Got Questions? Ask Away!
Frequently Asked Questions
I wish I could answer this question for you definitively. The truth is that many factors play a role in getting the money back. If your attorney can prove to the judge that marital money went missing, you could possibly be awarded more in a settlement or receive more equity in the house.
Charges from us will show up on your credit card statement from Money Guide LLC. We cannot change that due to banking requirements. An internet search will reveal who we are and what we do. If you’re concerned about this, we recommend purchasing a Visa gift card at a store, and then using that gift card to make your purchase. Alternatively, ask a trusted friend or family member to put the charge on their card and reimburse them with cash.
Unfortunately, yes. Cheating is lying. And he’s likely to be lying about much more. And where is he getting the money he’s spending on his affair partner? Probably from your family’s funds!
Tracy Coenen is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in 3 states: Wisconsin, Illinois, and Florida. Her divorce work does not require a CPA license and she can practice anywhere in the United States. She is also Certified in Financial Forensics and a Master Analyst in Financial Forensics.
Tracy has been practicing as a forensic accountant for more than 25 years, and has completed more than 500 fraud investigations. Her work on forensic engagements is not limited to divorce work. Much of her work is in corporate matters. Tracy has testified as an expert witness more than 100 times.
She has developed several forensic accounting courses for professional organizations, was an adjunct instructor in both undergraduate and graduate programs for 17 years, and has written 4 books on forensic accounting.
Yes! Just because you’re not working outside of the home doesn’t mean you don’t get a share of the bank accounts and retirement accounts. Don’t let your husband tell you that you’ll “never get a penny” because he’s the one making all the money!
The Divorce Money Guide is for anyone going through divorce, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. We don’t care if you’re male or female, straight or gay…. Both men and women can steal and hide money and the Divorce Money Guide will help you find it! We’ve simply addressed our marketing materials to women with husbands because that’s who has expressed the most interest in the guide.
Many times, there is no punishment when your husband hides an account and we find it. You would think that judges would discourage this behavior by doing something like awarding the wife the whole hidden account after it’s found….. but they rarely do it. So you can see why husbands are willing to take a chance. What is the worst thing that happens if we find the hidden account? Usually he only has to split the account with you. The best thing that happens for him is we never find it and he keeps all of it. It stinks, but let’s still find the accounts so you can get at least your half!
You think your husband is hiding money. Or wasting money. Or doing something funky with the money.
If your attorney said you can’t do anything about it, the question is WHY? Most times it’s because we don’t have the proof of the money shenanigans. Working through the Divorce Money Guide will help you get the proof. If you can prove how much money is gone… and it’s in black and white on your statements… there IS something that can be done about it. You can get your half of the money back!
No matter when your court date is, start gathering documents right away. You probably don’t need to gather everything before your next court date, but start gathering as much as you can.
If it’s a really important court hearing that depends on you getting this financial information, you can probably have it postponed. Talk to your lawyer about it.
NO!!!! You do not want to pay your attorney thousands of dollars to gather bank statements and tax returns, and then look through them to figure out what your husband has been doing with the money.
You can do it yourself with the help of the Divorce Money Guide and save yourself so much money.
NO!!!! Forensic accountants are expensive and if you end up needing one, you could easily pay $10,000 to $15,000 for their help.
90% of divorces (maybe even more!) don’t need a forensic accountant. All you need is to go through the statements yourself to see where your money has been going. With the Divorce Money Guide, Tracy will show you exactly where to look to find the money. (And you don’t have to be an accountant. You don’t even have to be good with numbers!)
YES! It’s true that experts like Tracy do the complicated numbers stuff in divorces. But 90% (or more!) of divorces don’t really have complicated money situations.
All you need to know is what documents to gather, and what to look for in them. And that’s exactly what Tracy shows you in the Divorce Money Guide.
When you buy the Divorce Money Guide, it shows up on your statement as a purchase from Money Guide LLC. So it’s not going to be obvious to him.
But if you’re still nervous about the purchase…. consider using a Visa gift card to purchase it (no statements!) or ask a friend to make the purchase on their card.
You can get them! The Divorce Money Guide shows you exactly how to get your bank statements and your tax returns without asking your husband for them.
And if you don’t have access to certain accounts or documents, your attorney can always get them with a subpoena.
That’s up to you! In the Divorce Money Guide, we focus on bank statements and tax returns, because that’s where you’re going to find the money.
But some women need more information, so Tracy gives you a list of all sorts of other documents that may help you find out what has been happening with your family’s finances. She walks you through other things like getting information from your husband’s job, investigating the people he’s been hanging out with, and digging for other important information.
If you and your attorney come into court with your evidence put together, YES! You are allowed to testify about your family’s money and how it was spent. Imagine telling the judge that you know your husband spent $10,000 on his affair partner, and handing the judge a list of transactions, backed up by copies of the account statements. That’s powerful evidence!
You can work through as little or as much of the Divorce Money Guide as you like. You don’t have to watch the videos in order. You can skip to whatever material you’re most interested in. Tracy designed this guide to give you flexibility in what you want to look at and how much work you want to put in.
Anything you find in this process puts you in a better position than before you started looking.
We know there are so many expenses during your divorce, and the biggest one is usually your lawyer. We’ve designed the Divorce Money Guide to help you save money on your attorney. Instead of having your attorney get all of your statements for you, organize them, and look through them ….. potentially costing you thousands of dollars…. Tracy shows you how to do this yourself. You can walk into your lawyer’s office with all of your documents organized, and with everything you’ve found out about the money.
You can ask him for the accounts. Do you think he’ll give all of them to you? Of course he’s not going to give you information on any bank account he’s using to hide money…. or the secret credit card he’s using to hide his spending.
It’s better to take matters into your own hands and track down the statements for the accounts you know about and go through them with guidance from Tracy and the Divorce Money Guide.
Tracy is in the United States and does her divorce work there. The Divorce Money Guide was created with U.S. clients in mind. However, you can still use it if you live in another country.
The guide focuses mostly on bank accounts and credit cards, and it doesn’t matter where you live when you’re dealing with this spending. The tax return portion deals with U.S. taxes only, so those will not apply to you if you live in another country.