Even before a marriage is irretrievably beyond repair, one or both spouses may have been hiding money without the other spouse’s knowledge. How common is hiding money from your spouse? If self-reported surveys are any indication, it occurs in roughly one third of marriages.
In 2011, The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) released a study finding that 31% of people who combined finances with their significant other have been deceptive with their spouse/partner about money. Of that 31%, 58% say they hid cash from their partner/spouse.
1. Request a copy of your joint tax return from your local IRS tax office. The cleverest of divorcees may stretch the truth about their after-tax income by directing more money into a 401(k) plan, a deferred compensation plan or a health savings account. High deferrals into these and other savings accounts will lower their take-home pay. Soon-to-be exes will point to this amount to reduce alimony and child support obligations.
2. Regularly log-in to your joint accounts and look for suspicious withdrawals or transfers.
3. Look through credit card statements for overpayments. A spouse who makes an overpayment is essentially using the credit card account as a savings account.
Credit card companies that receive overpayments rarely send the difference back to the cardholder and simply credit the account. Good for them and your spouse, bad for you, because you're in the dark about the financial infidelity they’ve committed.
1) Paypal accounts and Venmo can be used to stash or park money. But just because your spouse has a Paypal or Venmo account that you didn’t know about doesn’t mean they are hiding money, they may have opened it up before you met.
2) Bank statements and credit card statements used to come in the mail but you haven’t seen any in months. Maybe you have found receipts listing the last four digits of an account you don’t recognize.
However, there may be perfectly legitimate reasons for not receiving snail mail or opening a new account. Maybe your spouse wants to go paperless and forgot to pass on the online account information. Or they opened up a new card to get airline miles for a surprise vacation or wanted to save money at the time of purchase and forgot to tell you. But if you are hesitant to ask, you may already have your answer to, “Do I have something to worry about?”
If you’re the “out-spouse,” the spouse who does not deal directly with the finances, simply ask for for copies of all financial records. If your spouse is able to produce all records, the information gathering process might not be too painful.
Sometimes, your spouse simply can’t find the records. If so, the two of you can work together to gather information. With online access to everything nowadays, it’s easy to get account records. You can also send joint requests for records to mortgage companies, banks, retirement plan administrators, etc.
As painful as it is to discover financial decisions were made without you, stashing away money means they aren’t planning on creating a better financial future for the both of you -- and that speaks volumes.
The Divorce Resource Centre of Colorado understands that if couples can’t solve their financial difficulties during the marriage, it is harder for them to agree on financial issues when the marriage has fallen apart. If both spouses understand their financial reality, any decisions made during mediation can be done with each spouses interests in mind.
As Certified Divorce Financial Analysts, we’re trained to understand complex tax issues, IRS rulings, capital gains, dividing pensions, etc. We assist divorcing spouses in every conceivable financial situation you could imagine with an innovative and creative approach that is enhanced by decades of experience.
For an overview about our divorce financial analysis process, click here.
The Divorce Resource Centre of Colorado assists with parenting plans, division of property, financial analysis AND a topic important to all Americans, especially those over 40 - Can you keep your health insurance after divorce?
The uncertainty of healthcare coverage post divorce is an especially worrisome topic for spouses who are stay at home parents or self-employed. Consider that as of 2015, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly a quarter of women in the United States under age 64 received health coverage through their spouse's employer-sponsored plan.
Thanks to COBRA, even after a divorce or separation, the uninsured party can keep their health insurance from their ex-spouse’s company if it has at least 20 employees, for up to three years after a divorce. Employees should verify this with their employer/plan administrator in writing or an email.
If your soon to be ex-spouse’s Colorado employer has less than 20 employees, you may still be able to enroll in mini COBRA. Like federal COBRA, it is also very expensive for most people because you must pay the entire premium on your own, but your health insurance plan remains exactly the same. Click here for more info on mini COBRA.
Beyond COBRA, we recommend that the uninsured party obtain their own health insurance as soon as possible.
Your options include: Signing up for coverage through your employer if it’s offered. You can sign up outside the regular open enrollment period if you’ve lost coverage from another source, or have experienced a ‘life event’ like divorce.
Your other option is to purchase a policy directly from a health insurance company or your state’s health insurance marketplace. In Colorado go here.
If you are worried that a soon-to-be-former spouse will cancel your health insurance during the divorce, Colorado law has you covered.
Colorado Revised Statutes 14-10-107 (4)(b)(I)(D) forbids the cancellation of health insurance that provides coverage for spouses and dependent children. Additionally, spouses cannot allow the insurance to lapse by not paying the premiums.
