If you are moving toward divorce, you are likely going to do a close analysis of your financial situation. You need to disclose your financial assets to the court. This means gathering electronic records from bank accounts, investments and much more.
While you do this, one potential red flag to look out for is if your spouse’s spending has changed significantly, especially if it happened right before the divorce. Maybe you filed for divorce three months ago, for instance, and you can clearly see that your spouse’s spending habits increased dramatically after you did so.
Spending prior to a divorce is not legally prohibited, and many people have to spend on necessities like groceries, utilities, mortgage payments and much more. But a significant change in spending can definitely be a red flag.
Dissipating marital assets
One issue could be that your spouse is intentionally trying to spend down marital assets. They know that the money has to go through property division, and you both have a right to it. To keep you from getting what you deserve, they are trying to spend that money as quickly as possible.
One reason this happens is when that spouse is also a high earner. They know it would be easy for them to earn the money back after the divorce, but they believe it will be harder for you. They are essentially attempting to spend your money upfront so that you get less during the divorce itself.
If you are worried about the dissipation of marital assets, or if you think that your spouse may be hiding assets and failing to disclose them to the court, then it is critical that you know what legal steps to take.
