Hiding Assets & Asset Tracing Lawyer in Seattle
Is your spouse hiding assets outside of King County? Outside of Washington State?
How do I know if my spouse is really hiding money?
One of my favorite King County commissioners has a saying that he repeats frequently: When there is smoke, there is fire. It’s usually a gut feeling or intuition that makes you think that your spouse is actually hiding money. Sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes they are just blowing it on a gambling or drug addiction. But what do you do if it isn’t an addiction?
What should I do first when I suspect my spouse is hiding money?
If you really suspect that your spouse is hiding assets, you need to run to Kinko’s/Fed Ex and start making copies of ever thing. Obtain a copy of every statement from any account you can. Typically, there is a paper trail, but it might be a small one. If your spouse is employed, you’ll be able to trace the money from the point of the direct deposit. If your spouse is self-employed, the job just got more difficult. When we are retained on these type of cases, we almost always require the work of a forensic accountant. The job involves examining bank records and tracing accounts which lead to hidden assets.
This is hard, tedious, grunt work. There is no other way. There is no magic bullet. We’ve dealt with this issue before to mixed results. We’ve recovered money and other assets, even hundreds of thousands of dollars including acquiring internationally concealed assets. Other times, we’ve come up dry. It really depends on what you give us to work with when we start the process.
When you suspect your partner of engaging in this behavior, it’s important to take action quickly. You will want to notify an attorney as soon as possible, but you will want to do so quietly. We use our experience to help our clients achieve the maximum amount of financial wealth in the divorce process.
