You arrived at this page by selecting:Snooping around for evidence can backfire! (17/12/09)
It's often the case that when a couple's relationship starts to deteriorate things can become very strained. If they can't see a way back and the love seems to have diminished things can change pretty quickly and either one or both partners start looking at the various routes out of the relationship. For married couples, more often than not the focus can then become on what each partner can hope to achieve financially and materially if they split. This may be out of necessity for some people's circumstances rather than pure personal gain but sadly it can then become all about the money! An every man for himself attitude.
So what happens then? Well not all people are fully aware of exactly what assets they might have as a couple. One partner might take care of all financial matters and the other might have left them to it and be more or less in the dark. Well it has been known that some people will start snooping around in their spouses personal affairs. They do this in the hopes of getting a better understanding of the assets they have built up over the years. They want to know where they might stand and what they may hope to achieve financially. They also do this because they might not trust the other partner any more and don't want to have the wool pulled over their eyes if the split is inevitable.
But then snooping around and gathering evidence such as copying personal documents which are to be used against someone is not looked upon favourably in the courts. If something isn't yours then you are not entitled to take it no matter who you are taking it from. Technically it is theft. There are also privacy and data protection rights to take into consideration. If you think you might be heading to court to get divorced the last thing you would want to do is give the impression you are not an honest trustworthy person.
Whilst you are at the mercy of your partner's honesty there are processes to protect you. Each person must swear an affidavit to state that the information they have presented is accurate. If the other person is not satisfied with that they can certainly probe deeper and ask more questions which must be answered truthfully under oath. It is quite rare that years after a divorce something comes to light to say one person lied under oath but if it does come up you are entitled to pursue it and the offender will have committed perjury. It is actually quite difficult to hide assets these days unless you deal in cash. Monitoring bank statements can reveal quite a bit about a persons circumstances. If I were you I would really put your trust into the legal system to save getting into trouble yourself.
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