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Bitcoins and hiding wealth in divorce
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Divorce ends the marriage but does nothing to end the financial arrangements between the parties. If the parties cannot agree these and as part of court proceedings to determine who gets what the parties have to provide full and frank disclosure to the other of their entire financial means. This procedure allows the parties to be open and transparent about the extent of the assets in the marriage. There could be a situation arising whereby a party seeks to hide their wealth but evidence provided with disclosure such as bank statements in paper form provides a paper trail and this makes for the hiding of cash movements very difficult. But what if that party holds Bitcoins or other crypto-currencies? The bitcoin is digital currency developed in 2009 and its features include:
- It is virtual and doesn’t exist in paper form.
- It is created electronically by 'mining'.
- It is de-centralised in that it is not affiliated with any country government or financial institution.
- It is held largely anonymously in a virtual wallet not linked to the holder’s identity.
- Its value is determined by means of supply and demand only.
These Bitcoins must be disclosed...
Read the full article here.
