The Divorce Advice Everyone Gives That Quietly Wrecks Your Case
You’ve heard it. You’re at a dinner party and mention you’re splitting up, and suddenly everyone is a legal scholar.
Your college buddy tells you to hide the cash before you file. Your aunt tells you to change the locks immediately to assert dominance.
Here is the brutal truth: Your friends love you, but their advice is dangerous. In a high net worth divorce, the stakes are too high for barstool law. Strategies that work in movies often will get you crushed in a courtroom.
If you are going through a divorce, the best advice is professional advice, and our experienced Chicago, IL collaborative divorce lawyer is here to help you.
THE PROTECTION TRAP
One of the biggest traps we see is the idea that you should aggressively separate your money before the legal filing to protect it.
This almost always backfires, but for different reasons depending on which side of the lake you live on.
ILLINOIS: THE DANGER OF TRANSMUTATION
In Illinois, this strategy hits a legal wall called “transmutation.”
- The scenario: You have a pre-marital inheritance or a condo you owned before the wedding. It is yours, free and clear. But then, acting on bad advice, you sell the condo and deposit the cash into your joint checking account to manage it better during the split, or you use those separate funds to pay down the mortgage on the marital home.
- The result: In the eyes of the court, you likely just “transmuted” or “commingled” that property. By mixing it with marital funds, the identity of that separate property may be lost. You effectively gifted your ex-spouse half of your separate stash. Once that egg is scrambled, you can’t easily unscramble it. You turned an asset that was 100% yours into one that is 50% theirs.
MICHIGAN: THE DOCTRINE OF INVASION
In Michigan, the risk is different but equally painful. Michigan judges rely heavily on “equity” and the “conscience of the court”.
- The scenario: You keep your assets strictly separate. You feel safe because the business is in your name and you started it before the marriage.
- The result: If a judge sees that the marital assets aren’t enough to support your spouse, they can use the doctrine of invasion. This allows the court to invade your separate property, even stuff you owned decades ago, and give a chunk of it to your spouse to ensure suitable support. The more you try to hide or hoard, the more likely a judge is to use this equitable power to level the playing field.
THE TAKEAWAY
Ignore the sharks in your friend group. Real protection for yourself is understanding the specific math of your jurisdiction. Don’t let a well-meaning friend cost you six figures by guessing at the law.
For experienced, professional, and dedicated representation that you can trust, contact our team at Merel Family Law today to schedule a consultation and discuss your divorce with a member of our team.
