The property division process in divorce requires honesty. The courts expect both spouses to fully disclose their assets and financial obligations during litigated property division proceedings. However, some people intentionally hide assets or use marital income to acquire resources that they do not disclose to their spouses.
Some spouses build up secret collections of cash. Others might open hidden bank accounts. In recent years, there has been an explosion of spouses using digital assets, such as cryptocurrency, to hide income and wealth from their spouses during divorce.
Finding digital assets is not easy
Cryptocurrency holdings can be easy for people to hide, at least temporarily. There is no centralized bank tracking transfers of cryptocurrency. People generally need to be aware that a cryptocurrency wallet exists to validate the extent of its content. There are similar challenges associated with other digital resources, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Spouses who believe that there could be undisclosed digital assets acquired with diverted marital income likely need help from a specialist to locate and value any digital holdings hidden by their spouse. In cases where people successfully identify hidden assets and prove that disclosures during divorce were inaccurate, they can present evidence about that financial duplicity in court.
Judges may consider intentional attempts to manipulate the divorce outcome when deciding how to divide marital property and assign responsibility for marital debts. The greater the value of the hidden assets is, the larger the impact they may have on the final property division decree.
For those preparing for high-asset divorces, a financial review conducted by an experienced legal professional, perhaps with the help of a forensic accountant can help identify discrepancies in paperwork and hidden resources. Taking action before it is too late can help people ensure that property division is fair, despite the efforts of a spouse to manipulate the outcome.
