Whether ending your marriage was what you wanted or not, you now face the legal proceedings associated with divorce. If you have never gone through this process before, you likely have a lot on your mind in terms of how to get what you want. Because both you and your spouse accumulated a considerable amount of funds over the course of your marriage, you may have particular interest in property division.
In Pennsylvania, marital property goes through equitable division, meaning that the judge will decide what is a fair outcome rather than splitting the assets 50-50. Because the definition of fair is subjective in some cases, you and your spouse may not know what the court will rule. As a result, you need to ensure that you can account for every asset.
Do not overlook these assets
Though it is against the law, it is not uncommon for individuals to sometimes try to hide assets during their divorce proceedings. Sometimes, people may physically hide items by gifting them to someone else temporarily or creating a new account and transferring assets into it. In other cases, parties may simply choose not to disclose information relating to their assets during the discovery period and hope that they do not get caught.
Because this is a possibility, you will want to ensure that you are thorough when it comes to accounting for all of the martial property. It is easy to overlook intangible assets or ones that are not immediately accessible, so you may want to look into whether any of the following assets could apply to your case:
- Cryptocurrency or Bitcoin
- Restricted stock
- Company pension
- Military benefits, if your spouse served for 20 years during 20 years of your marriage
These are only a few examples of assets that you or anyone going through divorce could miss when doing an inventory of marital property. If you suspect that your soon-to-be ex may try to withhold information, it is critical that you leave no stone unturned.
Fighting for what you want
Though equitable division laws will apply to your case, you may still have specific assets you want to fight for. As a result, you may want to gain information on negotiation options and how you could argue for a certain outcome in court.