Seeing this title, I guess you might be curious and clicked on it, but we have to tell you that concealing marital assets is illegal.

If your spouse has hidden Marital assets during the marriage, what can you do?

In this case, our client is a homemaker who hasn’t worked for many years and has been taking care of the children at home. Her husband owns multiple companies and has transferred significant assets using nested equity structures, involving the use of BVI companies to conceal properties located in multiple countries, and so on.

Our client, Jewel, and her husband started a business together after getting married. Once the company was running smoothly, Jewel became a full-time homemaker, taking care of the children. However, Jewel later discovered that her husband had been having multiple affairs outside of their marriage and had fathered children with these other women. In total, Jewel’s husband had fathered five illegitimate children with different women.

In order to maintain contact with his mistresses, Jewel’s husband made excuses and sent Jewel and the children to Canada. Although Jewel and her husband were married for over 20 years, during this time they lived apart for extended periods, and they had several arguments and even considered divorce. However, Jewel’s husband refused to agree to a divorce to prevent the division of marital assets.

Now, Jewel’s two children are working and they both support and understand Jewel’s decision to divorce. Jewel has made up her mind to end the marriage and after consulting with several law firms, she ultimately chose our firm because she saw the extensive cases we have handled and believed that we have more experience in this field.

In this case, Jewel’s husband transferred all the assets to the name of his companies. He used a company in mainland China to invest in companies in Hong Kong or Singapore, and then used the Hong Kong or Singapore companies to hold shares in a BVI company. The BVI company was then used to invest in a company called W in mainland China, and finally, W company was used to purchase real estate in China.

The complex structure of nested shareholdings, combined with the confidentiality principles of BVI companies regarding shareholder information, has posed significant challenges to our investigation into Jewel’s husband’s assets.

According to Chinese law, in divorce proceedings, if there is a need to divide marital assets, both spouses are required to disclose their assets. It is only when one party conceals or fails to disclose their assets that the other party can provide evidence to the court and request an investigation order to uncover the hidden assets.

In this case, prior to the declaration of assets by both parties, we conducted investigations and consulted BVI lawyers and Singapore lawyers, which allowed us to uncover Jewel’s husband’s company equity structure and establish the connection between Jewel’s husband and domestic properties.

After thoroughly investigating Jewel’s husband’s assets, particularly the high-value properties under his company’s name, we included the details of these assets in our complaint, advocating for the division of these marital assets.

Upon receiving our complaint, Jewel’s husband instructed his lawyer to contact us, expressing his desire to negotiate a settlement.

Is the litigation cost high in divorce cases?

If the sole objective is to obtain a divorce judgment from the court, the litigation fee is as low as USD 10. However, if property division is involved, the litigation fee is calculated based on the value of the assets. If one party requests the division of shares as assets, the litigation fee is typically paid based on the registered price of the shares.

How is shareholding divided?

During the court proceedings, the judge can allocate the shares to each spouse in proportion to their respective interests, or they can assess the value of the shares based on the parties’ requests and order the party holding the shares to compensate the other party accordingly.

However, some companies have restrictions on the transfer of shares, making it impossible to divide them. Additionally, the valuation of shares in certain companies can be challenging without the cooperation of the parties involved. Therefore, some judges may suspend the division of shares and exclude it from the divorce case. If the parties wish to divide their assets, they can file a separate lawsuit after the divorce proceedings to request the division of marital property.

In this case, because we conducted thorough investigations into the husband’s assets and successfully uncovered the hidden properties he thought were well concealed, he felt that his assets were under threat. As a result, his lawyer urgently contacted us to propose a settlement and resolve the case, which also achieved our client’s objectives.

Sometimes, litigation is not the only means of resolving a case. We assist clients in considering multiple perspectives and selecting the most expedient and cost-effective solution.