Her husband had asked her to take out a home equity loan in her name and give him the proceeds to support his failing manufacturing business. She refused, and started asking questions. Under-reporting, hiding, and even theft of assets is anything but uncommon in divorce cases.
Marital property includes jointly and most separately owned assets acquired during a marriage.
Most often, the husband does the hiding, and the wife is hurt the most financially. If you're going through a divorce, your attorney may hire investigators to get a clear picture of your spouse's assets. But you can save money by doing some spadework on your own, using the Internet. For starters, check the ''history'' area on your family computer's Web browser. You may find, as one woman did, records of a spouse's bank or brokerage accounts that he had kept secret.