Avoiding Contempt

• First, a note of caution: Courts generally frown upon any attempt to defraud your current spouse by hiding assets or failing to disclose assets when required to by a court order. Any sound asset protection strategy must assume that your spouse and spouse's attorney know all about the asset -- and will have difficulty collecting anyway.
  
  

Trusts

• A trust is a legal entity that can hold property for the benefit of an individual or group. Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable. In the case of an irrevocable trust, the assets are permanently transferred to the control of a trustee, and the transfer -- provided it was not fraudulent -- cannot be undone. If you can move assets to an irrevocable trust before or during your marriage, your spouse's attorney will find it difficult, or even impossible, to unlock the trust. If the trust is overseas, it is doubly difficult because even if your spouse gets a court order, U.S. courts have no authority outside the United States.
  
  

Power of Attorney

• If you sense the inevitability of divorce, move to revoke any powers of attorney you may have granted to your spouse over time -- particularly unlimited powers of attorney. Any in-force power of attorney authorization carries the risk that your spouse will use that authority to empty your accounts -- and put the money out of your reach.
  
  

Photograph Your Valuables

• By documenting and photographing your community property and other valuables, you give yourself some protection against the possibility that your spouse may suddenly remove these items from your home. When you photograph and document this property, you maintain your claim to its value, even if your spouse attempts to "disappear" the property you obtained together. This may be particularly important in the case of family heirlooms.
  
  

Use a Professional Appraiser

• The courts will attempt an equitable distribution of property based on the fair market value of the property -- as determined by appraisers. If you let your spouse choose the appraiser, the danger is that the appraiser will be biased in her favor, and assign a value that is more favorable to her than otherwise. You can counter this by having your own appraiser.