Divorce and assets

[acsrjsk]

hi

I opened a bank account that I only know about (no chance of wife knowing about this) and deposit cash in there on regular basis. I am thinking about depositing about £30K in there by making large cash withdrawals and depositing the cash there.

My wife have quiet a bit of savings (infact she has a bit more) too. I am worried she might move money away whilst we are seperated somehow and try to keep the house on the basis I have more savings.

My question is when and if the solicitor look at asset division (I think she will get solicitor/mediator to sort this out instead of directly talking to me):

a. Will her solicitor ask for all my bank statements?
b. Would they notice large cash withdrawals?
c. Would they ask what did I use those cash withdrawals (roughly in small chunks of £5K over 2 months)?
d. If so, can I just say I spent it?
e. Or can I say that I owe my family money who are in Australia and have sent it to them? If this is the case would they ask for proof of paying this loan back to my family. The easier option for me would be just to keep the £30K in the secret savings account and only I will have a knowledge of this since it is a newly opened account.

I am not doing this to con my wife (or possibly ex wife) but just a preventative measure incase if she tries dig into my share of the property. She has a lot more properties abroad and savings abroad too - I won't bother getting my hands on them just making sure I am not going to lose out my share on the property (which we orgnially agreed 50% when we bought it).


Thank you.

[Amethyst]

Re: Divorce and assets

Would the large withdrawals come from a jointly held account and deposited into your 'secret' account ? or do you mean withdrawing the cash from your 'secret' account and moving it elsewhere? If from the jointly held account into your secret account with a view to not declaring it when going through finances/assets you could run into problems.

Are there children from the marriage ?

It really isn't a done deal that she gets the house. If she has other property and her own income etc and there's no children, it is unlikely she would have any claim over it other than what was agreed.

Is the house held on a joint mortgage as 'tenants in common' or as 'beneficial joint tenants' do you know?

And you could get your own legal advice now rather than waiting for her to make the first move legally.

[acsrjsk]

Re: Divorce and assets

Thanks for your reply.

It is from my own normal account (money that I saved over several years) to a secret account in another bank I just opened. I just wanted to know if I should just leave the money in the secret account or should I transfer it to my brother who lives in Australia (I have no family in the UK) to be on the safe side? and what to say to her solicitors about the large cash withdrawals if they ask?

We don't have a joint account. Infact I was giving her 2K a month (most of my salary) in to her account for household expenses and never asked to put my name on the account - I thought we will be together forever!

Also we bought the house when we were unmarried in 2012 and she put a larger deposit then but in 2013 we got married. However, during the course of the marriage I have been making monthly payments to cover the entire mortgage bills and the other house hold bills and so this should even out. I am a bit worried when I read the article somewere that for a short marriage seperation the spouse get what they "brought in to the marriage". Will this affect me in my share? I know I put a smaller deposit than her - would this go against me even though just before we split we contributed to house expenses (her bigger deposit and small deposit plus the monthly payments) ? This is why I am highly suspicious she will probably buy me out by giving my deposit and the monthly payment that I did for sometime (my share of this would be below the market value of the house)


The money and properties that she has abroad, which I know will not be declared as she will end the giving savings to her family who live abroad too temporirly (probably planning this whilst we are seperated), I just know that she won't declare it during the divorce process. I am not bothered about her other assets tbh because I just don't want to lose my share of the property that we bought together.

Sadly we don't have children. The house is definetly in both of our names but all the paperwork are with her

Thank you.

[MissFM]

Re: Divorce and assets

Hi acsrjsk

No-one here is going to advise you to hide assets. Apart from it's illegality, if your wife is as financially canny as implied above you will be found out and there are heavy penalties.

Make a detailed schedule of all you have mentioned above - joint and individual outgoings, income, the sums involved, dates, your assets, house value, mortgage, etc., etc. what you believe her assets to be and where you believe she might be tempted to hide them - and go to see a solicitor.

Also, see here (mediation option): http://findlaw.co.uk/law/family/divo...y/500178.htmlx

[judgemental24]

Re: Divorce and assets

Do not be surprised your ex and solicitor doing a financial search on you. How do you think the DWP find out such things as undeclared bank accounts??.

With a Divorce they are financial settlements sealed by the court. You do this you will be guilty of contempt of court and breach of that court consent order. The judge can bang you up for that.

Just do a straight 50-50 split on the total sum if no kids are involved

[paulajayne]

Re: Divorce and assets

Normally a negotiated 50 /50 split of yours and her assets.
Unless children are involved.

[acsrjsk]

Re: Divorce and assets

Thanks to everyone for replying to my post.