The only way a spouse can change or cancel health insurance coverage during a divorce is if both parties are given at least 14 days of advance notice and both agree to the change in writing.
To better understand your options for post divorce health coverage, schedule a time to speak with one of the experienced team members at the Divorce Resource Centre of Colorado. Your pathway to certainty becomes clearer with your first 20 minute complimentary phone call.
If you’re thinking about beginning divorce proceedings, chances are you’ve began thinking about what your financial situation will be after a divorce? Will you be able to afford to keep the home the kids were raised in? Can we afford to support two households? How will the changes in income affect our children?
When it comes to assets, often the family home is a big part of the financial picture and figuring out all of your options might feel overwhelming. So, let’s take a look at what you should be considering when it comes to your real estate investment as part of a divorce..
When we look at the real estate a couple jointly owns or acquired during the marriage, we’re including not only the residence, but also any rentals, timeshares, and land. Depending on the type of real estate, how it is titled, and whose name is on the mortgage, proper disposition of real estate is tricky due to tax traps and financing obstacles.
We also know it is important to do a complete forward-looking cash flow analysis; this helps the client see the future financial picture of home ownership and we help them determine how much they can afford, how much should be used as a down payment vs. be financed.
Sometimes, especially in the current Colorado real estate market, a marital residence must be sold in order to secure another residence, or a residence may need to be purchased as an investment property while still married just to make sure the family has a place to live.
Because this transaction and its timing is so complex, it is of utmost importance that all angles are analyzed, and the impact clearly known; this includes the moving and market readiness costs that are involved and how the marital residence is titled along with other potential issues with lenders. We work closely with Certified Divorce Lending Professionals (CDLP), to help navigate the complex maze of mortgage lending.
Bottom line, yes a home can be sold/bought in conjunction with a divorce, however it must be done with an abundance of caution!
In general, you cannot take distributions before age 59-½, as the are subject to a 10% penalty tax if you do. You can avoid the penalty if you become disabled, die, or receive a retirement distribution in divorce from an ex-spouse’s (i.e. 401(k), 403(b)).
Let’s take a look at what happens when the ex-spouse receives the 401(k) asset. There are some specific rules to be aware of.
Sarah was married to an airline pilot who was nearing retirement. They were both age 55. There was $640,000 in his 401(k) and the retirement plan was prepared to transfer $320,000 to her IRA. She could transfer the money to an IRA and pay no taxes on this amount until she withdraws funds from the IRA. But Sarah’s attorney’s fees were $60,000 and she needed to pay those to avoid a lien on her property.
If done correctly, Sarah could take the $60K cash she needed from her soon-to-be exes 401(k) and roll the other into an IRA in her name. She would owe the ordinary income tax but would save the 10% penalty or $6,000.
After the money from a pension plan goes into an IRA, which is not considered a qualified plan, Sarah is held to the early withdrawal rule. If she says, “Oh I forgot, I need another $5,000 to buy a car,” it is too late.
She will have to pay the 10% penalty and the taxes on that money.
It is important to understand the subtle differences when transferring money from qualified plans. One type is a direct rollover where the check is made payable to the company where the IRA is held; not payable to the client. The check may be sent directly to the IRA custodian or the client, however, the check is made payable to the custodian of the funds.
The other type is a 60-day rollover, where the distribution is made payable to the client with 20% withheld for Federal taxes. It is then up to the client to get the funds back into an IRA within 60 days. Additionally, the client must put in the additional 20% withheld for federal taxes for the entire transaction to be a non-taxable event.
The Unemployment Compensation Amendment Act (UCA), which took effect in January 1993, stated that any monies taken out of a qualified plan or tax-sheltered annuity would be subject to 20% withholding. This rule does not apply to IRAs or SEPs.
In other words, if money is transferred from a qualified plan to an IRA, the check is sent directly from the qualified plan to the IRA. In a rollover, the funds are paid to the person who then remits the money to an IRA. A payment to the person, whether or not there is a rollover, is subject to the 20% withholding. Only a direct transfer avoids the withholding tax.
This is a great planning tool when clients have a need for cash and there is no other way to get it.
It has been said that divorce lawyers have the highest number of malpractice claims. One reason may be that while advising their clients on settlement issues, the lawyer may be giving improper financial advice. This is commonly due to the constant changes in tax law and perhaps the fact that the divorce lawyer’s expertise is in the law, not in taxes.
