When couples in Florida get a divorce, the ensuing legal battle can be difficult on everyone involved. Unfortunately, some opportunistic individuals may try to use the chaos as a cover to attempt things like hiding assets.
Assets can be hidden for many reasons, usually related to a spouse not believing that their significant other deserves any form of their money, land, or so on. The Women’s Institute for Financial Education takes a look at some of the most common locations for hidden assets. Some may be quite unexpected or unusual. For example, one can pretend to make debt repayments to friends or family members. In reality, however, they are simply handing money over for temporary safe-keeping and will have it returned later.
If they are an employer, they may also attempt to make fake payments. Some cases have involved stories as complex as entire workers being made up, just so the employer in question had somewhere to send “paychecks” to when in reality the money was simply being moved away from the spouse.
Unreported income is also a big source of hidden assets. Any sort of cash enterprise is not necessarily going to be shown in financial documentation or in taxes. This means it can easily be hidden by being left out of reports. It can remain relatively hard to detect unless you have professionals who know what they are looking for.
Hidden assets can be difficult to find, but fortunately, it is not impossible to locate them. Not only that, but spouses can be brought to justice for attempting to hide them in the first place, which is something to keep in mind.
