fiduciary duties

When Does Breach of Fiduciary Duty Apply?

Many California spouses are unaware of their fiduciary legal obligations during the marriage. These duties are the same that apply to business partners. Fiduciary duty in marriage includes the obligation to act in good faith, avoid taking advantage of the other, and other fair and ethical obligations. What this means is that you should treat your spouse and your community assets with respect, and your actions should always be taken with your spouse in mind.

In marriage and separation, spouses must follow this duty. When a spouse breaches their fiduciary duty, they can be held legally accountable.

Full, honest, and complete disclosure is a critical part of divorce in California. Family Code section 2100 explicitly calls for “full and accurate disclosure of all assets and liabilities” because doing so furthers the sound public policy of “the reduction of the adversarial nature of marital dissolution and the attendant costs…”

Divorcees often ask about the legal consequences of concealing assets in a divorce case. Under California law, doing so is an express breach of fiduciary duty and the penalties can be severe. There is no better example of this than the result in the Marriage of Rossi case, where Wife tried to hide over a million dollars in lottery winnings she received before separation.

San Diego Divorce Attorneys Blog

Articles Tagged with fiduciary duties

When Does Breach of Fiduciary Duty Apply?

When Does Breach of Fiduciary Duty Apply?

My Spouse is Hiding Assets