Wife discovers husband's hidden Bitcoin during divorce proceeding

[sokani]

Hi guys!
I have come across a topic here that emphasized on the need to disclose one's Bitcoin dealings and seed phrase to his/her spouse incase something bad and unexpected like death comes knocking on the door, the husband or wife can have access to the funds and claim it.

Well... This story is quite different. A husband hid his crypto assets from his wife amid divorce saga, the wife had her suspicion, then hired a forensic expert who found out that during the splitting of the property, the husband failed to declared his 12 BTC stashed somewhere in an undisclosed wallet. She's now asking that the Bitcoin be splitted into two.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/05/20/bitcoin-in-divorce-how-spouses-hide-assets-crypto-hunters-find-them.html

Looks like some of the married folks are getting smarter... They don't want to be left in the dark, but are going out to get it themselves through crypto hunters. What's your thoughts on this?

[1714626598]

1714626598

[Patrol69]

There are rules in place in various countries where the wife gets half of the husband's property in case of divorce. As a result, many couples get divorced due to the greed of money. 

Recently, this happened in the case of Achraf Hakimi, who played in the left-back position of PSG. After a long marriage, Achraf Hakimi's wife complained against him that he beat his wife a lot. According to the source, Achraf Hakimi's wife decided to divorce and according to that decision, the court said. When this order was made to give half of Achraf Hakimi's assets to his wife, the court observed that Achraf Hakimi had no money in his account and all the money was in his mother's account. As per divorce rules, since there is no money in his account, no matter how much money is in his mother's account, his wife will not get any money due to divorce. 

But today I heard through you about converting your account money to Bitcoin due to divorce. This incident is really interesting to me and those who are about to get divorced if they read this news they will see that they are also adopting this method.

[m2017]

Hi guys!
I have come across a topic here that emphasized on the need to disclose one's Bitcoin dealings and seed phrase to his/her spouse incase something bad and unexpected like death comes knocking on the door, the husband or wife can have access to the funds and claim it.

Well... This story is quite different. A husband hid his crypto assets from his wife amid divorce saga, the wife had her suspicion, then hired a forensic expert who found out that during the splitting of the property, the husband failed to declared his 12 BTC stashed somewhere in an undisclosed wallet. She's now asking that the Bitcoin be splitted into two.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/05/20/bitcoin-in-divorce-how-spouses-hide-assets-crypto-hunters-find-them.html

Looks like some of the married folks are getting smarter... They don't want to be left in the dark, but are going out to get it themselves through crypto hunters. What's your thoughts on this?

What proof is there that the 12 BTC belongs to the woman's husband? Maybe it was his mother who asked him to buy and leave for storage. And then, by what right can this woman claim this money.

There is another point: undisclosed wallet was not found, which means that there is no evidence of hiding these 12 BTC. No wallet - there will be no division in half.

The husband can also return this wallet to his mother - the rightful owner of these bitcoins, which again leaves the greedy wife with nothing.

[hd49728]

If you buy a bitcoin, store it in private manner, no other people can know where you store it.

Per law, any asset is bought during your marriage time will be considered as co-owned by you and your wife (or husband). It should be split in divorce case.

Morally that husband made a bad thing as he wanted to hide and steal that money from his wife. I don't support it and I feel happy that the wife detected it by herself. If that man stored his bitcoin not too good, safely and secretly enough, his coins can be detected by his wife as we knew but can be found by other people in his family too.

Yesterday, my mom did a general cleaning on my room and when she's done, I saw the recovery phrase of my Trezor hardware wallet on the garbage can which I placed on my computer table

[S A KHAIR]

Hi guys!
I have come across a topic here that emphasized on the need to disclose one's Bitcoin dealings and seed phrase to his/her spouse incase something bad and unexpected like death comes knocking on the door, the husband or wife can have access to the funds and claim it.

Well... This story is quite different. A husband hid his crypto assets from his wife amid divorce saga, the wife had her suspicion, then hired a forensic expert who found out that during the splitting of the property, the husband failed to declared his 12 BTC stashed somewhere in an undisclosed wallet. She's now asking that the Bitcoin be splitted into two.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/05/20/bitcoin-in-divorce-how-spouses-hide-assets-crypto-hunters-find-them.html

Looks like some of the married folks are getting smarter... They don't want to be left in the dark, but are going out to get it themselves through crypto hunters. What's your thoughts on this?

In this case, are they really smart or wise? If they do not completely trust each other, they still go to marriage and, as a result, have to go to court and doubt each other until the end. If you think they're smart, your marriage will be just like them. My wife and I always share everything with each other, if one of us intends to hide from each other, we will never be able to love each other until now.

[Dunamisx]

Well... This story is quite different. A husband hid his crypto assets from his wife amid divorce saga, the wife had her suspicion, then hired a forensic expert who found out that during the splitting of the property, the husband failed to declared his 12 BTC stashed somewhere in an undisclosed wallet. She's now asking that the Bitcoin be splitted into two.

