Properties and Finances

Dividing property is one of the messier aspects of divorce that ex-couples have to go through. Sifting through hidden assets can be quite tricky because there are a number of ways for people to be able to hide their assets from their spouses and make dividing them a bit harder. Here are just a few things that people can do to hide or undervalue assets: 

• Income that's not declared in the financial statements.
• Paying an arranged debt to a friend. Some people arrange with friends to cook up a debt that really doesn't exist only to have the money returned after the divorce.
• Secret retirement plans that your spouse took out without telling you.
• Paying out ghost employees. Some business owners set up phony employee accounts and write checks dated to be encashed after the divorce. As soon as the divorce is finalized, they stop the payment of the checks by voiding them. Thus, the funds go back to the bank account when their assets are already considered separate.
• Artwork, antiques, expensive collections and similar articles that have value but are easy to overlook.
• Cash that are in the form of traveller's checks.
• Conniving with a boss to withhold raise, bonuses, and the likes until the divorce is finalized and your assets are considered separate.

Some hidden assets are relatively easy to spot, like artwork, antiques, and expensive collections. All you need to do is find the collections themselves and have the value appraised. Traveller's checks could be traced by tracking down the bank deposits and withdrawals. However, most of the time you'll really need to hire a professional to really track and prove the existence of these hidden assets. It is also possible that litigation may help you discover these things. For example, you can use clues you find in the legal interviews of your spouse's employer to assess if you're not seeing all the assets you should be seeing.

Hiring a professional such as a forensic accountant can be very useful. These people are trained to look for and gather useful, usable evidence that will help you determine and prove the existence of these hidden assets.

Divorces are very hard to go through emotionally, but it could also be quite a financial burden on you too. It would probably help a lot if you are looking forward to an equitable division of properties after going through the divorce process.

Read more articles about dividing property and finances during divorce.