If you and your spouse are on your way toward separation or divorce, or if you have recently experienced a breakdown of trust in your marriage, you may have suspicions about your spouse hiding assets. While this type of behavior is certainly unethical, it happens frequently, and if it happens to you, you could be at risk of not receiving your fair share in your divorce. 

Therefore, if you have reason to believe your spouse may be concealing assets from you, be on alert for certain common methods he or she may employ to do so. For example, know that he or she could attempt to hide assets from you by:

“Giving” or selling expensive assets to friends and confidantes

If, say, your husband or wife suddenly unloads jewelry, valuable memorabilia or other possessions to a close friend or family member, recognize that he or she may do so with an existing agreement to get the property back the following divorce. That way, it appears your spouse has less than he or she actually does, meaning there is less to split when you divorce.

Moving assets to other banks

If you and your spouse currently share bank accounts, would you even notice if he or she were taking small deductions out over time and moving them to a separate institution? Often, spouses heading for divorce do exactly this, with the hope that doing so will give them a financial edge once divorce proceedings finalize.

Delaying payments or invoices

If your spouse was expecting a big raise or promotion but it does not come when expected, he or she may intentionally delay receipt of payment to not have to split the new earnings with you. Similarly, if your spouse is offered a promotion or raise, he or she may attempt to delay it for the same reason.

These are just some of the common methods spouses headed for divorce sometimes use to hide assets. If you suspect your spouse is guilty of doing this, you may be wise to investigate further to avoid receiving less than you deserve during a divorce.