Should You Worry About Your Spouse’s Digital Wallet in a Michigan Divorce?

Digital technologies have changed the way we live our lives. Not only do we now rely on mobile devices for communication through calls, texts, and emails, but our phones often hold the keys to our financial lives.

Michigan is a marital property state, which means divorcing couples must divide their assets in a fair and equitable (although not always perfectly equal) manner. This could include any digital assets acquired during the marriage and held at the time of divorce.

Should you be worried about what’s hiding in your spouse’s digital wallet? Absolutely! Half of what’s there belongs to you.

Types of Digital Wallets

If you’re not entirely familiar with the concept of digital wallets, they’re essentially apps that store information about the digital assets you hold and allow you to access and use them. Many people use Apple and Google digital wallets as a safe and convenient way to pay for retail goods, linking the app to a bank account so they don’t have to carry cards or cash.

Some wallets can hold items like gift cards, event tickets, plane tickets, and other items you’ve prepaid so you can easily access them on the go. Apps like PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App allow you to pay and get paid, and you can store digital funds in your account or move them to your bank account.

Some, like Coinbase, Exodus, and Electrum, are designed to manage assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The point is that digital wallets are just as much joint property as money in the bank or stocks and bonds in a portfolio. They must be disclosed and divided in a divorce.

How to Discover Digital Wallets

What if you don’t know whether your spouse uses digital wallets or how many they might have? How can you track down this information to ensure a proper accounting of marital assets?

Ideally, your lawyer will request information about cryptocurrency or other digital assets and your spouse will be honest. However, an unscrupulous partner may try to get away with hiding assets in a digital wallet.

If your spouse is not forthcoming with this information, there are still ways to discover the truth. Going through banking records could indicate if funds are moving between bank accounts and online wallets like PayPal, Venmo, Coinbase, and so on. If you have access to your spouse’s account information, this should be relatively easy to find.

What Can You Do if Your Spouse Is Hiding Digital Assets?

Michigan courts do not look favorably on anyone attempting to hide assets, digital or otherwise, during a divorce. Not only could such behavior result in fraud charges, but a judge could decide to award any hidden assets in full to the other spouse.

While it’s not always easy to uncover assets your spouse attempts to hide, it’s worth it to go digging. You’re entitled to a fair division of all marital assets, including whatever is in your spouse’s digital wallets.

If you’re involved in a contentious divorce, the experienced attorneys at Gucciardo Family Law are here to help. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and learn more.