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How to be sure if your spouse is hiding assets or not

Thu 2 May, 2019 / by / Divorce

If you and your spouse are getting a divorce you may assume that distrust comes with the territory. While this may be true, sometimes your distrust may be warranted.

Sometimes a spouse will try to hide assets during divorce. If this is occurring in your divorce, you may not receive your fair share of the marital assets unless those assets are uncovered.

How someone may try to hide assets

There are several ways your spouse could be hiding assets. Some common ways people have tried to hide assets, include:

  • Purchasing an expensive item and underreporting its value
  • Delaying bonuses or raises
  • Underreporting income
  • Transferring the asset to a trusted person
  • Creating fake debt
  • Claiming an asset was lost
  • Overpaying taxes or bills

How to uncover hidden assets

If your spouse is defensive about money, received a sudden decrease in salary or is no longer having financial statements mailed to the house, you may need to take a closer look at your marital finances. A good first step is to comb through your family’s financial documents looking for anything that seems unusual.

Tax returns and mortgage closing documents can be especially helpful. However, you should also look through your family’s safes, safe deposit boxes and other hiding places to be sure no assets or important documents are being stored there.

You and your divorce team can also carefully inspect your spouse’s voluntary disclosures and make formal requests for additional information. You or your divorce team can also ask about finances during a deposition, which is a sworn testimony in front of a court reporter.

Unfortunately, if you suspect your spouse is hiding assets, that may very well be the case. By uncovering hidden assets, you can have peace of mind knowing you received your fair share of the marital property.