Divorce: Five Things to Think About before it happens

Divorce attorneys are often asked, “What should I do before I file my case?”

Or, “I know my spouse is about to file for divorce, what should I be doing?”

The question is asked, sometimes, assuming that the attorney will give some super-secret advice about how to effectively hide assets or destroy evidence. An ethical attorney won’t give that type of advice, because each party in a divorce is obligated to disclose everything he or she knows about the assets, their value, and where they are. If they have been disposed of improperly, the result can be bad for the one that did the disposing.

Additionally, destroying evidence can be considered spoliation or obstruction of justice, both of which can lead to very bad results.

So what should you do, if you know that a divorce is on the horizon? Consider these five things.

Check for Spyware.

In this day and age, if anyone has had access to your computer, cell phone, iPad, etc. he or she can download software that will allow him or her to know everything that you are doing on your devise or computer. What that means is that changing passwords after the Spyware has been loaded won’t do any good to keep your spouse from knowing everything you and your attorney say to each other. So, if you believe that a divorce is on the way, a good first step to think about is getting all of your devices to a computer expert to have them checked for Spyware.

Change passwords.

Don’t get confused by Step One into thinking that changing passwords is useless. Changing passwords on anything and everything is a great Step Two. Before you do though, make sure you prepare to do it right by getting a password keeper set up on a device that you know is secure. Then, set up strong, unique passwords for every account and device that you have.

Get records of all of your assets and keep them in a safe place.

This is good advice for everyone, all the time – but especially someone about to go through a divorce. Keep in mind that “all your assets” means everything, regardless of whose name is on it. Get copies of all records for all accounts, whether they are checking, savings, money market, CD, 401(k), IRA, or other. Get all records for any and all pensions. Make a list of all significant property that you or your spouse have any ownership interest in. Take photos of everything that matters, including collectables, guns, coins, art, etc. Get records of any safe deposit box or storage facility. Get records of everything, and if you can’t get records of everything, get records of everything that you can.

Stop posting things on Social Media.

Social Media posting may be the single worst thing that people do in divorce. Nothing good can come of it, and plenty of bad can. So stop. You have no right to privacy in a divorce with respect to things that you’ve posted, whether publicly or just to your close friends. Whether you can delete things that you have already posted is a matter of when you do it, why you do it, and what it is. The law is clear, however, that if are in a divorce and you delete postings in an effort to destroy evidence that could be used against you, you are committing spoliation and possibly obstruction of justice – both of which are bad.

Think about Moving assets.

As long as you are not under any court orders that state otherwise and you are not committing fraud, you are entitled to protect your property by moving things like keepsakes and other irreplaceable things to a place where they can’t be destroyed. Whether you should move money and other assets is a tougher call. You may be legally entitled to do so, but you may create a problem that you otherwise don’t have. On the other hand, if you don’t make sure that you can survive, if your spouse moves, disposes of, or hides everything that he or she has access to, you may regret it later. This subject is a good one to get specific legal advice on from a good attorney that you can trust.