Hiding Money from Your Spouse is now a lot Harder

Thinking of hiding some money from your spouse when you create your divorce agreements? Well, think again. The Wall Street Journal says that it is getting nearly impossible for spouses to hide their finances from one another, and this is leading to a spike in the amount of couples that are being found out. One spouse may have a hidden bank account that was used for extramarital affairs, or just a stash of cash that he or she doesn’t want to share, but the new advances in technology are making these things hard to hide.

Spousal spy equipment is available all over America and can rat out a husband or wife before he or she gets away with the dough he or she was trying to conceal. Spouses sometimes dig into their partner’ web history and find traces of a hidden bank account. Other times, spouses may install software on the home computer to catch snapshots of a spouse’s internet activity. These snapshots may show business transactions or other visits to online bank accounts. GPS trackers can help spouses find out that their significant other has been making sneaky withdrawals at ATMs or visiting banks.

While there was a time when spouses would have to shift through reams of paperwork to discover hidden accounts, it’s now as easy as a couple of clicks, thanks to online banking and other electronic strategies. However, spouses should remember that there are limits to the snooping. In some states, it can be illegal to hack into a spouse’s e-mail account using a personal password or even hacking into a Facebook page or a smartphone. If you are thinking of hiding finances, we suggest that you don’t. If your spouse discovers that you were dishonest in the divorce, he or she may come after you with a lawsuit later on.