Business:

• Fail to reimburse expenses which are for business purposes (postpone till after the divorce).
• Overpay creditors or pre-pay suppliers (which can be refunded after the divorce).
• Add family or friends to the payroll or pay them for “consulting services” (to be paid back to you later).
• Hold off signing of new contracts which would increase income.

 
Expenses:

• Make abnormally expensive purchases, such as, recreational toys, cars etc. (which can be sold again).
• Buy art or collectors' items (to be sold again at a later stage).
• Obtain multiple cell phones or numbers in a short period of time (to hide interactions and dealings).
• Make large amounts of drawings on debt (to enhance liabilities and stash the cash).
• Take cash withdrawals on debit cards (they show on statements).
• Pay debt to family and friends (only to be paid back after the divorce)

 
Income:

• Suffer a mysterious decrease in income but keep the expenses the same.
• Abstain from receiving commissions or bonuses (postpone until after the divorce).
• Turn down a promotion (to be back-dated and paid after the divorce).

 
Legal:

• Pressurize your spouse to sign legal documents in a hurry without studying them thoroughly.
• Propose mutual power of attorney for the purpose of estate planning (to gain control).
• Establish ways to transfer funds to countries with less stringent monetary laws.

 
Personal:

• Complain about money or debt to avoid later suspicions.
• Be vague or deceptive about financial affairs.
• Accept accounts and statements at a private postal box or mailing address.
• Maintain the sudden failure of a business.
• Claim entitlement beforehand.
• If you gamble frequently, place money on account at casinos.

 
Tax:

• Submit false under-reported tax returns.
• Overpay the tax authorities (to be refunded after the divorce).

 
How do you counter all of this if you cannot afford an expensive legal and financial team?

• Build a clear picture of your standard of living during the marriage, at least a period of two years before the breakdown of the relationship.
• Review those living expenses and tie them up with all known sources of income, assets and loans.
• Compare them with the current sources of income, assets and loans declared by your spouse. Any discrepancies revealed, is a sure sign of concealed income and/or assets.

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