Here at Higgins Miller, we specialise in family law, which means dealing with cases involving issues such as wills and probate, adoption, children disputes and divorce. What all of these situations have in common is that they can be highly stressful, and people turn to the experts at Higgins Miller to deal with them in the most efficient and supportive way possible. We know from experience that even a seemingly amicable divorce can easily become bitter and combative, and one of the things which can trigger difficulties of this kind is if one of the parties tries hiding assets in a divorce.
In the simplest possible terms, hiding assets in divorce is against the law. People may think that all is fair in love, war and divorce, but the situation in law is that the parties involved in a divorce have a legal duty to make full and proper financial disclosure of all their assets. Only when this has been done will the parties be able to come to an agreement which is fair to all sides, or to have such an agreement imposed on them by the courts. We always advise our clients to reach an agreement between themselves without having to turn to the courts, but if one party is hiding assets in divorce then this becomes extremely difficult.
The kind of detail which needs to be included in a full financial disclosure – to be certain that neither party is hiding assets in divorce – can be seen on Form E, which needs to be completed by anyone applying to the courts for a financial order in the event of a divorce. The details which need to be included on this form include the following:
- The applicant’s name
- The details of any children of the marriage
- The good health or otherwise of the parties and their children
- Whether the applicant intends to cohabit or remarry
- Details of the schools attended by any children, in particular whether they are private or state schools
- Details of any contribution currently being made to the family home
- Details of any property owned besides the family home, such as investment property
- Details of any earnings
- Details of any assets owned and their value
- Details of all income from any sources
The information provided in this form needs to be accompanied by copies of bank statements from the previous twelve months. Despite the level of detail required, and the fact that full disclosure is a legal necessity, people will still sometimes try to hide assets in a divorce. This often happens if one of the spouses is in a much stronger financial position than the other, and feels that it is unfair for them to have to share what they see as their assets following a divorce. In cases such as these , the wealthier spouse may try to either hide assets in divorce or dispose of assets altogether, to prevent things which they see as being rightfully theirs being added to the joint pot from which the assets following divorce will be divided.
The kind of things which we look for when concerned that a spouse might be hiding assets in divorce include the following:
- Savings – in some cases one spouse may have an individual savings account which they have maintained I secretly, without the knowledge of the other spouse
- Shares – if a spouse owns shares in their own name, they might try to transfer those shares to another family member, to avoid the value of the shares being added to the general pot of assets
- High Worth Items – high value items such as art works, antiques, jewellery and even gold could be purchased by a spouse in an effort to reduce the amount of cash which remains accessible. In some cases, having made the purchase, a spouse intent on hiding assets in divorce will maintain that they are only holding them for a third party.
- Business Assets – if one spouse owns a business, they may try to hide the business assets which represent their wealth or to undervalue those assets during the disclosure process
- Bonuses- for people working in some industries the largest part of their remuneration is made up of bonuses rather than their salary. In cases such as this, the spouse attempting to hide assets in divorce my try to arrange for these bonuses to be deferred until after the divorce has been finalised, in order to reduce the overall value of their assets at the time when a financial arrangement is made
We often inform clients of the warning signs that a spouse is trying to hide assets in divorce and these include the following:
- Assets being transferred from the spouse to other family members in the run up to the divorce
- The log-in details of online banking accounts or apps being changed, as this may indicate withdrawals are being made in secret
- Regular post which is sent rom personal business or bank accounts stops arriving at the family home
- The spouse who may be attempting to hide assets in divorce suddenly changes their spending habits, which may indicate they are disposing of money to stop it being part of any divorce settlement
- One spouse attempts to delay the divorce proceedings, giving them time to hide or dispose of assets
If either spouse is worried that the other party may be attempting to hide assets in a divorce, they should tell their legal representatives immediately. If the risk is taken seriously, the courts can be asked to intervene, by placing a freezing order on assets if they feel their has been an attempt to hide assets in a divorce. If you’d like to find out more about the risk of a spouse attempting to hide assets in divorce please call us on 0161 429 7251 or email us at [email protected]. We’ve recently passed our Cyber Essential accreditation, something which demonstrates our forward-thinking attitude and determination to remain ahead of the competition. The first 20-minute appraisal is provided free of char