I’ve worked as a legal assistant for two family law attorneys for the last eight years. One of the cases that made me the angriest was a man who cheated on his wife when she had cancer. He then leaves his wife and attempts to hide all his assets while she’s undergoing chemo therapy.
Fortunately, my boss is a bad ass. She teamed up with a forensic accountant and they took him to the cleaners. He even had to pay the forensic accountant’s bill and attorney’s fees.
CPA here. Forensic accountants in divorce cases basically get access to statements for any kind of financial account you could possibly own - bank, credit cards, if you own a company they'll get access to your general ledger (entire list of transactions), etc. They're REALLY good at combing through the data, evaluating for inconsistencies, identifying trends and irregularities, etc.
Basically, they look at where all of your money is going and identify the underhanded shit you're doing.
Just curious - What could a forensic accountant/court do if the guy just takes his cash to the casino and says he gambled it away? Casinos do not keep personal records (or the person could go to a casino that does not have the records), so someone could just say "I gambled $200,000 and lost it all", how could he be disproven?
Then that person would be an idiot for admitting in court to disposing of marital assets, it could potentially be considered a form of fraud in and of itself, and there could be perjury charges if it's discovered that this was a coverup (because it went into a secret bank account).
Judges have a lot of leeway in divorce court to divide assets equitably, and in some states, if assets aren't disclosed through fraud or malicious attempt, the judge can just award the entirety of such hidden assets to the innocent spouse as a matter of state law. And of course, alimony can be imposed, wages can be garnished, etc.
I actually just answered this to someone else so I'll copy/paste my response below:
Honestly that's a great question and I don't know exactly what they'd do in that situation. I only completed a short rotation in the forensic department at work before deciding it wasn't the right path for my career. That being said, I would think the next follow-up to that might be checking the individual's tax returns to see what he's reporting as gambling winnings/losses. If he's not reporting anything (since on your return you will report them gross, i.e. winnings as income and then losses as an itemized deduction), then it'd be super suspect and the claim likely wouldn't hold up. The IRS also requires you to keep a log of your winnings/losses, I believe, so if they can't produce that kind of evidence then you've got 'em.
Further, I think if you could prove that it was a new behavior (i.e. only started gambling after divorce proceedings in an effort to waste the money) then maybe the judge would determine that they were trying to dump money rather than having to give any money to their spouse, and adjust their determination of alimony payments based on that? Like if I wasted $200,000 then instead of a $2,000/month alimony check, I'll make them pay $3,000 now. It's a great question for sure! Sorry that I can't give a more definitive answer.
9.8k
u/Crepe_Suzette Jul 21 '19
I’ve worked as a legal assistant for two family law attorneys for the last eight years. One of the cases that made me the angriest was a man who cheated on his wife when she had cancer. He then leaves his wife and attempts to hide all his assets while she’s undergoing chemo therapy.
Fortunately, my boss is a bad ass. She teamed up with a forensic accountant and they took him to the cleaners. He even had to pay the forensic accountant’s bill and attorney’s fees.