Divorce can bring out certain aspects of your spouse’s personality that you might have never seen before. When you are facing divorce, and you have substantial assets, there is often the temptation for one spouse to squirrel away those assets and hide them from the other spouse, so that they will not have to share them in the property division process.

However, Tennessee law provides certain safeguards which are designed to protect the marital estate until the divorce case is resolved: the automatic injunction or statutory injunction.

The statutory injunction in Tennessee divorce

This injunction goes into effect against both parties as soon as the divorce is filed and it forbids the following activities:

• Transferring, assigning, borrowing against, concealing, dissipating or disposing without the other party’s consent any marital property.
• Voluntarily canceling, modifying, terminating, assigning or allowing an insurance policy (life, health, homeowner, auto renters) to lapse for non-payment when the policy covers both parties or the children.
• Changing the names of the beneficiaries without consent of the other party or an order of the court.
• Harassing, threatening, assaulting or abusing the other party, making disparaging remarks about the other party in the presence of their children or to either party’s employer.
• Hiding, destroying or spoiling electronic evidence.
• Relocating any children of the parties outside of the state of Tennessee or more than 50 miles from the marital home without the permission of the other party or an order of the court.
• The law requires that each party maintains records of their expenditures, which they must make available to the other party upon request.

(Full text of the statute TN Code § 36-4-106 (2015))

Violators of this injunction could be subject to being held in contempt of court.

The statutory injunction can only put a stop to financial misdeeds that go on after the divorce has begun. If you spouse has been planning the divorce for a while and has businesses, assets and income streams that you know nothing about, you will need the services of an experienced Nashville divorce attorney who will work with forensic accountants and business valuation experts to determine whether your spouse may be hiding assets.

Dividing marital assets in a complex, high net-worth divorce can be a challenging process. You can feel confident that your interests are being protected when you work with the experienced Nashville legal team at Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC. Contact us to reserve an in-person or video consultation time to answer your questions about your specific divorce case.