Asset Searches and Divorce - Finding What They're Hiding

Divorce itself can be bad enough, but matters can become significantly worse when one partner is seemingly withholding assets, or information about those assets, from the other. Unfortunately, the act of hiding assets in marriage is becoming more and more commonplace, and if you think that there's even a remote chance that your spouse is not forthcoming with all of their accounts, property, vehicles, or cash reserves, you owe it to yourself to look try and find out if your spouse is hiding assets from you.

What asset searches can reveal

Asset searches, also called asset investigations, and asset locator services, can find a great number of items under your spouse's name. For instance:
* Businesses
* Accounts
* Property / real estate
* Vehicles

When you hire an actual investigation firm to search for your spouse's assets, they can dig deeper than a simple database search -- an investigator may be able to dig into properties, vehicles, and assets under the control of businesses in your spouse's name.
Limitations of divorce asset searches

While asset searches tend to be comprehensive by nature, they are not without potential limitations. As an unfortunately all-too-real example, asset searches may not be able to uncover money, property, or other goods that were transferred over into another person's name for the sole purpose of hiding those assets. For instance, let's say that your spouse has a friend or business partner, and they regularly send them money, transfer accounts into their name, or transfer ownership of a business or businesses, or property. In cases like these, it's usually quite a bit more difficult to find those assets as they are technically, and legally, no longer assets that your spouse controls.

Unfortunately, these asset-transfer transactions may look legitimate on paper, if there is even a paper trail. Sending money to an associate or even an unknown third party can be explained away by calling it a business expense or loan repayment. Furthermore, especially if your spouse has means, either personally or through their business, it can be difficult even for a seasoned asset investigator to follow all of the various trails to identify which transactions may be related to asset hiding and which transactions are legitimate business transaction. However, as this type of asset hiding generally requires that your spouse transfer full control of their assets over to the third parties, it is by no means an everyday occurrence.

If you think that your spouse may be hiding assets from you, it is in your best interest to hire an investigator that offers asset search services. After all, if your spouse is hiding assets from you, it could make a night and day difference in the end-result settlement that you receive during your divorce proceedings.