Divorce: Could Your Ex Be Hiding Any Assets from You?
A comprehensive financial disclosure pertaining to all assets form a key component of divorce. These assets can be both physical (your shared home, its contents, your vehicles, etc.) and financial (bank accounts, superannuation, investments, trusts, etc.). An open and honest disclosure is necessary for an appropriate division of the assets, and this arguably becomes more pertinent in aspects of family law where there are children involved, as in the value of any maintenance paid to you can be determined by your former spouse's income and assets. This is a frank and honest process in most divorces, and yet, what can you do if you suspect that your spouse is deliberately hiding assets?
Deliberate Non-Disclosure
It's unpleasant to think that your former partner is purposefully obscuring the extent of their assets in order to exclude you from any share that you might be entitled to under the terms of your divorce. And yet, if you realistically conclude that this might be a possibility, you need to take the necessary steps to ascertain the existence of any additional assets, along with their value.
Financial Statement
You might be unsure as to the value or relevance of these assets, but you might be aware of their existence. You might have seen financial statements delivered by post, or you might have overheard discussions pertaining to the existence of these assets. It's not as though your solicitor will necessarily be able to discover the existence of these assets from the responses in your former spouse's financial statement filed as part of the proceedings. After all, the exclusion of key items from this financial statement may have been a deliberate act.
Querying the Statement
The onus is on you to carefully examine this filed financial statement and consider whether or not anything is missing. This requires you to carefully think about the assets you're aware of, as well as any others that you might only suspect to exist. Your suspicion needs to have focus, as in you should be able to direct your solicitor to query a specific asset that you believe to be relevant. Your solicitor will be able to determine the best line of questioning once presented with the information. For example, if you're aware (or strongly suspect) that your ex holds assets in a trust, even if you might not know the precise circumstances or value, you should direct your solicitor to query the matter.
Amended Financial Statement
Perhaps the exclusion of assets might be an honest mistake, and if so, the pertinent financial statement can be amended to include these previously undisclosed assets. If you should learn at a later state that there was a wilful exclusion of key assets, you can lodge a complaint with the family court to the effect that the original financial statement was intentionally misleading.
Essentially, if you suspect that your former spouse is attempting to hide their assets during your divorce, it's important to voice these suspicions, along with all the information you have to your solicitor, who will know how best to proceed.
To learn more about family law, contact a solicitor in your area.
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