Discovering hidden income

[E. Aoife]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I wonder if anyone reading this can assist me with suggestions.

I am now in a legal proceeding having to do with spousal support. Early on, I as the respondent and my former spouse as the plaintiff, were both required to submit to the court, a declaration of all sources of our income and expenses, and though I was completely honest and forthcoming in my declaration, he was not. I have just learned, nearly a year after we each submitted our declarations of income and expense, that my former husband has, for a number of years, had an eCommerce business on the side in which he sells electronic equipment products he manufactures. He did not declare this business nor make mention of any income received from this business in his declaration of income and expense.

I am quite sure he does indeed have an income stream from his business predicated on a number of things;

1. He has, for as long as I've known him (since 1973) continually had a successful side business of electronic components he manufactures.

2. His side businesses have always been "under the table", in that he has never declared them on his income tax or in any other way, made it known that he has this income.

3. On his current eCommerce Websites, he has testimonials from customers in the States and Europe, proclaiming how wonderful his products are. This infers to me, that even if he hasn't sold a single thing to anyone else (and I'm sure he has), he has at least sold his products - which are
listed for as much as $2,500 each - to these persons who are giving testimonial concerning the desirability of the products.

My goal is to discover exactly how much income, and for how long he has had this income, he derives from his otherwise undeclared business. For transactions less than $300, he uses Paypal on his Website, and that doesn't offer a difficulty insomuch as I can subpoena his PayPal transactions. However, for transactions over $300, he uses either direct deposit or checks written on US banks.

He can use any of hundreds of banks for eCommerce sales deposits from his side business, so I know of no way to subpoena records of income stream. Furthermore, I suppose in many cases, he could simply go to a branch of the bank on which checks are drawn and cash the check there.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can discover this income from his side business?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by E. Aoife

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I wonder if anyone reading this can assist me with suggestions.

I am now in a legal proceeding having to do with spousal support. Early on, I as the respondent and my former spouse as the plaintiff, were both required to submit to the court, a declaration of all sources of our income and expenses, and though I was completely honest and forthcoming in my declaration, he was not. I have just learned, nearly a year after we each submitted our declarations of income and expense, that my former husband has, for a number of years, had an eCommerce business on the side in which he sells electronic equipment products he manufactures. He did not declare this business nor make mention of any income received from this business in his declaration of income and expense.

I am quite sure he does indeed have an income stream from his business predicated on a number of things;

1. He has, for as long as I've known him (since 1973) continually had a successful side business of electronic components he manufactures.

2. His side businesses have always been "under the table", in that he has never declared them on his income tax or in any other way, made it known that he has this income.

3. On his current eCommerce Websites, he has testimonials from customers in the States and Europe, proclaiming how wonderful his products are. This infers to me, that even if he hasn't sold a single thing to anyone else (and I'm sure he has), he has at least sold his products - which are
listed for as much as $2,500 each - to these persons who are giving testimonial concerning the desirability of the products.

My goal is to discover exactly how much income, and for how long he has had this income, he derives from his otherwise undeclared business. For transactions less than $300, he uses Paypal on his Website, and that doesn't offer a difficulty insomuch as I can subpoena his PayPal transactions. However, for transactions over $300, he uses either direct deposit or checks written on US banks.

He can use any of hundreds of banks for eCommerce sales deposits from his side business, so I know of no way to subpoena records of income stream. Furthermore, I suppose in many cases, he could simply go to a branch of the bank on which checks are drawn and cash the check there.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can discover this income from his side business?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Honestly, it's going to be tough - you may need to hire a forensic accountant to do a full investigation and that's not going to be cheap.

[nextwife]

Additionally, how do you know those "testimonials" are even REAL? They could be totally bogus. You could spend a whole lot og time and money chasing ghosts.