The average couple owns far more digital assets than they did 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30 years. While getting a fair share of assets in a divorce has always been tricky, digitalization presents some unique problems.
There are financial and personal issues you need to be aware of. Here are some of them:
It is easier to hide things
Some people try to hide money from their spouses in offshore accounts or by investing in a property they register in a friend’s name. Yet, tracing those can seem like child’s play compared to tracing money invested in cryptocurrency.
It is easier to do more damage
If someone discovered their spouse cheating, they might traditionally have pursued little acts of revenge such as running a key down the side of their husband’s sports car or feeding their wife’s favorite dresses into the shredder. Yet destroying digital assets is far easier, requiring little more than the press of a button.
It may take longer to notice malicious actions
You’d soon notice if your spouse had ruined physical property. It might take weeks or months to spot they have hijacked your LinkedIn account, siphoned cash out of the online bank account or made intentional bad trades on your e-trading account.
Using digital assets against you
Your ex could also harm you by keeping assets intact. If there are any intimate photos or videos of you stored digitally, ensure you destroy them so that your spouse cannot use them to bribe or molest you at a later date.
Protecting your rights when dividing assets in a divorce requires detailed knowledge of the laws that apply and the tricks people use to prevent their spouses from getting a fair share.