When couples get divorced, they are supposed to split up their assets. Unfortunately, in a contentious divorce, one person may not be interested in doing this.
There are some tactics that people will use to try to skew asset division in their favor. In many cases, these tactics are illegal, but it is still important to watch out for them in case they happen.
Hiding assets
When someone hides assets, they are planning not to disclose them to the court, and they simply hope those assets will never be uncovered. For example, perhaps your spouse said that they recently remembered an old debt to a college friend. They then transferred $50,000 to that friend to pay off the debt.
But there was never any debt. Their friend is just going to hold the $50,000 until after the divorce. People will also stash money in a safe deposit box, create fraudulent expenses, transfer money into overseas accounts and much more.
Dissipating assets
The second tactic is dissipating assets, which is essentially wasting or squandering assets.
For example, perhaps you and your spouse have saved up $100,000 and you believe those savings need to be split in half. But your spouse earns far more money than you do, so they know they will be able to earn the $100,000 back much faster. As a result, they waste it all on frivolous purchases, trips, meals and entertainment in the month leading up to the divorce. They’re simply trying to spend the assets so that there’s nothing to split up – keeping you from the $50,000 you expected.
If you believe your spouse is utilizing one of these illegal tactics to manipulate property division, be sure you know what options you have.