If you suspect that your spouse is hiding assets during your divorce, it is understandable to feel frustrated. Decades ago, people tried any number of tricks to hide their money. One was to open a secret offshore account when they felt trouble in their relationship.
Once upon a time, it was difficult to track down these accounts. It took insider connections and mysterious business trips to set them up. They were usually an exclusive item for the wealthy.
Few accounts were required to report to the IRS. Some could even hide the identity of their owners.
Today, this is not the case. Most offshore accounts are easy to set up and maintain with international mobile banking apps. The average person can set one up at an office within the U.S. and with a letter of good standing from an average bank.
Today, almost all are required to report to the IRS and very few can maintain an account’s absolute anonymity. Most spouses have no idea their partner has one thanks to widespread misinformation and stereotypes around offshore accounts.
How do you find out if your spouse has an offshore account?
During the divorce process, your legal team works with your spouse’s, you are required to produce your tax statements. These are very useful legal documents that can help to prove your income and help to establish how much you will owe your partner.
An experienced lawyer or forensic accountant will know how to spot errors, unusual details or telltale signs of hidden assets within a tax statement. With their help, and a high dose of healthy amount of skepticism about your partner’s finances, you can find out if your spouse is trying to hide assets.