3 Best Legal Ways, How To Hide Money and Assets, in Divorce
The difference between divorce and legal separation is that legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money.”— Johnny Carson
All kidding aside, we know a divorce is stressful and traumatic enough without having to worry about losing large amounts of money.
First off, if you have found us. Then you must be going through a very difficult time. Second, Vengerick Art is NOT Lawyers, and NOT representing ourselves this way. Many of our clients ask us the question, if i get a divorce is there a safe way to hide some of my money? This article is to reference some of our knowledge in the area of divorce. You must have your lawyer help you make all decisions regarding your assets.
Ok now that it is out of the way.
So that is all the legalities we will talk about when hiding money from a future ex-spouse. Because Vengerick has no legal grounds for anything other than entertainment commentary.
The divorce deck is stacked against you.
Recent studies have shown that in the US, roughly 50% of first marriages fail, around 60% of second marriages, and a whopping 73% of third marriages!
Most of our conversations are with the 2nd and 3rd time around couples. The husband married his dream young hottie, only to find out she is a gold digger. Furthermore a woman married her prince charming finally. Only to discover he was worse than her first husband in every way.
Why Hide Money?
That is an easy question to answer for anyone that has gone through a nasty breakup or divorce. Usually anger and revenge are at the hear to the motivation. But there is more serious situations as well. What if the husband is a gambling junkie that loves strippers? What if the wife is a drug addict? A parent always has to do whats best for the children and sometimes hiding money from a soon to be ex-spouse must be done.
What are 3 Best Legal Ways, How To Hide Money and Assets, in Divorce?
1. Stash Large Amounts of Cash
The tried and trued method of hiding money from your divorce is cash. However if you have large amounts of cash, anything over $250,000 it could complicate things. You obviously need a very safe place to hide that cash. A quick warning, safety deposit box is the last place you want to hide that money! Too many issues with banks in the first place with cash in a box and paper trails keys the list goes on and on.
You could follow the paint. A professional painter stashed $50,000 in a paint bucket in the attic in one of his houses. No one over discovered the money.
Of course with large amounts of cash you will have to think about how to get it back into the banking system without drawing attention. Or what if that new 20 something girlfriend of yours wants an exotic trip to Cancun? You cant just fly around with bags of cash.
2. Hide Money Offshore
After the Panama Papers offshore trusts and companies are more interesting to hide money. There is great benefits with this method over cash and some downside as well.
The benefits of offshore companies and trusts is easy to use and move funds. They also have great privacy as most offshore jurisdiction offer something called a nominal director. This basically means that it is almost impossible for someone to find out who really owns the company or trust.
However a big risk with this method is the transfer of funds. It will be very easy for any angry soon to be ex-spouse or money hungry law firm to find these offshore transfers. This is where a good offshore intentional lawyer would pay huge dividends.
Once you have your new offshore accounts setup and money transferred. Then it becomes very easy to buy a new bachelor pad, or that hunky pool boy a car.
3. Make A Down Payment.
Making a down payment on large or expensive items is great protection for your money from your soon to be ex-spouse.
First making a downpayment for an expensive item is very hard to track since you have not taken ownership yet there is nothing to report. This will make it very difficult for even the best lawyer to track down the assets.
Second we suggest art and antiques since the value is subjective and often very hard to prove if discovered. For example if someone finds the receipt of the down payment you can play it off as you thought it was an investment. But after the downpayment, the market value suddenly dropped. Most contracts for these high price items will not return funds so they are safe. Once your divorce is safely behind you then you can resale or transfer ownership of the art or antiquities.
Third this is a very clean transaction. No shady cash or offshore companies and almost zero traceability. Some companies even offer to find a buyer for your item if you deiced you do not want it. After all how could you know the painting you made a deposit on will give your girlfriends dog seizures.
Hide or Don’t Hide Money.
If you have to ask the question you have an already difficult divorce waiting for you. Find a lawyer you can trust 100% and do what is best for you. We hope you enjoyed this article more for entertainment than a how to guide.
If you have any questions, or want to know more how fine art could be an option for you. We are here to answer your questions, feel free to contact us.
Informational Purposes Only
This article is not intended to be construed as legal advice in any way. It is for informational purposes only, offering insights and awareness into the complex nature of separation. Revealing, proving ownership, and dividing assets and debts is difficult.