Divorce is a traumatic time for almost all women. When your husband owns and runs a business, you should take steps to ensure that you aren’t getting the short end of the stick. There is a phenomenon that can occur when a business owner gets a divorce. This is known as sudden income deficit syndrome, or SIDS.

Even if you don’t think that this is going to be a factor in your divorce, it is worth keeping in mind. Here are some points you should know about SIDS:

SIDS might start long before the divorce petition is filed

If your husband has been contemplating divorce for a while, there is a chance that he has been taking steps to hide income from the business. By starting long before the divorce petition is filed, your ex might be able to take the suspicion out of what is going on. There is a chance that you have just accepted the decrease in income already and might not even think about how the timing coincides with the divorce petition.

SIDS can take on many forms

There are many different ways that SIDS might occur. One of these is that your ex might create fraudulent vendor accounts to make payments into. He might create false employees to include on payroll. He may start to keep cash payments without recording them.

In all of these cases, the goal is to make it seem like the business isn’t as profitable as it was prior to the determination that he was going to file divorce. This is so that he can walk away from the marriage with a bigger slice of the pie than what he is actually due.

SIDS might be difficult to detect

Because of the methods that your husband might use to keep income under wraps, it might be difficult to detect SIDS easily. In some cases, you might need to enlist the help of a forensic accountant to help you determine if SIDS is a factor in the divorce.

There are several ways that you might be able to detect SIDS. Looking at financial records, ledgers, tax statements and other public records might clue you into an issue. Checking for hidden bank accounts and trying to trace the money might also be helpful.

You have to do what is necessary to protect your interests during the divorce. Making sure that you look into everything your ex claims is one thing that you may need to do to ensure you aren’t getting less than what is rightfully yours.