If you are moving toward a divorce, one step that you need to take is to gather financial information. It helps to have your records during property division, and you are also required to make financial disclosures to the court. You may need to gather bank statements, credit card statements and documentation from investment portfolios, stock ownership and much more.
At this time, you may notice that there have been some financial changes. It is crucial to consider how your spouse’s financial habits may have shifted and what this could mean for the divorce process.
An attempt to hide assets
For example, many people will attempt to hide assets prior to a divorce. They are not planning to disclose them to the court because they do not want to divide them with their former spouse.
If you see that your spouse recently gave away a large amount of money, for example, it is a major red flag that they are trying to hide that money from both you and the court. They may simply transfer it to a family member, neglect to report it and then get it back from that family member after the divorce has concluded. In reality, you may have a claim to a significant portion of that money.
Changes to spending habits
You also want to keep an eye on changes to their spending habits, especially if they start spending much more. They could be trying to dissipate marital assets.
Rather than hiding the assets, their goal is just to spend them — usually with the idea of depriving their spouse of any benefit. If their spending goes beyond what is normal and necessary for their lifestyle, it could be that they are just trying to waste assets so they do not have to split them with you.
In both of these areas, there are steps you can take to ensure that property division goes smoothly and you get what you truly deserve. It can help to work with an experienced attorney at this time.