In recent years, divorces continue to rise for almost every age group in the country. Along with that, the rate of spouses attempting to hide assets has also seen a significant increase, especially in younger and more well-off couples.
How can you tell if your spouse is hiding assets during the divorce process? Fortunately, there are several red flags you can look for.
Who hides assets?
Forbes takes a look at the possibility of asset hiding during divorces. This is more common among younger couples due to a lack of financial savviness, i.e. the partner hiding assets thinks they can get away with it. It is also common among couples with high-net worth due to the fact that some people do not believe their soon-to-be-ex would bother looking through every single thing with a fine-toothed comb.
Potential red flags
You may want to look into the possibility of your spouse hiding assets if they exhibit some of the following red flags, though. First, do they seem furtive about sharing financial information with you? This can include anything as innocuous as receipts, all the way up to their bank statements. Next, do they have an area that only they have access to where they could store physical cash, like an office or lock box?
Do they run a business? If so, do you have suspicions that any of their so-called employees might actually not exist? This is a common tactic used to funnel money back into a business owner’s personal account while evading asset division. Finally, are they heavily involved in online currency, digital currency, trading or stocks? It is hard to validate money in these arenas, so you may need to hire a forensic financial analyst to take a look for you.