I wouldn't blame the man here for doing such and i wouldn't also want to interfere to the matter that arises for the separation of them both, but in dealing with bitcoin, we can see that it's a currency that is decentralized which means only the person owing bitcoin can have access to his asset without any third party knowing about it, if he thinks he trust and love his wife or children, he may decided to share his keys with them or let them know that he's having a bitcoin investment.

As long as he's not using a centralized exchange, they can't apprehend him or know about his bitcoin investment except he once told his wife or she already knew he is into bitcoin, if the court knows he has an asset in bitcoin, they can't do anything to force the man share it into two because they have no evidence that he has such, bitcoin is a p2p network except the man is willing to give her from his bitcoin investment.

Looks like some of the married folks are getting smarter... They don't want to be left in the dark, but are going out to get it themselves through crypto hunters. What's your thoughts on this?

The conclusion here is for everyone to know what he's doing, know whom you're married to and know how to secure your privacy incase of situations whereby you wouldn't want anyone to know about your worth or investment at hand, as long as you have the keys they coins belong to you and no court or government can cease your asset from you.

[sokani]

If you think they're smart, your marriage will be just like them.

This is rude and uncalled for. Many persons would insult you for this but I would just pretend I didn't see this. I can see clearly that you've problems comprehending my post because there's no place in the post where I supported either of the couples.

[Victorik]

Personally, I find this story very interesting and I would appreciate if you can keep us posted.
However, I think this will be a very tough but for the judge to crack. What if the man deny ownership of this BTC.
 Bottom line is that this case can go either way.

[Synchronice]

Was that Bitcoin wallet a 2/2 multisig wallet? No, so how does she claim that 50% of it belongs to her? She is just a typical gold digger and the law of splitting everything that has been acquired since marriage is the worst law that has been created.

This is what I love about crypto wallets. If the owner knows keys or have saved them somewhere safely, despite the fact that his wife stole the Ledger hardware wallet, this man can still recover it.

"All of it wound up in two or three different wallets on a foreign exchange — a place like Coinbase, but in a foreign country that does not operate in the U.S. and is not subject to the laws and jurisdiction in the United States," Himonidis told CNBC.

DiMichael said he has run into similar issues with cases where funds were transferred to a global Binance account, and he was, therefore, unable to subpoena records since the funds were in an untouchable jurisdiction.

This is another beautiful quote from that article.


The only logical solution in this case and in every upcoming case is:
If wallet is a multisig 2/2 and the second multisig owner wife, then it should be split if both agrees but if wallet is not a multisig wallet and is owned by one person, then law shouldn't push the owner to send half of crypto to wife or husband.

[dothebeats]

This is why you do not disclose your crypto stash to someone else, not even your spouse unless you trust them with your life or you believe that they aren't with you just for the money. The last one is very difficult to prove especially nowadays that a lot of people only want to exist and be showered with affection and pampered with material things. That is why I do not really agree to speed dating up to a marriage, not unless you know your soon-to-be spouse since childhood and you are sure that they won't flip the switch if it ever comes to that.

Hopefully though, the husband gets to keep whatever crypto he has for himself. It's bullshit that your spouse get to keep half of what you built way even before you guys met while the other doesn't really help add any value to your life in case you get separated.

[crwth]

Things are really getting more and more complicated with regard to this, and you might be able somewhat to hide and just make it your own if there's no evidence that you even have it in the first place. It's going to be hard to determine if it's really his and is able to go that far to know that it is yours.

So there's a job for that now? Like crypto hunters?

[avp2306]

Things are really getting more and more complicated with regard to this, and you might be able somewhat to hide and just make it your own if there's no evidence that you even have it in the first place. It's going to be hard to determine if it's really his and is able to go that far to know that it is yours.

So there's a job for that now? Like crypto hunters?

No one can prove of ownership if she cannot prove that he holds the private key of the wallet which have 12 BTC balance. If she only have snapshot of the balance well the husband can deny that and he will not be forced to split up the balance for just like that. This is the advantage of holding our other wealth on digital currency since we can deny that amount is in our position and you make their life to prove that especially if your wife us not worthy to get some share on your wealth.

[ABCbits]

If i understood the news correctly, there's no indication the Bitcoin was bought using wife's money or money from shared spending/saving account. In that case, i fail to understand why would the wive demands 50% of husband's Bitcoin. Anyway, i don't see anything wrong by not revealing existence of non-shared things (whether it's Bitcoin or personal bank account).

So there's a job for that now? Like crypto hunters?

It's not surprising since job called private detective/investigator exist. In addition there are many blockchain analysis service such as Chainalysis, although most of them aim government/cryptocurrency business as their customer rather than individual.

[EarnOnVictor]

Looks like some of the married folks are getting smarter... They don't want to be left in the dark, but are going out to get it themselves through crypto hunters. What's your thoughts on this?

My thought is that this folk is not smart at all, if he did, he would have been more clever in hiding his Bitcoin. For this to have been discovered by the wife's hunter might mean that the guy was not actually hiding anything as he might not just disclose it or he is just a novice in the business. Because, if I want to hide Bitcoin this day with my level of understanding now, it would be almost perfect as I would definitely use trusted third parties and still mix my coins before I would safely keep them. I wonder how the crypto hunter would be able to reach all the networks used in doing so.

