What Is Considered a High Asset Divorce?
Divorces involving significant assets are sometimes referred to as “high-asset divorces.” These divorces are often much more complex than other types of divorces, so working with an experienced Nashville divorce lawyer is crucial to ensure your rights and property interests are protected.
What Makes A Divorce a High Asset One?
While there is not a technical definition of a high-asset divorce, these divorces tend to involve:
- Real estate holdings – These divorces may involve high-value real estate holdings, including a primary residence, vacation home, and rental properties. They could also involve commercial properties.
- Business interests – Many wealthy people own businesses or are partial stakeholders in companies.
- Investments – High-asset divorces may involve complex investments, offshore accounts, trusts, stocks, bonds, hedge funds, and other valuable holdings.
- Collections – These divorces may include expensive art, jewelry, coins, or other valuable collections.
- Valuable assets – Vehicles, watercraft, planes, and other valuable assets may comprise part of the marital estate.
- Intellectual property – Spouses may own patents, copyrights, licensing rights, trademarks, or other intellectual property. They may also have royalty rights.
Elevated lifestyles supported by significant financial resources also indicate a high-asset divorce.
What Legal Issues Are Involved in High-Asset Divorces
High-asset divorces involve complex legal issues in identifying, evaluating, and dividing marital assets. Some of these complexities may include:
- Lack of transparency – Spouses may be reluctant to provide transparent information about their valuable assets, refuse to provide mandated financial disclosures, or hide assets in an attempt to get a more significant portion of the marital assets.
- Assets of different values and complexity – Traditional divorces may involve a marital home and some other small amount of assets. However, high-asset divorces may involve assets of varying complexity. It can be difficult to determine a fair division of assets when they have different tax treatments and relative values.
- Accurate evaluations – It may be more difficult to value business interests, investments with high volatility, and commercial properties than more traditional marital assets.
- Spousal maintenance – There is a greater likelihood for high-asset divorces to involve spousal maintenance when there is a disparity between the spouses’ relative incomes and resources. Alimony amounts are often substantial in these cases.
- Marital agreements – Spouses in high-asset divorces may have prenuptial or postnuptial agreements that affect their property rights. It may be necessary to carefully scrutinize these documents and the circumstances surrounding their formation to determine if they dictate the terms of marital property division.
- More significant potential for litigation – Because more valuable stakes are involved, litigation is more likely to result, so it’s important for spouses to have a trial attorney on their side.
Contact Burdine Law Firm, PLLC for Help with Your High-Asset Divorce
Legal assistance is always warranted in divorce cases, but it is absolutely essential in cases involving high-asset divorces. More is at stake, and the potential consequences of your divorce settlement can impact your life and lifestyle for years to come. An experienced Nashville high asset divorce lawyer from Burdine Law Firm, PLLC can review your case, use various tools to locate hidden assets, and advocate for you to receive a fair resolution in your divorce case. Contact us today to learn more.