It is normal to be anxious about many things when thinking about getting a Texas divorce. You may have heard of horror stories about getting a divorce from your friends or acquaintances who have been through it. It’s difficult not to feel anxious when there is a possibility that something unpleasant will suddenly pop up before or after the Texas divorce has been finalized.
Your spouse’s hidden assets could be one of these things. It will surely be complicated to deal with it especially when you don’t really know anything about it.
The Basics of Hiding Assets in a Texas Divorce
It is not uncommon for one spouse to try to hide some assets during the divorce. This is especially common when a lot of money and properties are involved. A common way to hide assets is to just choose not to announce a certain account or property. If your spouse has an account or property that you don’t know about, chances are, he will keep you uninformed about it.
This is of course illegal, but that doesn’t really stop some spouses from hiding away some of their assets. Often, properties that are hidden throughout the marriage only are revealed during the divorce.
There is a process called ‘Discovery’ that your attorney can send to your spouse’s attorney to discover relevant information for the trial as well as in-depth information about your spouse’s finances.
You’d be very lucky if you can reveal your spouse’s hidden assets before the divorce is finalized. However, it’s not always possible because your spouse may be successful in hiding away some properties. If your spouse is successful in hiding the assets, then it won’t be included in the property division that is part of your divorce process. The hidden assets will completely belong to your spouse.
How to Actually Deal with Hidden Assets in a Texas Divorce
What can you do to deal with hidden assets? If you are a victim of this, you still have a chance to recover part of that property that would have been given to you if only your spouse wasn’t successful in hiding it away. With the help of your Texas divorce attorney, you can file a Suit to Divide Undivided Property.
You need to keep in mind that this is only possible if the property already existed during your divorce. If it wasn’t part of your spouse’s properties at the time of the divorce, such suit would be impossible.
Filing a Suit to Divide Undivided Property
You will need to file this suit and the judge will evaluate your allegations. You will need to prove to the judge that your spouse has committed fraud and hid assets from you. It is also important that you submit your documents at the same court that processed your divorce case. You might have to go through a lot of hurdles just to prove the fraud to the judge.
There are also cases when such assets were simply overlooked. Since the process can be quite complicated, it would be best to approach your divorce without assuming that your spouse has evil intentions. At the same time, keep your eyes open and do your best to investigate and have complete information about his or her financial status to avoid prolonging your court battles.
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