YLaw Recovers Hundreds of Thousands Moved Abroad | Family Law

YLaw and Ari Wormeli achieved a landmark victory in Ss v. P, confronting a troubling issue many divorcing couples fear: your ex moving money abroad in an attempt to hide it. Our victory helped protect our client’s wealth and set a powerful precedent, strengthening the courts’ ability to prevent and penalize financial misconduct during divorce.

This case that answers a question many people face during divorce: “What happens if my ex empties our accounts and move money abroad from Canada?”

The Case on Removal of Funds by the Husband

After 24 years of marriage, this couple faced the painful process of separation. With it came a tangled web of shared finances and business interests, including a restaurant co-owned by the husband and the wife’s brother.

Moving the Money Abroad

Just before the restaurant shut its doors, the husband quietly withdrew $450,000 from the business account in Canada and moved it into his own name.

Nearly $300,000 of that money was secretly wired to a bank account across the border in the United States, which put their hard-earned retirement savings seemingly out of reach for the wife.

To the wife, it looked like a deliberate attempt to hide assets.

When confronted, the husband denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he was “safeguarding” the funds for the business.

But his actions told a different story. He refused to provide accounting records and refused to pay storage fees for financial documents that were crucial to the business. After investigation by the YLaw team, we found that the so-called “business money” was being used for his personal expenses, including groceries.

The Result – Husband Ordered to Return the Money Moved Abroad

Ari Wormeli was able to dismantle the husband’s defense, and proved to the court that draining corporate accounts and moving money into the United States was not a legitimate strategy for the interests of the business.

Instead, the judge recognized that these transfers were actually intended to place the family’s assets beyond the court’s reach and agreed that using these funds for personal expenses directly contradicted the husband’s claim of acting in the interests of the business.

Most importantly, the court refused to tolerate the husband’s lack of transparency and found it unacceptable that the husband jeopardized important financial evidence by refusing to pay storage fees, ruling that he had a duty to preserve records regardless of his location.

The judgment confirmed that geographical distance or claiming ignorance is not a valid excuse for failing to disclose your finances.

Husband Ordered to Pay Wife’s Legal Costs

As a penalty for trying to hide money, the court ordered the husband to cover the wife’s legal costs. Then, he was ordered to bring the money back to Canada immediately, hand over the missing records, and pay a penalty for trying to hide assets.

Why this Win Matters for Family Law

This case proves that moving money abroad does not equal safety for a dishonest spouse.

· International borders are not a shield from justice: Many people assume that once money is moved across the border, it’s gone. We proved that with the right evidence, Canadian courts can and will order funds to be brought back.

· “Business decisions” can be overruled when it’s not actually in line with the business: Spouses often hide behind their companies, claiming they can do whatever they want with business assets. We were able to expose the strategy for what it was, and were able to show the court that hiding behind a corporate structure is not a valid business decision, but a divorce tactic intended to avoid fair asset division.

· We don’t wait for trial: Securing orders to freeze assets, forcing financial disclosure, and enforcing payouts before the final trial was critical to our win. If we had waited for the final divorce hearing, the money might have been spent already. By acting urgently and securing preservation orders early, we made sure that there was still money left to divide.

If your spouse is moving money and hiding records, you need to act fast. Contact YLaw or call (604) 974-9529 today to safeguard your financial future.