The last days of a marriage are often laden with anxiety, distrust and deeply hurt feelings. But typically such emotions are the culmination of many years of personal issues. And perhaps when you reflect on how your relationship deteriorated you may be able to identify specific moments when things changed. You may also recognize certain behaviors exhibited by your spouse that indicated that something was not quite right.
Perhaps, during the course of your marriage, you and your spouse were fortunate enough to accrue a high volume of valuable financial assets. If so, it is possible that as your relationship began to fray, your spouse started parking assets out of your sight and reach.
So, if you are approaching a divorce, you might want to search your memory and try to recall if your spouse has acted in ways that might indicate that he or she is withholding assets. There are many clues that this could be the case. Here are a few questions you may want to ponder:
- Has your spouse traveled to countries where the banking laws are more relaxed?
- Did your spouse ever make unusual purchases of items, such as works of art or toys, which could easily be resold?
- Did he or she take trips with a recently acquired and somewhat suspicious financial advisor?
- Did your spouse ever act secretively regarding financial matters?
These are just a few indicators that your spouse may have hidden assets. There are many more behaviors that could be linked to attempts to cheat you out of your fair share of a settlement.
It is imperative that all marital property and assets be part of the divorce process, and an experienced family law attorney understands how to locate hidden assets. By applying forensic accounting techniques and other investigative methods, an attorney can work to help you get an agreeable settlement.