When going through divorce, no one needs more stress added to their plate. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens when a spouse decides to hide assets.
In order to prevent a spouse from getting away with this, it is important to know what sort of red flags to look out for and what methods of asset hiding a person may try to use.
Forgotten assets
According to Forbes, some assets are more easily overlooked than others. For example, many people will forget about airline mileage or country club memberships when they are trying to itemize every source of income they have.
In some situations, a spouse may try to passively hide assets by targeting these easily overlooked assets and obscuring their existence. Sometimes, they may simply refuse to remind their partner that these assets exist and hide them in that way.
Active asset hiding
But many people will opt for more direct methods. For example, it is common for people to hide assets via asset transfer. In this situation, someone will “transfer” their money – one asset – into an expensive item like a television, car or piece of fine art. They intend to sell or return this item after the divorce gets finalized.
Others will even rope other people into their schemes. It is not uncommon for a person to say they must repay a debt, only from the apparent debt collector to be in on it. They will hold onto the cash until the divorce ends and then give it back, sometimes for a fee.
Any form of asset hiding is illegal, so it is important to take quick action when noticing red flags.