Divorce is always difficult on a personal level. When involving significant assets, it becomes even more complex. High-net-worth divorce cases present unique issues that require experienced legal knowledge and guidance to ensure you can protect your assets. 

At Weiner Law Group, our New Jersey high-net-worth divorce attorneys offer support and advice to help clients navigate even the most complex divorce-related matters. Contact us to learn how we can help you safeguard your assets and guide you forward.

What Is a High-Net-Worth Divorce?

What is a divorce? In short, a divorce is legally ending a marriage. When you end your marriage, you need to resolve:

  • Childcare and support,
  • Dividing marital assets, and
  • Whether a spouse will pay the other spousal support.

What is a high-net-worth divorce compared to a typical divorce? A high-net-worth divorce involves spouses with substantial assets, such as real estate, businesses, and investments. They tend to be more complicated than other divorces due to the complex asset division process and the potential for one spouse to have a monumentally higher earning capacity. Often, dividing assets requires expert appraisals, strategic negotiations, and carefully drafted agreements to protect both parties’ financial interests.

Why High-Net-Worth Divorces Are Unique

High-net-worth divorces are distinct from typical divorces because they involve large, complex financial portfolios. These cases often require specialized knowledge to divide assets fairly, protect business interests, and manage tax implications. Assets can spread across multiple states and countries, requiring even more careful planning to manage them effectively.

In such cases, it is essential to seek experienced legal help. Our New Jersey high-net-worth divorce attorneys at Weiner Law Group have the experience to handle even the most complicated cases and protect your interests throughout the process.

Common Issues in High-Net-Worth Divorces

With the guidance of an experienced New Jersey high-net-worth divorce attorney, you can proactively address many common high-net-worth divorce issues, minimizing related risks. Although many of these issues relate to property division, high net worth can complicate child custody and support and spousal support, too.

Property Division 

In New Jersey, when you divorce, you divide marital property equitably, meaning fairly. To ensure the final division is fair, you typically have to report every piece of property you own—separately or together—to the court and each other.

Most assets acquired while you are married are marital property, such as:

  • Income and savings,
  • Retirement accounts,
  • Real estate, 
  • Vehicles, 
  • Business ownership interests, and
  • Intellectual property. 

Spouses can own separate property, too, which typically includes assets either spouse acquired:

  • Before the marriage,
  • After separating, and
  • Through inheritance or gift.

When dividing property in a high-net-worth divorce, issues often arise related to:

  • Valuating assets,
  • Planning for business interests, and
  • Assets currently taking advantage of asset protection strategies.

Navigating these issues requires guidance from experienced, knowledgeable attorneys.

Property valuation

Attorneys often work with experts, such as appraisers and financial analysts, to assess the value of all assets. Experts help by evaluating the value of, for example:

  • Businesses interests, 
  • Retirement funds, 
  • Works of art and other unique items, 
  • Intellectual property, and 
  • Real estate.

Using these expert valuations, your lawyer can help you negotiate to keep the assets that mean the most to you.

Business interests

Business interests include stakes in a business, like stocks or partner status. Dividing business interests can be particularly complicated when:

  • The business continues to operate during and after the divorce;
  • One or both spouses holds controlling or a significant percentage of the business’s interests;
  • One spouse plays a primary role in the business, and the other does not; and
  • Both spouses play primary roles in the business.

What it means to divide business interests fairly and how best to accomplish that goal can vary based on your situation. For example, you might handle business interests by:

  • Having a spouse who is actively involved in the business buy out the other’s interest;
  • Selling the business and dividing the proceeds; or
  • Having one spouse sell their business interests to another person.

A skilled high-net-worth divorce attorney can help you understand your options and work toward your goals, whether keeping the business intact or selling it. 

Protected assets

High-net-worth individuals are rarely strangers to asset protection strategies like setting up trusts, establishing offshore accounts, or taking strategic tax deductions over time. When someone has used these strategies in the past, they may struggle to identify every asset they need to disclose during the divorce process.

Experienced attorneys and forensic accountants can track assets and identify hidden accounts to ensure you disclose everything you need to. Failing to disclose assets can lead to complications months or even years later, including a potential reallocation of marital assets.

Child Custody and Support

Child custody refers to who has primary childcare responsibility, including when each parent will care for their children after divorce. Child support involves one parent, typically the higher earner and the parent without primary custody, making regular child support payments to the parent with primary custody. These payments support the children’s education, living expenses, and general well-being. 

While New Jersey has child support guidelines to help parents determine how much to pay, those guidelines do not account for high-net-worth individuals. The primary concern in custody and support determinations is the best interests of the child, which may mean one parent making higher or much higher than average child support payments.

Spousal Support (Alimony)

Spousal support, also called alimony, is a payment one spouse may make to the other during or after a divorce. The amount of support payments depends on several factors, including:

  • Length of the marriage,
  • Marital standard of living, and 
  • Financial resources and needs of both spouses. 

In high-net-worth divorces, alimony payments can be much higher than in ordinary divorces, particularly because high-net-worth couples often experience a significantly different standard of living than most people.

Risks in a High-Net-Worth Divorce

Without proper guidance, individuals involved in high-net-worth divorces risk:

  • Inaccurate asset valuation, leading to one spouse receiving less than their fair share;
  • Failing to account for hidden or underreported assets, risking later court actions related to asset division;
  • Tax liabilities related to asset transfers, splitting retirement funds, or reallocating business interests;
  • Compromising business interests and activities, which may negatively impact the company’s operations and long-term profitability; and
  • Disputes related to the fairness of spousal and child support payments, where one spouse may make excessive payments or the other may not receive adequate support to maintain their lifestyle.

Hiring an attorney with experience handling high-net-worth divorces is essential to avoid these risks. 

Why Hire a High-Net-Worth Divorce Attorney?

Handling a high-net-worth divorce requires particular, detailed legal skills. High-net-worth divorce attorneys understand the complexities of asset division and how those complexities can affect other aspects of divorce, like child custody, child support, and spousal support. We know how to work with financial experts and appraisers to help move your divorce case forward efficiently while protecting what matters most to you.

Weiner Law Group’s New Jersey High Net Worth Divorce Attorneys

A high-net-worth divorce requires guidance from a meticulous, detail-oriented, and knowledgeable divorce attorney. At Weiner Law Group, we have the experience and knowledge to help you find solutions to divide complicated marital estates effectively. Contact us today to learn how we can help you navigate your high-net-worth divorce.