3 things that could complicate property division in divorce

While the state sets out how you must divide property in a divorce, applying those rules to your situation is not always straightforward.

As a married couple, you probably own more than you think. You likely have financial worth stored in many other forms, be it bank accounts, expensive furniture, investment portfolios or property. Accounting for everything will be crucial to ensure the correct division.

Here are three things that could slow the process:

Forgetting to include things when declaring your assets

A judge does not have time to discover what you and your spouse own. They rely on you to tell them. Achieving an equitable division becomes harder if you forget to mention things.  A court can only divide what they know about.

Hiding assets

If you intentionally leave things off the list or purposefully undervalue them, the court may take action against you for the attempted deceit. They may award your spouse a greater share of assets because of this. The same applies in reverse if it is your spouse hiding things.

When one party suspects the other is hiding things and needs to undertake extensive searches, it can delay the whole process.

Dissipating assets

Spouses sometimes try to spend down savings or rack up debt to reduce the total value of assets they must share with the other person. If the other party notices, the resultant investigation will again delay the divorce.

Unless you protected assets with a prenuptial agreement, you need to split them as per state laws. Trying to circumvent those laws is inadvisable. Instead, get legal help to argue why you should get a greater share in the property division.