Texas is a community property state. This means that all the assets accumulated during the course of the marriage equally belong to both parties. Thus, in the event of divorce, both parties are expected to share the marital property on a 50-50 basis. But what happens when one party resorts to the unfair practice of hiding marital assets?
It is not uncommon for a divorce to bring out the nasty side of people, especially when the subject of money and marital property comes up. If one party is not happy with the idea of forking out 50 percent of the marital assets to the other party, they might be tempted to hide the marital assets. But how does this happen?
Here are two ways some Texas couples hide marital assets during the divorce.
Unexplained cash purchases
Just because you are divorcing does not mean that you should stop honoring your financial obligations. If you have a mortgage, you need to keep up with the payments regardless of your relationship status. The same applies to regular household bills like groceries and utility bills.
However, if your spouse resorts to making huge cash purchases, you need to ask questions. This is especially true if they are withdrawing cash from joint accounts or using joint credit cards for these purchases. The game plan could be to hide cash in personal assets like jewelry and clothing with the goal of selling them off once the divorce is settled.
Using a business to hide assets
If one spouse has a business, they can use it to hide marital assets. This can happen in the following ways:
- Paying ghost employees
- Overpaying taxes and suppliers with the goal of claiming refunds once the divorce is settled
- Misreporting sales and claiming losses when the business is, in fact, making profits
Make no mistake, divorce is difficult. If your spouse is engaging in practices that amount to hiding marital assets, you need to act.