When might a forensic accountant help in a divorce case?

While divorcing your significant other can prove to be a highly emotional process, once you take emotions out of the picture, divorce, at its core, comes down to dividing up assets, debts and responsibilities. While some divorces, such as those for short-term marriages, may be easier to work through than others, divorces that involve particularly high earners or parties that otherwise have significant assets can prove far more complicated.

In such situations, it may serve you well to hire a forensic accountant who can help make sure assets undergo fair division and that both parties in the marriage remain truthful about what assets they have on hand. You may find it useful to have a forensic accountant help with your divorce case under the following circumstances.

You have complex assets that can prove tough to divide

Some assets, such as stocks and retirement accounts, can be harder to divide than others. If you or your spouse have an especially complex financial portfolio, it may benefit you to hire a forensic accountant. You may, too, want to do so if one of you has a valuable collection of, say, art or collectibles, or if one of you has assets, accounts or business interests in other states or countries.

You are suspicious of your spouse

You may, too, want to enlist the aid of a forensic accountant if you believe your spouse may have shielded assets from you or otherwise engage in shady tactics in an effort to get more than his or her fair share. Maybe your spouse is simply stalling the process and failing to produce financial disclosures, or perhaps he or she is intentionally overpaying creditors or making similar efforts to make it appear he or she has less than is accurate.

Ultimately, if you have concerns about getting your fair share during your divorce case, having a forensic accountant assist you may give you the peace of mind you desire and deserve.