Alabama residents who are going through or approaching a divorce understand that emotions can run high. On occasion, these emotions can cause individuals to act unreasonably.

For example, a 52-year-old man is now facing allegations that he disposed of marital property during a divorce. The man claimed in a sworn deposition that he converted $500,000 of the couple’s money into gold, and then proceeded to throw the gold away in a trash bin behind a motel. The man claimed he did this in order to keep his wife from having the money.

While the case above is obviously rare, it illustrates an important point that often happens on a smaller scale, when spouses try to hide, conceal or destroy certain assets and property obtained during the marriage. Such acts are not recommended, and can have a severe impact on the property division during the divorce.

Generally, when spouses try to give away property or hide it, the other spouse can later take that person back to court based on the hidden assets. The act of hiding or destroying marital property is, at the very least, bound to be looked at unfavorably by the judge, who will be determining the distribution of property among the couple.

When parties are at fault financially for the loss of assets in the marriage, it can also lead to the judge assigning more of the remaining property to the other party, even if that results in an inequitable distribution. Accordingly, individuals should ensure they are not acting against their own interests. Moreover, individuals should work with a qualified attorney to help ensure the other spouse is not doing something harmful with the marital property.

Source: The Denver Channel, “Man says he tossed $500k in gold during divorce,” Oct. 26, 2013