What to do if your spouse is hiding assets during a divorce
Is your spouse hiding assets? Or better put, is your soon-to-be ex-spouse hiding assets in the middle of your divorce?
What is hiding assets in a divorce?
Well, there’s a number of examples we can give you.
Deeding property to relatives:
Occasionally, a soon to be ex-partner may stealthily transfer valuable assets, like real estate or even entire businesses, to another person, entity, or unbreakable trust – all without their spouse’s knowledge or agreement. It’s not always a shock to our attorneys when we see a spouse that’s seeking divorce and, during the legal process, uncovers this hidden web of deception. If this activity was done to keep assets from a rightful marital claim, the courts can take action and we can be there to guide you.
Taking out large amounts of cash
There’s a lot of factors to consider when this action is taken by a spouse. Colorado is not a community property state, meaning that all of the marital property isn’t split 50/50. So, a spouse can have a claim at taking out large amounts of cash from a bank account. However, if they did this to clearly spite the other party or to waste the money, not for example to pay for the divorce, then there could be action taken.
Overpaying the IRS
Those looking to keep a larger portion of their assets after divorce may not always play by the rules. One strategy is overpaying already due debts, such as taxes or credit card bills. Some people conveniently “forget” about the reimbursement check and retain more wealth when all’s said and done – taking advantage of slower moving bureaucracies before making it official in court. This can even happen when a spouse overpays taxes to the IRS so that they gets a big refund after the divorce is final.
It’s Illegal to Hide Assets During A Divorce
Why would someone hide assets during a divorce or in anticipation of a divorce? Well, they would do it for one reason only, they don’t want to divide those assets with you, and it’s illegal to do that.
So if you suspect this is going on, give us a call. We have ways to do tracing and to find out what happened if you suspect this is going on. We can discover the truth for you and you don’t have to be worried about it.
