Hidden money

[BobsJobs]

I’m concerned about a friend who is getting divorced. I am pretty sure that their spouse has been squirrelling away quite substantial amounts of money over a period of years. As a couple they are now in a financial mess but I think there is a lot of marital money kicking around.

When they do get divorced will this money come to light? I am not sure where it’s gone, probably to a friends or child’s account. I doubt they’d put it on their own name, but you never know. How forensic do solicitors get?

Basically MN suggests “getting your ducks in a row” before leaving and I think this might have been happening with this couple. The ducks were quite a lot of cash!

There's no law that says you can't give your money to friends or children. There will come a time when they have to declare all their finances but if it's been given away years ago there's nothing you can do really.

How much you talking about?

Ah, right, it’s probably been given away over the last decade. Maybe £100k, maybe less. I guess it’s gone then.

Best to file for divorce sooner rather than later then before more money gets given away

I imagine it has been given away. I just wondered if it would still count as marital assets but can see it won’t. The partner that’s “lost out” has enough to worry about so I probably won’t mention that I think this is what’s happened.

Yes they can find out and deprivation of assets is illegal in these cases.

If your friend believes there’s money she needs a full financial disclosure.

That’s just it. My friend doesn’t really think about the money. I’m not really sure what to say to them, if anything.

Your friend will have to fill out there financial disclosure as part of this process, hopefully at that point she will start to think about his.

If there are already seperated there is likely little she can do like snooping around for bank accounts and passwords etc. Her solicitor will be able to advise what to do is he returns his discoloured and it seems incomplete

In regards to deprivation of assets it is illegal, it tends to be for transactions leading up and after the separation but they do not have to be very large.

Okay, thank you. I am assured her solicitor is very good so hopefully with a few words from me to my friend something will get sorted. I do wonder how all the money has disappeared but I’m guessing it is cash over a longish period. To be honest, my friend might not even care, she’s in such a state she just wants a quick clean break. But she’s the high earner and she will throw money at the problem which seems unfair if there is already money there. Anyway. I’ll only get involved so much and then it’s over to the experts.

@BobsJobs
If your friends has a good solicitor, let him do the good job that he was hired to do. Nothing to be gained from guessing about money which may or may not have been spent in the past.

You can be a good and supportive friend without getting involved in discussing hypothetical resources which may or may not have existed and may or may not have been long spent.

If the solicitor is experienced and good at his job there are probably few resource hiding tricks that he has not seen. Let him be the financial consultant and you stay in the supportive friend lane.

Yes, you’re probably right. I suppose this is why I posted here instead of saying or doing anything in real life.