As you move toward a divorce, you may have heard that spouses will sometimes try to hide assets. They do this because those assets are supposed to be divided between both individuals. Hiding the assets means they get to keep 100%, even though it’s fraudulent and illegal.
You may find yourself wondering how your spouse will go about doing this so that you can know what types of red flags you should watch out for. Below are a few things to consider.
Forgetting about accounts
One of the most common ways that people do this is by claiming that they simply “forgot” about different accounts that they had. Maybe your spouse recently invested in the stock market. If they declare the contents of their bank accounts but “forget” to declare their investments, they could be trying to hide those assets.
Buying cryptocurrency
Other tactic people use is to open accounts that they feel that their spouse may not know very much about. One way that they’ve done this recently is by investing in cryptocurrency. This is a volatile and unregulated market, which can make it more enticing to those who are trying to hide assets.
Giving them to friends
Finally, people will often give assets to friends and family members. They could have an unspoken agreement in place where that person will give them the money back after the divorce. This tactic for hiding assets simply means transferring them into someone else’s name with the intent of committing fraud.
If you believe your spouse is going to do any of this, it is critical that you know what legal steps to take to protect the assets that you deserve.
