[Direct answer]In the Beijing area, if one party conceals their assets, it's often difficult for the other party to investigate on their own. However, it can be investigated through lawyers' investigation and evidence collection and the court's investigation procedures. According to Article 35 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Lawyers (amended on September 1, 2017), lawyers may, with their practice certificates and certificates of law firms, investigate relevant information related to legal affairs from relevant units or individuals; according to Article 67 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the people's court shall investigate and collect evidence that the parties and their litigation agents cannot collect on their own due to objective reasons; according to Article 67 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests (effective from January 1, 2023), if one party applies to inquire into the property status registered under the other party's name during the divorce litigation and it's really impossible to collect the evidence on their own due to objective reasons, the people's court shall investigate and collect the evidence. It is recommended to submit applications for investigation and evidence collection and applications for property preservation simultaneously when suing or defending. For more details, please refer to the following link:Divorce litigation and legal services for family disputes.

I. Problem Background and Typical Scenarios

The forms of concealing assets are quite diverse in practice: holding real estate or equity in the name of relatives, transferring funds to others' accounts, concealing the flow of funds through large cash withdrawals or purchasing wealth management products, fictitiously creating debts to dilute common assets, transferring operating income to related companies through bookkeeping, and disposing of vehicles, stocks, and insurance in a rush before divorce. When handling similar cases in Beijing, the most common dilemma for parties is that they only know "the other party has money", but cannot provide any clues pointing to specific accounts or assets, resulting in their claims being impossible to substantiate. Another misunderstanding is that they entrust so-called investigation companies to track and secretly film others. Not only might the evidence be excluded due to its illegal origin, but they may also cross the boundaries of personal information protection, putting themselves at a disadvantageous position.

II. Key points of contention

First, the threshold for clues: Applying for a court investigation usually requires providing preliminary clues (such as the account-opening bank, account number, company name, and location of real estate). Applications that are completely vague are often difficult to gain support, so the early investigation of clues is crucial. Second, the choice of investigation path: Whether to first apply for inquiry or property declaration, or to freeze assets through the online investigation and control system in the preservation stage, needs to be determined based on the timing. The wrong order may give the other party time to transfer assets. Third, legal consequences: According to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, if a party conceals, transfers, sells, damages, or squanders joint property or forges joint debts with the intent to appropriate the other party's property, the court may award a smaller share or no share during the division of property; if discovered after divorce, the other party may file a separate lawsuit to request a second division. Fourth, the boundary between evidence and privacy: The investigation must be conducted within the scope permitted by law, and illegally obtained evidence may be excluded.

III. Professional analysis by Henglue Lawyers

When handling divorce cases involving concealment of assets, Henglue Lawyers typically proceed in four steps. The first step is clue restoration: by analyzing the family's consumption level, the other party's occupation and social insurance and housing provident fund payment records, daily chat and transfer notes, and the daily usage traces of vehicles and real estate, we can infer the possible types of assets and their holders. The second step is process initiation: while filing a lawsuit, we submit an application for investigation and evidence collection, and request inquiries into the other party's bank accounts, securities accounts, real estate, vehicles, company equity, etc. For those who control operating entities, we will also conduct penetrating verification by combining industrial and commercial archives, annual reports, and tax information. The third step is simultaneous preservation: we apply for property preservation to freeze key accounts to prevent the funds from being transferred again after the inquiry results are delivered. The fourth step is accountability: for the verified transfer actions, we claim that the other party should be allocated a smaller share or no share according to Article 1092 of the Civil Code, and file a lawsuit for a second division after the transfer is discovered after the divorce. In practice, the most easily overlooked aspect is the time difference - conducting an inquiry before preservation often leaves the other party with room for maneuver, so the two should be carried out as synchronously as possible. For cases involving company equity and account verification, we can combine them with other legal procedures to ensure comprehensive protection of the client's rights and interests. 恒略律师在处理涉及隐匿财产的离婚案件时，通常分四步推进。第一步是线索还原：从家庭消费水平、对方职业与社保公积金缴纳记录、日常聊天与转账备注、车辆与不动产的日常使用痕迹中，反推出可能的资产类型与持有人。第二步是程序启动：在起诉的同时，提交调查取证申请，并就对方名下银行账户、证券账户、不动产、车辆、公司股权等逐项申请查询；对掌握经营实体的，还将结合工商档案、年报与税务信息做穿透核查。第三步是同步保全：申请财产保全冻结关键账户，防止查询结果送达后资金再度转移。第四步是责任追究：对查实的转移行为，主张依《民法典》第一千零九十二条对该方少分或不分，并在离婚后发现的另行起诉请求再次分割。实务中最容易被忽视的是时间差——先查询后保全，往往给对方留出腾挪空间，因此两者应尽量同步进行。涉及公司股权与账目核查的，可结合其他法律程序进行全面保护。Legal services for corporate commercial and contract disputesCollaborative processing.

IV. Practical suggestions and legal basis

Practical advice: First, fix the basic information as soon as possible, including the other party's ID number, commonly used bank cards, work units, social security and housing provident fund accounts, vehicle license plates, company names, and unified social credit codes; Second, submit applications for investigation and evidence collection and property preservation simultaneously when suing, to avoid the time lag between investigation and freezing; Third, make good use of the divorce property declaration system, requiring the other party to declare their property in writing, and false declarations can be used as unfavorable circumstances; Fourth, pay attention to keeping records of the other party's large-scale spending, abnormal transfers, and sudden disposal of assets; Fifth, do not entrust illegal investigation agencies, to avoid evidence being excluded or triggering new legal risks. Legal basis: Article 1092 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (implemented on January 1, 2021) (legal consequences of hiding and transferring jointly owned property); Article 1062 (scope of marital jointly owned property); Article 35 of the Lawyer Law of the People's Republic of China (amended on September 1, 2017) (lawyer's investigation and evidence collection); Article 67 of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (implemented on January 1, 2022) (burden of proof and court's investigation and collection of evidence); Article 67 of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests of the People's Republic of China (implemented on January 1, 2023) (property inquiry and non-division or reduced division during divorce litigation). According to the relevant provisions of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Chapter of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (implemented on January 1, 2021), requests for re-division of marital jointly owned property after divorce are subject to a three-year statute of limitations, calculated from the day after the discovery. If the other party still refuses to deliver the property after the judgment takes effect, it can be combined with other evidence to prove the facts of the case and request the court to enforce the judgment.Legal services for creditor-debtor disputes and enforcement casesApply for enforcement.

