Deception on part of spouse can be costly during divorce

On Behalf of | Jul 20, 2017 | Divorce, Firm News |

During a marital breakup in New York, spouses sometimes find out that the other party has been hiding property or reporting less income than was actually learned. In every divorce proceeding, each spouse is legally obligated to disclose any and all expenses, debt, assets and income. Unfortunately, some divorcing parties try to steal, lie or cheat in an effort to keep more assets for themselves.

One common attempt at deception is to drain a retirement account to keep the other spouse from being able to get a share of the funds. In this situation, an attorney can work on recouping this lost money from other assets of the deceptive spouse. This is critical because a retirement fund can easily be one of the largest assets subject to property division during a divorce.

Spouses may also try to be deceptive by purchasing property in their names only. During the process of discovery, information about such property may come out. However, if it is never discovered, one may end up losing out on the property.

Getting a divorce is a complicated process, but failure to navigate this process properly can be financially harmful down the road. For instance, failing to discover a property that a future ex is hiding means one will not get a fair share of this property, which could very well end up being a large amount of money. This is why enlisting the help of an attorney is so critical during divorce. A savvy attorney in New York will work hard to a client achieve a favorable outcome for the immediate and long term.

Source: bizjournals.com, “5 secrets your divorce could uncover, and the consequences“, Lewis I. Landerholm, July 10, 2017

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