Divorce FAQ

One of the most common dirty divorce tactics people use is to hide assets from their wives to avoid an equitable division of property during the proceedings. Some people do this during the divorce, some people do this in the years leading to the divorce, which makes it harder (but not invisible) to trace.

Finding hidden money in a divorce should be one of the top priorities of couples, especially since it would be harder to prove this after the divorce has been finalized.

Here are some tips to help you beat this dirty divorce tactic:

1. Look for irregularities - There are several ways to do this. You can look through copies of old bank statements (or request them from the bank for a small fee, which is perfectly legal) and try to look through the transactions. Look for checks written to pay for a financial advisor or accountant which you are not aware of. You can even get copies of your old tax returns to see a breakdown of assets. You can also request credit card statements to check if there are overpayments made on the account, which is one way of hiding money in a divorce proceeding.

2. Check your bank accounts closely - If you have joint accounts, check whether if they are still joint accounts or whether they have been reverted back to individual accounts. Look for ATM withdrawals that were made outside the local area. People are creatures of habit, especially when it comes to their finances. Looking at interruptions to the pattern can signify that there might be something worth looking closely at.

3. Request a credit report - This is another good way to check if there are any new loans taken out or for any signs of irregular financial activities. For some people, this may even reveal particularly unsavory information such as the fact that their spouse may have used his/her information to take out a loan without his/her knowledge, or applied for a new line of credit which he/she does not know about.

4. Check for deferred salary, bonuses, or commissions - As long as you are still married to your spouse, it's not considered illegal to ask for financial records from your spouse's employer. Some people use a dirty divorce tactic of deferring their salary during the divorce so that they can get it after the divorce is finalized. Doing this will make sure they enjoy the entire amount by themselves, without needing to subject it to property division.

5. Hire a forensic attorney - If you can see that your spouse may be hiding assets from you but you have no means or knowledge to track this down in a way that can stand up in court, you can hire a forensic attorney to help you.

The key to a fair property division is laying all the information out on the table. One cannot expect the divorce court to divide assets it is not aware exists during the divorce proceedings. It's important to be proactive about this before the divorce is finalized rather than just react to what you think is an unfair property division.