In a contentious divorce, you have to consider the fact that your spouse may not just be refusing to work with you. He or she may be actively working against you.
There are a lot of different tricks that people use when they’re in this situation. Some of them are legal and others are completely illegal. But you want to know what to watch out for so that you’re not victimized in some way. Here are a few examples.
Giving money to a friend
People who are attempting to hide money and other assets often just give them away and hope that no one notices. They may choose a close friend, and they’ll tell that person to just give them the money back after the divorce. If you don’t see the transaction, you don’t know that you missed out.
Spending money in non-refundable ways
Similarly, a trick that people often use is to dissipate the assets that the family owns. This means those assets are gone. They’re strictly doing it to get back at you. What they’ll do is buy something that can’t be returned, such as expensive food or plane tickets for trips that will have already happened by the time the divorce is finalized.
Coming between you and your children
Parental alienation is a serious situation in which one parent seems to be pushed out of the child’s life. The other parent does this through manipulation, convincing the child to prefer them or even to actively dislike their ex. They may do this if they know that they can’t get sole custody and they’ll have to share it.
If any of these things happen to you, it’s going to be very important for you to know what legal steps to take.