Concealment of Assets and Bankruptcy Fraud in Divorce
My question involves a marriage in the state of: MN
During our divorce my husband's attorney refused to provide discovery. After 4 months of delays my attorney finally received all of the notarized Release of Information forms only to have my husband file for Chapter 7, then converted to a Chapter 13. The judge even set a trial date while the "auto-stay" was still in place. I then filed for bankruptcy so my attorney could review discovery PRIOR to trial. At trial none of the marital investments were split. I thought my husband just hid or liquidated them all.
After the divorce I hired a financial investigator, who reviewed the same documents my trial attorney supposedly reviewed. My financial investigator was able to trace $5,000,000.00 of IRA investments and 2 pensions. None of these assets were listed in husband's divorce financial statements or his bankruptcy. This was successfully not split due to my attorney's lack of investigation. I plan to sue my divorce attorney for legal malpractice.
My questions:
1. Is it fraud not to list the IRA investments & pensions in his bankruptcy?
2. What is the statute of limitations for fraud on bankruptcy and the Divorce Decree?
3. If there is bankruptcy fraud would that need to be dealt with before suing my attorney for legal malpractice?
4. Would I be able to get my half of the investments without dealing with a legal malpractice case?
5. Would the creditors be dealt with just 50% of his share of the investments?
6. Would my ((current) ex-)husband) be looking at jail time for bankruptcy fraud?
Thank you in advance for you information regarding this matter.
Re: Concealment of Assets and Bankruptcy Fraud in Divorce
The question of whether or not your ex- can be proved to have committed bankruptcy fraud is irrelevant to any effort by you to reopen your divorce to revisit the division of property, and to any attempt by you to prove that your former divorce lawyer committed malpractice. You can discuss with your new divorce lawyer whether there is any realistic chance of reopening your divorce case to have the division of assets revised, based upon the information you have discovered. Factors including the full facts, the terms of the divorce judgment, and the amount of time that has passed since the judgment was entered could all affect that analysis.
You have not given us any time frame, and we do not even know if the bankruptcy remains open, and we have no access to the bankruptcy records so as to evaluate the documents your ex- submitted to the court. You can report your suspicions to the bankruptcy trustee and see what action the trustee is willing to take; you can try reporting the issue to law enforcement but don't be surprised if they appear confused and disinterested in your impressions of your ex's bankruptcy case. You can also discuss possible reporting strategies with your new lawyer.