Oops! I Forgot My Shoes!
In 2012 a husband sued his wife saying she never mentioned her stockpile of 1,200 pairs of designer shoes in their divorce proceedings. He sued his poker-pro ex-wife for her shoe collection worth about $1 million, which he claims she never told him about when they divorced three years ago. He claims that she hid the $1 million collection from him and that its value may entitle him to hundreds of thousands of dollars more in their divorce settlement. In addition to her fame as a World Series of Poker player, the woman is known as one of the world’s top footwear aficionados. Her collection was been featured in MTV’s “Cribs.” The wife’s website advertised her love of shoes and fashion above her poker interests, with numerous pictures of her posing in exotic heels and the Marilyn Monroe quote, “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.” In the summer of 2011, he became aware that his wife owned and failed to disclose an extensive . . . collection of Christian Louboutin shoes . . . and other high-end designer shoes and bags, his suit says.
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVE – By Mike Turner, CPA
In Texas, if you fail to disclose significant assets or list them on the Inventory and Appraisement form normally provided to the court, it may come back to bite you as fraud. Both spouses are required to disclose all their assets and specify if they are separate or community property. Hiding assets is quite common and constitutes fraud, as well as perjury when sworn statements exclude these known assets. In this case, Beth would have been further ahead by listing her shoe collection in her disclosure documents as separate property. If course, that brings up another question, whether the shoes were purchased with separate property funds, before or during marriage. TIP: Don’t lie to the court. It can very easily comeback to bite you, or your shoes!