Texas Marital Fraud: How to Tell If Your Spouse is Hiding Assets

August 27, 2011

Unfortunately, divorce often brings out the less seemly side of those people we once loved. Rather than an amicable parting of the ways, divorces can easily become a race to grab any and all assets available. This creates an unfair advantage when one spouse has handled all or most of the finances during the marriage. Still, an experienced Houston divorce attorney can help you to uncover hidden assets your soon-to-be-ex may be hiding.

If you think your spouse may be hiding money and/or assets from you, Forbes Magazine offers a list of five warning signs you should be looking for. These include:
- You're not getting financial statements. Be concerned if your bank, brokerage and other financial statements are no longer being delivered to your residence. Your spouse may be having them delivered to a post office box or his or her office so that you won't have an opportunity to go over them.
- Your spouse has a dramatic decrease in salary. If he or she is all of a sudden making a lot less money, this could be a sign that your spouse is deferring income or a bonus until after the divorce is final.
- You notice overpayments. Your spouse, who could barely make the mortgage payment on time, is suddenly overpaying everyone from the IRS to the gas company. This just might be a sign that he or she is overpaying bills with the thought that the refund will come after the divorce is final.
- Self-employed? No new business. If your spouse runs a small business, you might notice that he doesn't have any new accounts and the ones that he does have either aren't paying on time all of a sudden or are taking a break working with your spouse's company. At the same time, is your spouse adding new staff?
- Is he or she secretive? You know your spouse probably better than anyone. Is she suddenly being evasive and secretive? Does she avoid answering your financial questions? This could be a sign that she is hiding assets.

Spouses hide assets all of the time, for a myriad of reasons. Usually, it's up to the spouse with less income and assets to uncover the truth. However, your future financial security is too important to leave to chance. Let an experienced divorce attorney make sure that you are getting all of the money and assets to which you are entitled. Marital fraud is a criminal offense, but civil charges are equally important for the recovery of hidden assets.

If you suspect your spouse is hiding assets from you, you owe it to yourself to speak with a Houston attorney experienced in handling divorces involving marital fraud.

Article provided by Kerr, Hendershot & Cannon, PC
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