5. Henglue Law Firm's Reminder

When facing the concealment of assets, the most taboo thing is to "litigate based on intuition". The first step is to organize the clues that can be obtained into a written list. Even if it's just a bank account number or a company name, it's more valuable than vague claims. The second step is to entrust a lawyer to intervene as soon as possible and submit an investigation application and a preservation application simultaneously when suing. The third step is to pay attention to the authenticity of the asset declaration and raise objections to obvious omissions or false declarations in time. It should be noted that the court's investigation resources are limited, and the more specific the clues are, the higher the likelihood of obtaining support. At the same time, do not take measures such as secretly filming or recording or illegally obtaining others' account information, so as to avoid the evidence being unusable. For assets with complex forms and held across different regions, you can use the following methods:Special services and legal services for other casesDevelop an overall inspection and control plan.

VI. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Can hidden assets really be traced and detected, and will the court support this effort?

Whether the information can be verified depends on whether the clues are specific and whether the procedures are timely. If the party concerned can provide initial clues such as the account-opening bank, account number, company name, or the location of the real estate, and if it is truly impossible to collect the information by themselves due to objective reasons, the court will generally conduct investigations and collections in accordance with Article 67 of the Civil Procedure Law; according to Article 67 of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, during the divorce litigation, the party can also apply to inquire into the property status registered under the other party's name. Applications that provide no clues at all have a lower chance of being supported. Therefore, one of the focuses of professional lawyers' work is to first transform scattered life information into specific clues that can be queried by the court.

Q2: If I allege that the other party is hiding assets, what evidence and materials do I need to prepare?

It is recommended to prepare three types of materials: first, clue-related materials, including the other party's ID number, commonly used bank and securities accounts, work units, social security and housing provident fund accounts, vehicle license plates, and the names of the companies they hold; second, behavior-related materials, including large-scale transfer records, abnormal cash withdrawal certificates, contracts or chat records of sudden asset sales, and copies of promissory notes for false debts; third, background-related materials, including proof of the family's recent consumption and living standards, which can be used to explain the obvious discrepancy between the scale of assets and the declared amount. The materials should be organized into a list and marked with the sources and dates, which will be convenient for lawyers to draft investigation and evidence collection applications, and also for explaining the specific direction of the clues in court hearings.

Q3: How much does it cost to investigate hidden assets and handle such divorce cases?

The fees consist of three parts: First, the attorney's fee, which is determined based on the complexity of the case and the scale of the assets involved, and is charged either on a per-case basis or as a percentage of the litigation amount, subject to the signed contract with the law firm; Second, the investigation and preservation costs that may be incurred, such as preservation guarantee fees and appraisal fees, which are charged based on the actual expenses; Third, the litigation fees, which are charged in accordance with the "Measures for the Payment of Litigation Fees" based on the amount of the disputed property, and are borne by the losing party or shared proportionally according to the outcome of the case. It is recommended to clarify the manner and upper limits of the various fees to be borne before entrusting the case, and to include the "distribution of the recovered property" in the entrustment contract to avoid secondary disputes.

Q4: How long does it typically take from initiating an investigation to identifying and locating the assets involved?

The timeframe depends on the procedural nodes and asset types. After filing a case, submitting an application for investigation and evidence collection, and the court reviewing and issuing an investigation order or conducting direct investigations, it usually takes several weeks. The feedback from banks, real estate, and securities is relatively quick, while it takes longer to conduct company equity penetration and account verification. Overall, from the filing of a lawsuit to the conclusion of the first-instance trial, the ordinary procedure takes six months, and the summary procedure takes three months. Cases involving extensive investigations often approach the upper limit of the timeframe. It is recommended to proceed with the application for investigation and property preservation simultaneously to avoid the funds being transferred again after the investigation is completed, thereby shortening the actual controllable timeframe.

Q5: If you suspect that the other party is hiding assets, what should you do first?

The first step is to "leave clues without alarming the other party". Without alerting the other party, collect their ID number, bank cards, securities accounts, work units, company names, vehicle licenses, and commonly used payment channels, and save records of recent abnormal transfers and large-scale expenditures; the second step is to consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible to assess the feasibility and timing of applying for a court investigation; the third step is to submit applications for investigation and evidence collection and applications for property preservation simultaneously when suing, to prevent assets from being transferred again; the fourth step is to require the other party to declare their assets in writing and raise objections to their authenticity. Never expose your cards or take illegal investigative measures on your own first.

The above content is based on the compilation of judicial practices in the Beijing area. The facts of individual cases and the jurisdiction of the court may affect the conclusions. Welcome to consult Henglu Law Firm for specific situations.

If you are facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the evidence materials, so as to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Divorce litigation legal services·Beijing Henglu Law Firm

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on the current effective laws and regulations and open adjudication rules, and is for general reference only. It does not constitute a formal legal opinion on specific cases. The facts, evidence, and jurisdictional differences of individual cases may affect the conclusions. If you encounter disputes, please consult a practicing lawyer in time.