Asset hiding involves one person trying to keep some assets in a place that their spouse does not know about. This can involve literally hiding physical money in places, or hiding assets in more creative and intangible ways.
Hiding assets through digital wallets serves as one of the more popular ways to do this in today’s economy. This holds especially true with bitcoin.
Digital wallets and asset hiding
CNBC discusses cryptocurrency and how it sees use in divorce scenarios. Generally speaking, people invest in bitcoin with real money and can also cash out their bitcoin into real money. This makes it the perfect tool for people trying to hide assets during divorce.
Essentially, someone trying to hide assets will put some into their digital wallet by buying bitcoin. Then, they will leave that chunk of money out of their asset reporting. This means that during the asset division, this chunk of money does not get counted and the person hiding it gets to keep the whole sum to himself or herself.
Why is this method popular?
Due to the secrecy shrouding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies until recent years, many people did not even think to check a spouse’s digital wallet for hidden assets. People who utilized this method often got away with their assets unscathed.
People who suspect their partners of hiding assets in this way today should investigate their suspicions, though. After all, digital asset hiding is just as illegal as any other form of asset hiding, and a spouse can end up in serious trouble if they attempt to engage in such behavior.