Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets From You?
Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets From You?
Common ways a spouse may undervalue or disguise marital 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. Is your spouse hiding something? Read on and find out!
Common ways in which a spouse may undervalue or disguise marital assets/income include:
- Antiques, artwork, hobby equipment, gun collections, and tools that are overlooked or undervalued. Of we find these hidden in safe deposit boxes or buried in boxes in attics or basements.
- Income that is unreported on tax returns and financial statements. This is especially true if the person receives frequent cash gifts or is paid in cash for services or goods sold.
- Cash kept in the form of travelers' checks. You may be able to find these by tracing bank account deposits and withdrawals.
- A custodial account set up in the name of a child, using the child's Social Security number.
- Investment in certificate "bearer" municipal bonds or Series EE Savings Bonds. These do not appear on account statements because they are not registered with the IRS. (The government is phasing out these bonds, realizing that it is losing a lot of money.)
- Collusion with an employer to delay bonuses, stock options, or raises until a time when the asset or income would be considered separate property.
- Debt repayment to a friend for a phony debt.
- Offering phony loans to relatives or friends that are to be repaid after the divorce.
- Expenses paid for a girlfriend or boyfriend, such as gifts, travel, rent, or tuition for college or classes.
If the spouse has a business, the opportunity to hide assets and income is magnified a thousand fold:
- Skimming cash from the business.
- Using the business to pay for personal expenses to reduce their take home pay.
- Salary payments to a nonexistent employee, with checks that will be voided after the divorce.
- Money paid from the business to someone close — such as a father, mother, girlfriend, or boyfriend — for services that were never actually rendered (the money is given back to the deceitful spouse after the divorce is final).
- A delay in signing long-term business contracts until after the divorce. Although this may seem like smart planning, if the intent is to lower the value of the business and or income it is considered hiding assets.
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