Q: After a California divorce, if one ex-spouse dies, does the other ex-spouse get to claim back their money he took?
Before he met me, I had a house and a nice 401K. He had just declared bankruptcy. We refinanced the house and he put his name on it. I paid the mortgage, loans, and taxes, and he "invested" the rest. Before leaving, he instantly spent all of our savings that was still accessible by me. Our divorce says one can claim money hidden by the other, but with privacy the way it's set up, I can't find where he hid it all. If he dies, can I access his records to claim what is legally mine?
A: It would have been preferable to investigate through the discovery process where the money was located, and resolved the issue in the judgment. If the judgment refers to 'hidden' money, it probably refers to money that you never knew existed, not assets you could not locate. You definitely should speak to a local attorney to review the entire situation.
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