BarbriSFCourseDetails
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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Family Law

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, June 6, 2023

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$197.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will discuss best practices and strategies when counsel in an equitable division jurisdiction believes that all assets and property are not disclosed. The program will explain how to find veiled assets, "unknown" assets like frequent flyer miles or affinity benefits, when to involve a forensic accountant, what such a professional can and cannot accomplish, and how to weigh the costs against the potential benefits. The panel will also review the best options for counsel when it is counsel's client who is accused of hiding assets.

Faculty

Kelly L. Burris
Senior Litigation Partner
Cordell & Cordell

Ms. Burris has settled and litigated complex custody cases and property cases involving multi-million dollar estates. She has also successfully litigated child custody relocation cases.

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Taylor Toombs Imel
Shareholder & Owner
Toombs Imel & Associates

Houston family law attorney Taylor Imel is a natural competitor who knew from a very young age that she wanted to practice law. A women’s varsity soccer player, she received a B.A. in Spanish and Communication from Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where she was a dean’s scholarship recipient. In 2010, Ms. Imel graduated from SMU Dedman School of Law where she was once again a dean’s scholarship recipient. Prior to joining KoonsFuller Houston, she practiced family law in Dallas, Texas, where she gained 1st chair family law experience and enjoyed considerable success litigating matters concerning property division, conservatorship, and child support.

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Walter J. Schouten
Attorney
Toombs Imel & Associates

Licensed in 2014 but working in the field of family law since 2009, Mr. Schouten has worked with, for, and against some of the best family law attorneys in the Houston area on complex family law issues at both the trial court level and appellate level. HIs desire to work with the best is driven by a results-oriented approach adopted as early as law school: in 2013, he graduated summa cum laude from South Texas College of Law, higher than over 90% of his graduating class, earning the highest grade in multiple courses along the way, all while working as a law clerk at a boutique family law firm in Houston.

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Description

In a divorce, both spouses must affirmatively disclose all assets, income, and debt so that the marital property can be equitably divided. Sometimes one spouse hides assets or misrepresents the value of marital property in multiple ways and may have planned the divorce for some time.

Assets are generally secreted away, either by putting them into third parties' hands or by falsifying records. The exact methods of doing so are limited only by the spouse's creativity, which may involve unwitting third parties or converting cash into fungible assets hiding in plain sight. Looking but not finding undisclosed assets--whether depleted, never existed, or well secreted away--can become a quest that prevents the parties from moving on and have lasting consequences.

Locating unreported income and unknown assets is a difficult and costly endeavor, and the expense of investigation and recovery must always be weighed against the potential benefit. A forensic accountant can uncover cleverly concealed assets, but it is an excruciating and long process. If assets are found, they may be consumed with costs.

A spouse can also often overlook valuable assets just because the spouse or the attorney is unfamiliar with the asset. Collectibles, mineral interests, intellectual property and cryptocurrency are just a few examples of areas where a party can minimize or hide value simply because their spouse is unfamiliar with the asset. It is important that attorney’s familiarize themselves with these uncommon types of assets in order to conduct discovery and properly counsel their clients on such issues.

Listen as this panel explores how to identify the badges of fraud in the divorce, when to engage a forensic accountant, and best practices for managing the costs associated with such endeavors.

Outline

  1. Overview of equitable division
  2. Badges of fraud
  3. Benefits of using a forensic accountant
  4. Selecting the right accountant
  5. Formal discovery process to obtain information
  6. Informal discovery
  7. Avoiding illegal searches

Benefits

The panel will review these and other issues:

  • What are the signs that a party has more assets than they are letting on?
  • At what point should a divorce attorney recommend a forensic accountant to their client?
  • Is this a cost-effective approach to divorce?
  • What is the risk a client loses more than he/she gains?