Prominent Westchester Family Law Attorney Explains How Spouses Hide High Value Marital Assets and Why the Digital Footprint Still Catches Most of Them
Dina S. Kaplan, a partner at Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein LLP with more than 25 years of experience in family law, is warning that cryptocurrency wallets, fabricated liabilities, and artificial intelligence tools are giving divorcing spouses new ways to conceal marital wealth.
According to the 2026 Cryptocurrency Adoption and Sentiment Report published by Security.org, approximately 30 percent of American adults now own cryptocurrency, representing roughly 70 million people. The Charles Schwab Modern Wealth Survey 2025 found that crypto now accounts for 10 percent of the average American investor's portfolio. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 41 percent of adults who have combined assets with a spouse admitted to some form of financial deception.
According to the BBNS partner, the most common method of hiding assets remains failure to disclose. "We are only as good as what we can detect. Often, one spouse is financially savvy and the other does not have full and fair information," Dina said.
Ms. Kaplan noted that fabricated liabilities, fictitious employees on the books of closely held businesses, and deferred compensation arrangements all surface regularly in her practice. On cryptocurrency specifically, the leading matrimonial attorney acknowledged that hardware wallets and privacy coins create real challenges but stressed that money rarely vanishes without a trace. "If $100,000 is missing and you cannot find it, you start at the front end: where did the money originate? Money does not just disappear," Ms. Kaplan said.
The Westchester family law attorney also addressed AI generated deepfakes in custody proceedings. According to the University of Baltimore Law Review, a parent in a UK custody dispute submitted a fabricated audio recording generated by AI in an attempt to portray the other parent as violent. Dina said that while this type of evidence has not yet surfaced in her own caseload, courts will respond aggressively when it does. "If it is vetted and proven false, courts are going to come down hard on the person who tried to fraudulently tarnish the other parent," the longtime practitioner said.
Dina S. Kaplan is a partner at Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein LLP serving clients throughout Westchester County and the surrounding areas. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Ms. Kaplan attended Brooklyn Law School and has been admitted to practice in New York since 1996 and in Connecticut since 1995. The accomplished attorney has been recognized by Super Lawyers for eight consecutive years and completed the Houston Family Law Trial Institute. Dina's practice focuses on complex matters involving child custody, domestic violence, high value property division, and all financial aspects of marital dissolution.
Source Links:
Security.org 2026 Cryptocurrency Adoption and Sentiment Report: https://www.security.org/digital-security/cryptocurrency-annual-consumer-report/
GN Crypto, Divorce Lawyers Trace Hidden Crypto Stashes (February 2026): https://www.gncrypto.news/news/courts-probe-hidden-crypto-in-divorce-battles/
University of Baltimore Law Review, Deepfakes in the Courtroom (December 2025): https://ubaltlawreview.com/2025/12/01/deepfakes-in-the-courtroom-challenges-in-authenticating-evidence-and-jury-evaluation/