Financial Disclosure

[helpdivorce]

How do you know if someone has disclosed all of their accounts?
Are savings accounts listed on searches by credit report companies?
I've just looked at my reports and I think I can only see my current account, but my savings account is with the same bank.
I'm just wondering if there's some sort of search that will produce a simple list of all accounts that we could both swap.

There isn't I'm afraid. However, you cannot have a clean break without full disclosure so it is not in someone's interests to lie, even if they think it is.

Thank you.
So how would I know? Is there any way to find out? Other than going to court?

No way to know other than going to court and scrutinising the Form E.

I mean, you could ask that he complete it & provide all paperwork even if not going to court. From personal experience though, unlikely to happen!!!

Even going to court wouldn't suddenly bring accounts into the light. It's just that any consent order or court order without full disclosure can be re-opened. Anyone seeking a clean break is an idiot if they hide assets, in my humble opinion.

A basic understanding of the global financial architecture might help explain this. Credit ratings agencies are domestic, not international. They generally won't find accounts outside the country you are looking in. They're also only interested in credit. An account will only appear if there is an overdraft facility on it.

So if you're minded to high your assets in a trust in North Dakota, for example, no court in the UK is going to have a means to find it. However, if at some point in the future the person failing to disclose suddenly comes into money, they'll need to be able to explain the origin and if you find out about it you can re-open the whole financial order.

It depends on how complex someone’s finances are as to what you can do and this is best done by a forensic accountant.

Most people have an understanding of their spouse’s finances. I think for a lot of people income goes on mortgages, pensions and living. If you have a large amount of disposable income that exceeds these then you should look for savings or a gambling problem.

Basically what would the basis be for believing there are savings. If he is earning 10k and has reasonable outgoings of 5k per month then where is 60k he would be saving each year. How long would that be for.

On the other hand if her earns 3k and outgoings of 2.8k then it could easily get used for holidays, cc or treats.

Same would apply to bonuses or redundancy that didn’t get added to the family pot.

A forensic account will be expensive. Tens of thousands so you need to be sure there is something to find that makes it worth it.

If you had a form E though, you could look through 12 months of bank statements and then query any transactions being transferred out that don’t tie up to to other declared balances? Would have to be movements in the 12 months though…. Easy for any transfers to savings to have happened before then

Exactly. I'm just not sure everything adds up.

I think hiding assets even if just a couple of thousand is easy to do in the divorce process and let's face it, who is going to check up on it, certainly not the solicitors/barristers/judges who have no interest in what they would class as small sums (ie not hundreds of thousands plus) or the fact you only have to submit 1 year of (cleaned up) financial history.
They don't even check that all the pensions are declared, or let alone try and find an account that someone wants to hide. I don't even know how anyone can find an account or premium bonds/investments/ISAs if it's not on the other person's credit report (which legally you can't access without their permission) and they only make cash deposits and withdrawals and use this account to manage other investments.
Also if you spend on a credit card then you can spend on anything or make cash withdrawals and it won't be seen as the court only asks for bank statements ie paying the credit card off