During a marital breakup in Pennsylvania, one of the most hotly contested matters is property division. Specifically, some spouses may feel that the other party is hiding assets from them. With the increasing popularity of virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, hiding assets during divorce has indeed become much easier than ever before.
During divorce, both parties legally have to disclose every asset they have. They must also disclose the values of these assets. This is necessary so that the couple’s marital assets can be divided fairly between the pair.
However, with cryptocurrencies, spouses can hide assets effortlessly because no regulation really exists that governs these digital currencies. Plus, these types of assets can be purchased anonymously. In addition, because the values of these currencies have experienced major swings lately, determining their values for the purpose of property division can be tricky. Only time will tell how authorities will tackle the challenges associated with today’s decentralized, borderless virtual currencies.
Property division can be challenging and confusing, even when cryptocurrencies are not a matter of concern in a divorce proceeding. However, if two spouses are willing to see eye to eye on the splitting of their assets, they can complete their divorce proceeding more amicably than they would if they went to divorce trial to fight for their fair shares of the assets. Still, sometimes, traditional divorce litigation is inevitable if informal negotiations or divorce mediation prove to be unsuccessful. In either situation, a qualified attorney in Pennsylvania can offer a spouse the guidance he or she needs to achieve the most personally favorable outcome possible.
Source: investopedia.com, “Bitcoin Is Making Bitter Divorces Even Messier“, Shobhit Seth, Feb. 27, 2018
