I am not in favor of dirty tricks in a divorce.  Others are not so straightforward.  So it pays know what they are so you can defend yourself if they happen to you.  According to English lawyer Marilyn Stowe, the top ten divorce dirty tricks are:

1. Moving the spouse to a different country in order to obtain a more favourable divorce settlement. (In the U.S. however, a spouse can move to more favorable state.  This is called forum shopping.)

2. Covert surveillance of a spouse by bugging the phone, the car, the office — or by employing an enquiry agent. (Private detective in the U.S.)

3. Secretly photocopying every scrap of financial information in the house and office. Also: downloading everything from a spouse’s computer, and later pretending that he/she didn’t realise what he/she was doing.  (Or destroying information after discovery issues in the U.S.)

4. Salting away as much money as possible, ready for that “rainy day”. (Dash Cash)

5. Damage, destruction, or sale of the household’s most valuable contents.

6. Spending money wildly, as a form of “payback”.

7. Assaulting the spouse and the new partner.

8. Using a “friend” as a spy, to gain access to the lawyer’s office and learn at firsthand what is going on.

9. “Conflicting out” the spouse’s lawyer.

10. If all else fails…running off with the divorce lawyer!

Read the complete article at First Wives World.