7 Signs a Spouse Is Planning a Divorce

Once someone decides to file for divorce, they may wait weeks, months or even longer before they actually file official divorce documents with the court so that they can get some of their affairs in order prior to divorce. In some cases, spouses who are planning to file for divorce may do some very specific things in their preparations that can be red flags to their partners about an impending divorce.

Common Signs a Spouse Is Planning a Divorce

Sign 1 – Important financial documents start to go missing from your home.

Important financial documents related to home and vehicle ownership, bank accounts and other assets are probably kept in a very specific location in your home (or some other secure place). If you start to notice that these documents are missing from where they are kept – and if your spouse is the only other person with access to these documents, this may be a sign that a spouse is planning a divorce.

This is because, when preparing to file for a divorce, gathering and copying the following important financial documents can be critical:

• Mortgage documents
• Car loan documents
• Bank statements
• Tax returns
• Retirement plan documents
• Insurance documents.

Sign 2 – Your spouse claims an income reduction.

When a spouse has some control over his income – because, for instance, he owns his own business or his income is largely based on commissions, this person may claim his income has been reduced in the months leading up to the divorce filing as a way to try to limit his or her financial obligations in the future.

In particular, by showing reduced income in the months leading up to a divorce, one partner may try to position him-or herself to be ordered to pay little to no spousal support (or other payments) during and/or after the divorce process.

Sign 3 – Your spouse starts hiding income or other marital property.

Another common sign of divorce planning can lie in one partner starting to hole away certain income or marital assets in the months leading up to a divorce. While this can be actualized in various manners, in general, just some of the ways that a spouse planning a divorce may try to hide income or marital property can include by:

• Claiming to have sold certain marital property like, for instance, vacation homes
• Claiming certain marital property has been stolen
• Transferring certain martial property to other relatives (like siblings) prior to filing for divorce
• Failing to deposit all or a portion of monthly income from work in a joint bank account.

There can be a number of other ways that a spouse who is planning to file for divorce may try to slowly hide marital income, assets or property, so it’s best to consult with an experienced divorce attorney at Bahr and Kreidle if you:

• Have noticed significant martial assets start to go missing
• Are not getting clear answers about this from your spouse
• Are ready to start making your own plans to file for divorce.

Sign 4 – A line of shared credit is suddenly used up.

If you and your spouse share ownership in a home and/or other lines of credit, be suspicious if you suddenly see one or more of these available lines of credit being used up without any warning from your spouse. The reason for maxing out certain lines of credit in the divorce planning process can be to put an unsuspecting partner in the marriage at a significant disadvantage by limiting his or her access to funds.

In turn, this could end up meaning that, when it comes time to move forward with divorce, the unsuspecting partner may not have enough or any money to retain an experienced divorce attorney, and this could have far-reaching impacts both in the divorce case and the future of that spouse.

Sign 5 – Your spouse has a bank account you didn’t know existed.

In some cases, divorce planning can involve moving certain assets so that a partner will not have access to them when it comes time to initiate and proceed with a divorce. One common way of doing this is setting up a separate, individual bank account and/or separate lines of credit.

So, if you’ve just found out that your spouse has a bank account that you didn’t know existed:

• Start asking some serious questions about this account.
• Consider asking your partner about whether (s)he is planning a divorce.
• Find out what steps you may be able to take to protect yourself by consulting with an experienced divorce lawyer Bahr and Kreidle.

Sign 6 – Your spouse suddenly develops a “gambling” habit or makes trips to tax havens.

Other ways that a spouse who is planning a divorce may try to make financial preparations prior to filing can include by:

• Coming up with excuses as to why certain income or assets have gone missing – Developing a sudden “gambling” can be an effective way to make this happen with minimal questions from a partner.
• Setting up financial accounts in tax havens – In fact, if your spouse travels on business regularly and makes stops in known tax havens (think the Cayman Islands), it can be a sign that (s)he is funneling income and assets into a secret off-shore account.

So, again, if you are getting odd answers about your spouse’s changing financial habits while noticing some new suspicious actions, you may want to think twice about whether these actions may actually be signs a spouse is planning a divorce.

Sign 7 – Your spouse suddenly starts spending a lot more time with your children.

If you share children with your spouse and your spouse suddenly starts making a big effort to spend more time with your children, again, this can be an indication that (s)he:

• Is trying to change his or her public image of involvement with the children
• Is positioning him- or herself for an upcoming custody case.

Littleton, Colorado Divorce Lawyers at Bahr and Kreidle

Are you thinking about filing for a divorce? If so, you can turn to the Littleton divorce attorneys at Bahr and Kreidle for professional advice, experienced help and superior representation in your upcoming divorce case.

To find out more about how we can help you with your divorce case, set up a free, no obligations initial consultation with one of our lawyers today. To set up a meeting, call us at (303) 794-7422 or email us using the form on this page.