Should you worry about hidden assets in your upcoming divorce?

It could take weeks for you to complete an inventory of your assets and figure out what might be fair in a divorce. Trying to split your property can be a very frustrating experience. It can be hard to place accurate values on certain assets, and the financial importance of an asset may be minimal compared to its emotional significance.

Dividing your property can be hard enough when you and your spouse agree to cooperate and be honest with one another. It is almost impossible to navigate property division and secure a fair outcome if one spouse tries to lie or hide assets. Do you have to worry about that in your upcoming divorce?

How well do you know the household finances?

Do you have access to income statements and tax returns so that you can quickly verify that the amounts deposited into your joint checking account every week actually reflect the salary that your spouse earns?

Are you able to say with certainty that your spouse wasn’t withdrawing small amounts of cash frequently or diverting money before the paycheck hit your account? Does the inventory that your spouse provided to you align with your memories about your marital financial circumstances?

If the answer to all three of those questions is not yes, you may have reason to worry about hidden assets.

Why hidden assets are such a serious concern

To fairly and reasonably split your property, you have to actually know how much you both earned and what property you acquired. If your spouse has hidden financial accounts or tried to hide physical assets from you, that could lead to a very unfair divorce outcome.

If you have reason to think that your spouse has hidden assets or secret bank accounts, a more in-depth review of your finances could help you locate that property and claim a portion of it. Locating all of your marital assets as a crucial component for fair property division in a pending divorce