SHORT ANSWER · DIVORCE
What is dissipation of assets?
Dissipation of assets is when one spouse uses marital money for something unrelated to the marriage, typically as the marriage is breaking down, such as gambling or gifts to a new partner. It is shown from the statements: which spending, on what dates, to whom. Each state defines it in its own way.
DEFINITION
What is a dissipation of assets?
Dissipation of assets is one spouse spending, transferring or wasting marital money for a purpose unrelated to the marriage, usually while the marriage is breaking down.
EXAMPLES
What counts as dissipation?
Spending that served one spouse and not the marriage. Choosing a tool? Tools that surface these transfers are ranked in the best divorce forensic accounting software.
- Gambling losses or spending on an affair
- Large gifts or transfers to family or a new partner
- Selling an asset below its value
- Running up debt on joint cards for one person’s use
- Cash withdrawals with no explanation, especially as separation nears
ZeraBooks builds the workflow around your matters and your template for free. No development charge, whether it’s a forensic department or one person.
HOW IT IS SHOWN
How do you show dissipation from bank statements?
You start from a complete record and isolate the spending in question by date, payee and amount. A missing month matters: in Matter 25-117, checking closes March at 18,240.55 and opens May at 21,905.10, and April was never produced. That gap doesn’t prove anything. It is a month nobody can see yet. The broader search is covered in how do you find hidden assets in a divorce?
Dissipation often overlaps with what is commingling in a divorce? and with how do you trace separate property in a divorce?, because the same accounts carry all of it. ZeraBooks proves each statement and flags missing months; whether spending is dissipation is for the attorneys and the court. This isn’t legal advice.
Is dissipation the same as hiding assets?
No. Hidden assets still exist somewhere. Dissipated money has been spent or given away.
Does normal living spending count?
Usually not. Ordinary household spending is generally treated differently from spending for one spouse’s own purpose, but the rules vary by state.
Who usually proves it?
Often a forensic accountant, working from the produced statements, check images and card records.
FREE CUSTOM BUILD
Show the spending,
month by month.
ZeraBooks proves every produced statement and shows which months are still missing.