OP, I worked for a family law firm and this is such a laughably bad idea. Everything gets found out through discovery. And hiding you assets is a huge nono. The best thing you can do, to try to get a good settlement, is to act honestly and honorably, and the judge will look favorably upon that.

OP, I get it. You hate your wife. The issue, of course, is whether or not you are entitled to what you call "your savings". The short answer is, it depends.

I married my ex at 19 and everything both of us earned during the marriage was considered as joint assets. He made more money than I did, and drained all of our joint accounts and tried to hide all the money, going so far as to lie on financial disclosure forms. He felt like it was all "his money". Well, it wasn't. It was our money.

In the end, it didn't work out well for him. The judge was very annoyed at his games and he was ordered to pay restitution to the tune of one half of our worth and then some.

So, as annoyed as you are, OP, I would advise against game playing with the finances unless the money you are referring to is outside of the marriage (family money from prior to the marriage...things like that.) It can end badly.

Anonymous wrote:Note to self:

If I ever decide to get married, start stashing money with a trusted family member before getting married.

Nah. They'll blab to their spouse or die and you won't get it back.

Anonymous wrote:Off shore account obviously.

Switzerland, Luxembourg, or the Carribeans...

Oh, I see OP will just hop on a plane with a suitcase full of cash and go open an account in Switzerland, Luxembourg or the Caribbean (note the correct spelling). Its almost impossible to legally move money without a trace. Even if the DW is not aware of the numbered account she will definitely see the outgoing wires or cash withdrawals and will want to know where the money went. OP, I think you need to face the facts that divorce = loss of some of your assets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everytime I went to the grocery store I did 10 or 20 bucks over the amount on my debt. I did this for 4.5 years.

If I had 4-5 years to do this, I would for sure. Seems pretty foolproof

It does seem foolproof. After all, if you went to the store 104 times a year (twice a week) for 5 years and took out an extra $20 every time, you'd end up with the huge sum of...$10,400.

Sure seems like sticking around in your shitty marriage for 5 years. You can buy half a car to drive away in.

Even with compound interest this is not worth the effort.

Off shore account obviously.

Switzerland, Luxembourg, or the Carribeans...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the usual methods were (1) all transactions in cash, (2) get a friend/family member you trust WITH YOUR LIFE and that also hates your STBX to store $$$

But somehow, I really doubt you're going to provide shit for your kids, at least after your new wife starts bitching about the money she sees as being thrown away.

I love my kids.

I hate my wife.

I'd rather just give the kids all of my money.

They'll be taken care of for sure.

Why do you hate your wife? What did you do?

I hate my wife because she is a bitch, we don't get along, and she makes my life hell.

If you are a woman, chances are you won't understand. If you are a man, you get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the usual methods were (1) all transactions in cash, (2) get a friend/family member you trust WITH YOUR LIFE and that also hates your STBX to store $$$

But somehow, I really doubt you're going to provide shit for your kids, at least after your new wife starts bitching about the money she sees as being thrown away.

I love my kids.

I hate my wife.

I'd rather just give the kids all of my money.

They'll be taken care of for sure.

Why do you hate your wife? What did you do?

Note to self:

If I ever decide to get married, start stashing money with a trusted family member before getting married.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All accounts can be traced since you have to supply your scoial to open any account.

You are an idiot.

I'm not sure if there's a central repository for tracking bank accounts that lawyers have access to. The usual trick is to send out subpoenas to the largest banks (WF, BofA, etc.) and then to local banks in the area. If you picked a smaller bank with branches elsewhere you could probably get away with it.

Of course, it would eventually come out on the financial disclosure forms.

States are required to keep this information. Also, they can ask for tax forms (anything earning interest would be reportable).

If it is discovered that you are hiding assets to a judge.... Well, it would not be pretty.

You could buy assets with a trusted friend (you could not be on the title or account). But then they could steal it or take it from you and they would be taxed on it.

Lawyers can't subpoena that information from the state.

Interest rates are crap right now. I kept over $120K in a bank account while we were searching for a house and never received a 1099 for it because rates are so low.

Agree hiding assets from a judge is not advisable. I think the bigger issue will be for OP to explain where any sizable withdrawals from the joint account went. OP's spouse will be able to find this out pretty easily when she reviews the bank statements.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everytime I went to the grocery store I did 10 or 20 bucks over the amount on my debt. I did this for 4.5 years.

If I had 4-5 years to do this, I would for sure. Seems pretty foolproof

It does seem foolproof. After all, if you went to the store 104 times a year (twice a week) for 5 years and took out an extra $20 every time, you'd end up with the huge sum of...$10,400.

Sure seems like sticking around in your shitty marriage for 5 years. You can buy half a car to drive away in.

http://www.divorcenet.com/resources/divorce/before-after-divorce/attempting-hide-assets-before-divorce

First, it is very dangerous to hide money. During divorce proceedings there is usually a discovery period where you must reveal and testify to your assets. If you are discovered, you can be charged and prosecute for perjery which is a crime and can be punished including possible jail time. But, hey, if you're willing to risk becoming a condemned criminal and possibly doing jail time, go for it.

If you really want, a much better way to do this is to start taking a round figure out of the bank for family errands: shopping, gas, and other transactions. Pay for the transactions and hide the remaining cash. So, say once per week, take out $300 from the bank, buy $45 worth of gas, $150 worth of groceries, a few other things and pocket $60-75 that can be stashed somewhere not tied electronically to anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the usual methods were (1) all transactions in cash, (2) get a friend/family member you trust WITH YOUR LIFE and that also hates your STBX to store $$$

But somehow, I really doubt you're going to provide shit for your kids, at least after your new wife starts bitching about the money she sees as being thrown away.

I love my kids.

I hate my wife.

I'd rather just give the kids all of my money.

They'll be taken care of for sure.

You can't separate the two. Think about the household the kids will be living in. My divorced dad would buy me anything I wanted, took me out to fun concerts, restaurants, etc, but I still lived with my mom. It was horrible living with her struggle to afford things, like house repairs, groceries, car repairs, even while she was working two jobs.

They'll have a nice place to live regardless of which house they are at.

Again. They'll be taken care of.

My focus is my savings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open a savings account in your own name and start putting your paycheck into that account.

That is what I do, but it is not a secret.

Too easy to trace.

You are not very smart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the usual methods were (1) all transactions in cash, (2) get a friend/family member you trust WITH YOUR LIFE and that also hates your STBX to store $$$

But somehow, I really doubt you're going to provide shit for your kids, at least after your new wife starts bitching about the money she sees as being thrown away.

I love my kids.

I hate my wife.

I'd rather just give the kids all of my money.

They'll be taken care of for sure.

You can't separate the two. Think about the household the kids will be living in. My divorced dad would buy me anything I wanted, took me out to fun concerts, restaurants, etc, but I still lived with my mom. It was horrible living with her struggle to afford things, like house repairs, groceries, car repairs, even while she was working two jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everytime I went to the grocery store I did 10 or 20 bucks over the amount on my debt. I did this for 4.5 years.

If I had 4-5 years to do this, I would for sure. Seems pretty foolproof

Then place cash in a safe deposit box at the bank. The SD box is in your name only.