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Divorce and Hidden Assets
Not surprisingly, assets
are often hidden in a divorce situation. Why - well simply greed, or
the
feelings of betrayal or anger at the need to divide assets in the
divorce, or
the fear of not having enough after the divorce all motivate the
behavior of
hiding assets.
In divorce, the parties assets are divided. Under the divorce laws of
some
states they are divided equally and under the divorce laws of other
states,
they are divided "equitably" or fairly. Equitably often means equally
to overworked divorce judges.
There is no way to know in advance if your spouse has or will hide
assets in a
divorce. You know your spouse better than your divorce attorney will
and you
will need to alert your attorney to the possibility of your psouse
hiding
assets. Before you get to that point, however, there are some easy
steps to
take to prevent your spouse from being able to hide assets. Those steps
include
finding out everything you can about your assets before divorce.
Before you alert your spouse that you are considering divorce, you need
to
complile and/or stockpile documentation about all of your assets. If
you do not
have knowledge of your marital assets, it is time to find out what is
there. If
bank and other statements come to the house, open them and write down
account
numbers and balances.
If you have access to the cancelled checks, copy those as well. It is
not unusual
for a spouse who is planning a divorce to transfer money to friends or
relatives with the plan being that they will give that money back after
a
divorce is finalized. So, you should review those records and carefully
scrutinize all large or suspicious transfers that take place in the two
or
three years prior to or just after the filing of a divorce action.
Make sure that you know where the copies of your income tax statements
are. If
your spouse has a business, make sure you have a copy of several years
of tax
returns for that business. All of these documents can be copied and
hidden
safely somewhere outsided of the house in the event that you need them.
Taking
these simple pre-emptive steps can mean the difference in obtaining a
fair
settlement in divorce. It will also be incredibly helpful to your
divorce
attorney to have this information in advance.
If banking and other statements and financial records are not kept at
or mailed
to your house, you will need to obtain those records in other ways. You
can
contact the IRS to obtain copies of any tax returns that you signed.
Request
copies of those returns and have them mailed to a different address -
either a
friend or relative or your divorce atttorney. If there are returns that
you
have not signed, such as business tax records, you will not be able to
obtain
copies of those returns from the IRS. If you have access to your
spouse's place
of business, you may be able to find those tax returns there. If you
are
worried about your spouse hiding assets in a divorce, you really do
need to
find those returns and make copies of them - for as many years as
possible.
If you have valuables, antiques, jewelry, art or other collectibles in
your
home, catalog all of them and if you have appraisals, make copies. It
is not
unusual for those items to disappear or even to be pawned by a spouse
in need
of more funds.
If you suspect that your spouse has engaged in some divorce planning
and is
hiding assets, let your divorce attorney know. Ask your divorce
attorney to
subpoena records from any other idividual or entity who could be
involved in
assisting your spouse in hiding those assets. If need be, your attorney
can use
the services of an investigator to help to obtain financial records
that have
been withheld.
Article
Source: http://www.articleset.com
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DIVORCE AND HIDDEN ASSETS