Think Your Spouse Is Hiding Assets From You? 3 Places To Look Before You File For Divorce
Posted on: 17 May 2017
If you're ready to file for divorce, you want to make sure that you receive everything you're entitled to in the divorce, which means the assets need to be divided properly. That can be hard to do if your spouse is hiding assets. While finding hidden assets can be difficult, it's not impossible. If you think your spouse is hiding assets, you need to start locating them as soon as possible. Here are three places you should look if you think your spouse is keeping assets from you.
Retirement Accounts
If your spouse has retirement accounts that have a cash value, and you're entitled to a portion of those benefits, your spouse may be dipping into the cash to reduce the amount you'll receive. As soon as you decide to file for divorce, make a copy of the most recent retirement account statements. Your attorney will be able to use that statement to identify discrepancies in the value when it comes time to divide the assets for your divorce settlement.
Delayed Reimbursements
If your spouse used to get reimbursed for work expenses on a regular basis, and now things seem to take longer – or reimbursement has stopped altogether – they may have requested a delay in the processing of their paperwork. Delaying reimbursement until after the divorce is settled will give your spouse a large payout that they won't be required to include in the settlement. Your spouse may also be receiving cash payouts for those reimbursable expenses. Before you file for divorce, go through their pay records. If you know your spouse had expenses that should have been reimbursed, look for those payments. If you don't find any record of those transactions, there's a good chance that they're holding on to them until after the divorce.
Business Income
If you and your spouse own a business, it's time to go over the financial records. This is particularly true if your spouse has informed you that the business has been losing money. There are numerous ways to make it look like a business is losing money, which will reduce the amount of assets that will be dividing between you and your spouse. First, look for checks that have been issued, but never cashed. While it's normal for a couple of checks to linger, a large number of lingering checks should be a red flag that your spouse is hiding assets. Second, look for payments to employees that you don't recognize. Your spouse could have phantom employees on the payroll to pad the amount of monthly expenses.
Don't take chances with your divorce settlement. If you suspect your spouse is hiding assets, speak to a divorce attorney as soon as possible.
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