Is your spouse hiding assets?

If you’re moving toward a divorce, you may be worried that your spouse is going to try to hide assets that the two of you own together. You know that they don’t want to split these assets with you because they weren’t in favor of the divorce, to begin with.

First and foremost, it is illegal for your spouse to do this. But that doesn’t mean that people don’t try, so it’s important to know how they hide assets and where you can look for them. Here are a few common examples.

Creating fake expenses

If your spouse is a business owner, they may take the tactic of making up fake expenses or overinflating bills. This gives them a way to funnel money into their business in an attempt to keep it from appearing to be a marital asset.

Giving money away

Perhaps the simplest way that people do this is just by giving their money to someone else. They might come up with some sort of an excuse, like saying they forgot about the loan they made their brother or that their best friend has a business idea and needs start-up cash. But the real goal is just to give the money to that person until after the divorce when that individual will give it back.

Using a safe deposit box

In some cases, especially with smaller amounts of assets, people will just make ATM withdrawals and put the money in a safe deposit box. If someone has been thinking about this for a long time, they could have been taking ATM withdrawals every time they went to the grocery store for months or even years, accumulating a substantial amount.

These are just three examples, but make sure you know exactly what legal steps to take if you think your spouse is hiding assets.