Getting a divorce is rarely anyone’s idea of an enjoyable experience. Even if California residents are ready to end their unhappy marriages and move on with their lives, the legal process of ending the relationship can be difficult and tedious at times. You may have various concerns about what your case will entail, but specifically, you want to do whatever possible to ensure that your wealth does not take an unnecessary hit.
Whether you earned the majority of the income for the household or you and your spouse both had well-paying jobs, you do not want anything valuable walking away during the divorce to which you could have a rightful claim. As a result, you may want to remain cautious about whether your spouse has hidden any assets.
Hiding assets happens
Divorce affects each person differently, and worrying about future finances is certainly understandable. However, you and your spouse have an obligation to be upfront with each other and the court in order to proceed properly. If your spouse has financial concerns and thinks about hiding assets, you could end up missing out on something valuable, and your spouse is putting him- or herself in a tricky spot by taking such action, which is against the law.
If you suspect your spouse of trying to hide assets, you may want to determine whether any of the following red flags exist:
- Your spouse suddenly has much more debt, which could be false debt accrued in an attempt to retain funds.
- Your spouse denies that a specific asset exists.
- Your spouse claims that he or she lost a specific asset.
- Your spouse starts making gifts of marital assets or funds to other parties, which he or she would then take back after the divorce.
- Your spouse’s tax returns have questionable information. For example, deductions may reveal property you did not know existed, and capital gains and losses could show the appearance or disappearance of assets.
You may consider yourself a financially savvy person, which is why you were able to accumulate your wealth. As a result, you likely understand just how detrimental your spouse hiding assets could be to your divorce case.
Finding those assets
Fortunately, ways exist for discovering hidden assets, and if the court determines that your soon-to-be ex-spouse did carry out such actions, he or she could face serious repercussions. It is wise to discuss the possibility of hidden assets and other financial concerns with an experienced attorney to ensure that you are prepared for your asset division proceedings.