Spartanburg Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Stevens-MacPhail Law Firm : South Carolina Family Law Serving Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head Island

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I have previously posted about the importance of finding hidden assets in a divorce case.  This topic is important enough to warrant another post.  Alan Pearlman gave the following tips on his  Chicago Family Law Blog to protect yourself from falling victim if you suspect that your spouse might be hiding assets:

• Make copies of financial documents such as tax returns, bank statements, and pay stubs
• Protect assets by setting up individual accounts that only you can access
• Have your attorney conduct formal discovery to help find assets that have been hidden by your spouse
• Hire a forensic accountant to aid in locating hidden assets, since they are trained to assess the value of investments or businesses, interpret and evaluate various financial records, and testify in Court about their findings
• Hire a private investigator, if necessary, to help discover or locate specific assets
• Understand the tactics which can be used to hide assets of a business:
  • Money from the business is paid to a family member or close friend for phony services, then returned to the spouse after the divorce
  • Salary checks are written to non-existent employees
  • Collusion with the spouse's employer to delay business contracts, raises, or bonuses until after the divorce
  • Skimming cash from a business owned by one spouse
  • Cash converted into traveler's checks
  • Payment of a non-existent debt to a family member or friend that will be repaid to the spouse after the divorce
  • Unreported income on tax returns and financial statements
  • Investing in certificate "bearer" bonds and/or Series EE Savings Bonds
  • Artwork, antiques or other property whose value is undervalued or overlooked
  • Rent, college tuition or gifts given to a girlfriend/boyfriend
  • An account set up under a child's Social Security number
  • Retirement account that the other spouse never knew about

Several of these options are expensive, but you and your attorney should discuss what is appropriate for your particular case.  For instance, it is typically not worth hiring a forensic accountant if the hidden asset in question is only worth a few thousand dollars at best.  However, you should also remember that it is always much easier to address the division of assets (and debts) at the time of the divorce rather than trying to reopen the case to do so later.

Source:  "Divorce and Hidden Assets" by Alan Pearlman, published at the Chicago Family Law Blog.