Client briefed us that she and husband co-owned a “worthless” piece of vacant property. We found this property was highly valuable and had produced significant rental income, but husband had fraudulently sold the business to his brother without informing the wife.

Asset went from $30,000 in perceived value to more than $2 million. Our bill was $2,400.

When we found the property, we saw that it was at the intersection of two interstate highways and contained a large facility to service long-haul trucks. There was no way this was a valueless piece of property. In addition, we told the client that she had probably not seen any of what should have been substantial rental income from the truck facility.

Even worse was the way her husband’s family had disposed of the property behind her back. She had been induced to provide a signature specimen the year before and had never understood why it was needed. The husband’s family took that signature and convinced a county clerk to take it as her consent to sell the property. Worse still was the counterparty in the sale: A company controlled by the husband’s brother. This was easily discoverable because the family had taken no measures to conceal the ownership of the purchasing company. A few dollars to set up a Delaware company would have done it, but they had assumed that the wife would never check and would never hire anyone to check for her.

You can read our article for Bloomberg BNA Family Law Reporter on asset searches in divorce cases: “Matrimonial Asset Searches: Your Client Knows More than She Thinks.”