Q. My husband is French. When we first met, he was living and operating a business in France. He moved to the US when we got married and eventually established his business here and closed the one in France. I never believed he moved everything here. He was in business with his brother and I never saw proceeds from being bought out. I think he still has bank accounts in France.

Now that we are getting divorced, he insists his income is down, he has minimal assets here and swears he has no assets in France. He is planning to move back to France and wants me to buy him out of our house. I can’t afford to do that right now – our kids are in 10th and 11th grade and I need to be able to stay in the house until they graduate but since he is paying no support on his “down” income, I will need to use savings to float expenses.

If I can prove there are assets in France he is not disclosing, I can probably keep the house and more of our savings. Do you know how I can get access to his bank accounts in France?

A. The first place you should start is reviewing the tax returns filed during the marriage whether jointly or individually. Look at the tax documents for FBAR forms which is where one discloses foreign bank accounts. That might give you more information on what he has and where. If there are no FBAR forms with the tax returns, make a separate document request here for all FBAR forms he has filed since moving to the US.

It is easier to ask for discovery when you know where the money is. However, even if you end up with the name of a bank you cannot just send a subpoena to another country. The type of discovery we are used to here in the US is illegal in many other countries, France included.

France is, however, a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters. You can read the convention at hcch.net for specifics.  If you believe he is hiding assets and you want to pursue discovery, you have to follow the convention. You will have to make the discovery request through the Central Authority in France. The US Central Authority designate for service abroad is ABCLegal in Seattle. They can help you navigate and properly serve discovery in France.

Email questions to whickey@brickjones.com