Divorce is a terrible process. But it gets even worse when you suspect that your husband is hiding money. When someone is committing fraud, he is actively attempting to conceal what he is doing. That makes it difficult to find.
Now the person you trusted with your life is not only divorcing you, but he is also trying to take advantage of you financially. It’s one thing to be worried about not getting your fair share of the assets in the divorce. It’s another thing to actively steal and hide money to get more than you are entitled to.
How Would You Know?
It’s hard to know if your husband is hiding money, but it all starts with a feeling. You know your him, so trust your intuition. If you think something is wrong, follow up on it.
In the world of forensic accounting, we talk about red flags of fraud. Red flags are warning signs that there may be fraud. They’re not proof of fraud, but they are signals that something may be wrong. Some common red flags you might see if your husband or wife is hiding money include:
- Behaving secretively, especially if this is a change from his normal behavior
- Keeping important financial information from you, maybe even locking you out of bank and credit card accounts
- Making large purchases without telling you first, especially if they’re unnecessary or wasteful
- Being involved in an extramarital affair
There is a lengthy list of red flags that could indicate your husband is hiding money, so these are just a few quick examples. The more red flags you see at the same time, the more likely your intuition is correct and he is misusing marital money.
What Can You Do?
If you see several warning signs of financial fraud in your marriage, it is important to look into the finances. This is especially true if you weren’t involved in the finances during your marriage. Your spouse could have done all sorts of things with the money that you would never know about.
Engaging a forensic accountant is usually the most comprehensive way to investigate the numbers. A forensic accountant can analyze the money that went in and out of your accounts for the last several years so you can know exactly what your family’s money was spent on.
The downside to hiring a forensic accountant is that it is very expensive. It could easily cost $10,000 or more to have one do a detailed analysis of your bank, credit card, and investment account records. Most people going through the process of divorce simply cannot afford that expense. So I created the Divorce Money Guide to assist people who need a forensic accountant in their divorce, but are unable to hire one. You should not have to ignore the money issues just because you can’t hire someone like me to dig through your finances.
The guide offers simple steps that walk you through the “financial discovery” part of your divorce, the documents you need to determine if money is being hidden, how to get those documents, and what to do with them once you have them. Even if you are not a “numbers person,” you will find that there are simple things you can look at that may help you find the evidence you need to prove that your husband is hiding money.
The Divorce Money Guide was also designed to save you money on your attorney’s fees. Instead of paying your attorney to gather, sort, and prepare your bank statements for your divorce, you can do it on your own. This will save you hundreds (maybe even thousands) of dollars.
Do-It-Yourself With Expert Assistance
You’re not going to become a money detective or forensic accountant overnight just by using the Divorce Money Guide. But you will have some tools that can help you learn more about your money. Someone isn’t telling you to just go look at your bank statements. Instead, a forensic accountant is guiding you through the statements and showing you exactly what to look for to find proof of fraud.
Maybe you don’t think you can get through a guide that is focused on numbers and money. But hundreds of women before you have proven that just about anyone can get valuable information by following the guidance in the guide. No matter how little or how much of the guide you get through, you’ll know more about your financial situation than you did before you started. Each step you complete gives you more information than you had before.
The more knowledge you have, the better off you will be as you work toward settling your divorce. You shouldn’t make decisions about a financial settlement without having all the information about the money.
