Why You Need A Special Attorney For A High-Asset Divorce
While it is a good idea to have an attorney for any divorce situation, when there is a significant amount of money involved, you need to hire an attorney who specializes in high asset divorce. This can include situations where you own multiple pieces of real estate, own a business, or have a significant stock portfolio. Even if one of you had a good portion of the assets before you married, problems can still arise that require in-depth investigations and considerations. Here are just a few reasons to be sure your attorney is used to handling this type of divorce.
Hidden Assets
It is possible that your spouse decided to start hiding some finances when the threat of divorce began. This will require an in-depth look at all the marital assets and finances to include an audit. If the two of you have been living separately for a while, your lawyer will investigate his or her lifestyle to make sure they are living within their means and also that they are not squandering money to avoid splitting it with you.
Marital Assets
If your spouse had most of the assets before you got married, it is quite possible he or she will end up with them once the divorce is final. However, your attorney may be able to prove that individual assets were increased after the marriage. For example, if your spouse had a nice stock portfolio initially but has added to it over time, you should be able to receive your portion of the increase. For example, if your spouse had 100,000 shares of stock in a company when you married, but over time has bought another 100,000 shares you would be entitled to ½ of the worth of the second 100,000 shares but not to what he or she had before the marriage.
Spousal Support
You may have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle in your marriage. If your divorce would force you to have majorly change that lifestyle your attorney will negotiate spousal support for you. Of course, there may be stipulations on how long you can continue to receive this support depending on your own income and whether or not you remarry.
Dividing up the assets of any marriage can be frustrating and take time. When the assets amount to a significant financial amount things can get mean and make the situation more difficult. It is best to allow experienced high-asset divorce attorneys handle this portion of the divorce so that everything is fair to everyone involved and any fights are kept to a minimum.