Hiding Money

I haven't crunched any real numbers but I would say anywhere from 20-40% of my clients mention in the initial consultation, the fear that their spouse is hiding money. Unless their spouse is a small business owner, particularly one dealing with a lot of cash, I tell them that hiding money is actually harder than they probably think.  

For one, the IRS is in the business of finding money.  Most financial accounts generate at least a modest amount of reportable interest or dividends.  More than $10/yr will trigger a 1099 to the IRS, meaning that even if a spouse doesn't report the income, the IRS will soon catch up to him/her and when that happens, the divorce attorney will catch up too.

I've heard a lot of stories over the years about how parties going through a divorce hide money.  Cash withdrawals, buying gift cards, lines of credit, fishy "loans" to family members... to name just a few.  In discovery we ask for statements for checking, savings, bonds, retirement, certificated stock, etc., including all the usual ways and places people invest their money.  Some of the weirder cases I have had involved various valuable collectibles such as baseball cards, antiques and the like, which are hard to value and can actually be physically hidden.

But now, there's a new breed of "hidden money" in our midst.  Virtual currency.  What's that?  You've never heard of that? My friend Andrew Hinkes  is an authority on the subject and has made me aware of the complications related to virtual currency (i.e., bitcoin, lite coin, doge coin).  Here's a taste of the level of complication you didn't even know existed:

http://www.insidecounsel.com/2014/07/29/blockchains-smart-contracts-and-the-death-of-speci

Confused?  At least now you know what you don't know, which is a start. Virtual currency is becoming more relevant and prolific by the day. Attorneys and clients need to be knowledgable and aware to avoid any pitfalls. If you're an attorney, educate yourself before its too late. 

AliRecap- Calculate alimony recapture on the go. You know. If you want to...

I am continually unimpressed with the way lawyers utilize technology to make their practices easier and more efficient.  We are consistently behind the times when it comes to embracing new technology and I think that most of the technology created for/by attorneys is pretty disappointing. I'd love to help make attorneys' and/or clients' lives easier.   I think there a significant need for technology that could improve the lives of people going through a divorce, including their attorneys.  With that in mind, my husband and I made our first foray this year into the world of app development.  It was something my husband always wanted to do, and given that he did about 99% of the heavy lifting and I did the "directing" I was pretty enthusiastic about it. We decided on something relatively simple from a programming perspective: a calculator.  We created a program to calculate alimony recapture. Admittedly, it's not something that most people have a huge demand for.  Heck, most people have no idea what alimony recapture is. But an alimony recapture calculator is something that some people do need, and when they need it, they need it immediately and they need it to work simply.  This does the job. I'm hoping accountants and family law attorneys find it useful.  To learn more, please visit: www.327software.com or look up AliRecap in the Apple App store.

Introduction

I’ve decide to join the blogosphere (is that a word?) after years of urging by my husband.  Who is interested in what I have to say about divorce/family law and related topics?  I still haven’t answered that question and it’s possible the answer is “nobody.”  But I have a lot to say, so here it is.  On my blog.

The title of this blog derives from the concept that the divorce and family law landscape is always changing.  Today's divorce is different than a divorce fifteen years ago or even five.

When I started practicing, documents were produced to opposing counsel in discovery by delivering multiple bankers' boxes by messenger.  Not just by my firm, but all similarly situated firms with which I came into contact.  The paralegal had to know how to make official looking cover pages for each category of documents.  I tried to tell people there were better ways and I was met with some responses along the lines of "that's not how we do things around here."  

Soon after, we got our first industrial type scanner.  It ate stacks of paper and it was slow. We would have support staff or young associates scan and categorize documents.  A few years later, we started bates stamping (numbering) each document for better tracking.  Now, most of my clients have their documents in PDF already and upload them to me via file sharing websites.  Very few people, particularly those in their 30's and 40's, keep paper copies of anything anymore. Fortunately, some of our attorney processes have been streamlined in recent years, which is more economical for our clients.

Along those same lines, when I started out, I blew older attorney's minds by introducing into evidence a party's AOL instant messenger profile.  Do those even exist anymore?  I once got evidence of adultery from a GPS.   Years later I became interested in dating website profiles, blogs and of course Facebook.  Now I have my eye on websites with geotagging features, among other things.

The other day my husband tried to introduce me to a new and supposedly more efficient way of storing my computer files. My first response was "that's not how I do it" and I was resistant.  But I quickly reminded myself that we all need to change with the times.  Evolve or go extinct. 

I'm going to be blogging about innovations and news in the field of family law with an eye toward Millennials and what interests them. If that interests YOU, I hope you'll join me.

-Jessica