When a Texas couple divorces, there are sometimes issues that go beyond a simple property division and which spouse will get what. Of course, there might be children involved and that can take an emotional toll on the couple if both are seeking as much time with them as possible. If it is a high asset divorce, there could be other issues such as prenuptial agreements and the accusation of assets being hidden. It’s important to know strategies for finding those assets so there can be an equitable distribution of them.
Tax returns are a fertile ground to find irregularities. It’s important to study them to see how much interest is reported and if there are dividends that were kept from the spouse. Running a search through public records often yields interesting information that the spouse wasn’t aware of such as real property that is owned and wasn’t disclosed. Pay stubs and banking records can have different numbers than that which the spouse was led to believe they were supposed to be. A telltale sign of trickery could be an income that was thought to be a certain amount with deposits that are far less. That could mean there is a secret account or some other financial sleight of hand occurring.
Cancelled checks, credit card bills, mortgage payments and other debts and income can provide information that might have been lacking through the spouse’s absence of transparency. Going to the spouse’s employer and requesting the information via subpoena can uncover pension benefits and bonuses. The family’s spending for the month should not go beyond the income. Unusual purchases or money transfers that weren’t shared with the spouse have the potential to be done to prepare for a divorce and keep that money and those goods away from the other spouse in the proceeding.
Any divorce is a hard thing to deal with, but when there is the belief that there might be some form of deceit happening, it’s made worse. Some divorces are amicable and others turn into major disputes. The disputes often arise in a high asset divorce. It’s important to be vigilant about the issues that frequently come up in a divorce of this kind. Having legal assistance from an experienced professional in a high asset divorce can be beneficial to avoid these problems or handle them if they do happen.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Discovering Hidden Assets: What Your Spouse Hasn’t Disclosed During Your Divorce,” Bonnie Sockel-Stone, accessed on Sept. 30, 2014