A spouse has three motivations to hide assets and money in a divorce and these include the settlement, alimony, and child support. You can try to be reasonable in your demands so alleviate the other mate's fears and this may help things go to a fair conclusion for all. However, the sad fact is that some soon-to-be exes are not interested in honest negotiation. You need to be aware of the five current means that divorcing spouses can use to hide income and drain marital assets.

1. Bitcoin Booty

Bitcoins are a high tech way of hiding assets and it takes a knowledgeable person to uncover evidence for them. A bitcoin is intangible virtual currency that can be purchased over the Internet.

These bitcoins are used to make payments, buy things, and can be exchanged for regular currency. A person who purchases these will be given a private key and must use this to gain access to the digital account. The account cannot be assessed any other way and a lost key means lost resources.

You also need to have a "digital wallet" to spend your bit coins, and this is a digital credential to hold your bitcoins together. It is accessed through an address where you will have a public key and you will have to use private keys to assess the bitcoins.

Bitcoins can vary in worth.  Currently a single bitcoin is worth close to $360 USD. Bitcoins have several smaller subunits as well.

The thing that makes them attractive to a person hiding money, is that all these things are protected by encryption and numbers, not by name.

The two ways to uncover Bitcoin conversion is to track the money before it was converted, through paperwork or bank statements, and the other way is through the person's income tax records. If he/she does not disclose this income to the IRS, then that person is also going to be in legal trouble for tax evasion.

1. Taxpayer Two-Step

The spouse could overpay the IRS and ask that any refunds be applied to the following year. This can be easily passed off as an oversight.

1. Employment Evasion

There are several ways a person can use his or her employment to hide assets and these include:

• Deferring a salary, bonus, or commission until later.

• Not counting valuable perks like a car or meal plan.

• Stock options that allow a spouse to accumulate a large asset.

• False job classification. Your ex may actually be a partner -- not an employee – and is entitled to profits/returns.

1. Stealthy Stash

This a very quaint tradition but your spouse may have be saving cash or other tangible assets like jewelry or gold, and stashing them somewhere clever or keeping them in a hidden safe.

1. Debit Card Dalliances

This takes some planning and patience but a spouse contemplating divorce could start draining bank accounts by getting cash withdrawals with purchases and stockpiling the funds in his or her hidden place.

The Necessity of Being Observant, Alert, and Lawyered Up

To avoid being successfully cheated of your share of the marital assets, fair child support, and/or alimony, you will need to employ some dedicated detective work. You will also need an experienced and technically savvy lawyer like one from Waters & Associates, Attorneys At Law to help you to bring these dishonest tactics to light.