It's painful if a divorce is making you pay more for a woman that is not worth it. Some women deserve it, but some don't just deserve it as they might have made your life miserable before the divorce. While some only married you just because of your fortune.

[Crypt0Gore]

I am not trying to destroy people's marriages but I've never for once like the idea of letting people know your real worth, and this includes your spouse, not until you are so sure that your spouse are for real, I mean, a man knows his family more than anyone, but that's not always the case, if you are the one that got married to someone after you already in money you have to be cautious, maybe what you had isn't for real, you won't know, ladies of today get married not because of love but because of what they can achieve from marrying the man, if you have to come into the light with your wife about your worth, make sure it's the one third of your worth..

I see everything wrong in someone pretending to love someone just to be able to take over their properties, this is why I don't want to leave this country and go to US because this is very common in the US, I can't live with myself sharing my properties with someone that have pretend to love me all this while, it's never going to happen on my watch.

[drwhobox]

His wife were aware of his bitcoins that is why she hired a forensic to find the wallet or key. Still I don't clear about hiring forensic but that is my best guess. People are getting smarter and so the husband was smart enough to hide his bitcoins but seems like his ex wife is also techy.

Should have learned his lessons from A.Hakimi and gave the key phrases to his mom instead hiding.

[initim]

Interesting story. I will say, you should understand the divorce terms and conditions. if the term says 50/50, so be it. But with digital currencies, This can be kept so safe and private without the woman's knowledge also it can be argued. What if the man invested the 12BTC on behalf of someone?

In digital currency too, there are advantages and disadvantages, especially in the occurrence of death and no one knows the key.

[stompix]

What proof is there that the 12 BTC belongs to the woman's husband? Maybe it was his mother who asked him to buy and leave for storage.

You have to declare every single penny you have in case of a divorce, and things like having half a million $ in safekeeping from somebody won't fly with any judge. You will simply have to return them and your mother will get a nice call from the IRS about half a million she never mentioned din her taxes.

There is another point: an undisclosed wallet was not found, which means that there is no evidence of hiding these 12 BTC. No wallet - there will be no division in half.

Previously undisclosed.
From the court's point of view, it doesn't even matter if he has the wallet anymore, if those coins have been traced living his main disclosed wallet and he has no statement or filling of selling those it means the coins are his and the current value of those will be added, he can keep the coins, he can split it, he can even burn his keys, he will still have to pay half of it.

Was that Bitcoin wallet a 2/2 multisig wallet? No, so how does she claim that 50% of it belongs to her?

Bruh, the law doesn't give a damn about the technical stuff of multi sig wallets or anything like this.
Those 12 BTC are counted as value, just like that, do you think couples will split diamonds and jewelry and cars in half at a divorce?

If wallet is a multisig 2/2 and the second multisig owner wife, then it should be split if both agrees but if wallet is not a multisig wallet and is owned by one person, then law shouldn't push the owner to send half of crypto to wife or husband.

No, the law is not pushing anyone to send half of the coins.
The law is demanding that both of them present all their assets for the divorce, and split the value, it might be possible that nobody will want the BTC so they will get sold and each of them will receive half all whatever. Also, just because the lawyer can't subpoena a financial institution in another jurisdiction it doesn't mean the court can't force both of them to disclose their assets hold there.

[Aikidoka]

This is the first time I've heard a story like that, it appears that the wife is quite smart for hiring someone to investigate whether her husband has bitcoin or not. However it also seems that she's being greedy by wanting to split his bitcoin investment in half which amounts to a significant sum of money around 6 BTC for each of them. I think the husband should have considered sending his Bitcoin to a family member such as his mother or father in order to avoid falling into this situation. He could have learned from the case of Ahref Hakimi who faced a similar predicament with his ex-wife.

[Synchronice]

Was that Bitcoin wallet a 2/2 multisig wallet? No, so how does she claim that 50% of it belongs to her?

Bruh, the law doesn't give a damn about the technical stuff of multi sig wallets or anything like this.
Those 12 BTC are counted as value, just like that, do you think couples will split diamonds and jewelry and cars in half at a divorce?

Diamonds and jewelry can't be split in two but bitcoin can be.

If wallet is a multisig 2/2 and the second multisig owner wife, then it should be split if both agrees but if wallet is not a multisig wallet and is owned by one person, then law shouldn't push the owner to send half of crypto to wife or husband.

No, the law is not pushing anyone to send half of the coins.
The law is demanding that both of them present all their assets for the divorce, and split the value, it might be possible that nobody will want the BTC so they will get sold and each of them will receive half all whatever. Also, just because the lawyer can't subpoena a financial institution in another jurisdiction it doesn't mean the court can't force both of them to disclose their assets hold there.

To be completely honest, I don't know well how the law works in this case. I'm just very much against this and these terrible laws makes me think that its better to marry without signing a marriage certificate. One may ask, don't you trust your wife? But you know, shit happens, especially today and probably too much feminism and too much praise of women makes men to marry women from poor countries who do housework and act like a housewife instead of a queen.
By the way, is it legally fair that this women took her husband's Ledger without his knowledge? It's a robbery.