There are many possible places where a spouse might hide assets from you when you divorce. Cryptocurrency is one of them.
You might not know that your spouse holds cryptocurrency, yet if they have talked about investing in it in the past, do not discount that they went ahead without your knowledge.
Hiding assets from a spouse is nothing new. People have been doing it for years via less technical means. For example, hiding money in a safe beneath the floorboards, buying property in someone else’s name, or opening offshore accounts. Cryptocurrency is merely the latest and perhaps the hardest to track down and access.
Finding it still does not mean you can get your hands on it
If you discover your spouse holds cryptocurrency that they have failed to disclose, you should report it to the divorce court. Spouses are obliged to disclose all assets in a divorce, and the court can penalize them for not doing so.
Yet a judge cannot force the cryptocurrency company to give you access. The only person that can access the funds is your spouse through the complex passwords they created.
A court can, however, make it up to you in other ways. If you find your spouse holds $300,000 in cryptocurrency, a court could decide you deserve half of that, so increase the value of other assets you get by $150,000, or if it wishes to punish your spouse for their deceit, a higher amount.
Getting a fair share of assets in your divorce will be crucial to help you move on. If you think your spouse might have hidden assets, getting legal help will be crucial to track them down and present your case to the divorce court.