How Do Hidden Assets Impact Property Division in a High Asset Divorce?

Miami Attorney Explains How Hidden Assets Impacts a High Asset Divorce

Going through a divorce is one of the most difficult things you will do in your life. Separating from a partner that you spent many years with and trying to reorganize your life can be extremely difficult. You must divide property accumulated during the marriage, decide who stays in the family home, resolve child custody issues, and assess whether one spouse pays the other spousal maintenance.

When it is a high-asset divorce, things can get even more complicated. Often, one spouse tries to hide assets from the other spouse to prevent these assets from being split during a divorce. To uncover hidden assets, a person must investigate with the help of experienced attorneys and forensic accountants to ensure they do not lose out in the divorce settlement.

Miami Family Law Group, PLLC Can Help

The lawyers at Miami Family Law Group, PLLC have handled many high-asset divorces. We understand how complicated these cases are and the importance of having a good divorce lawyer by your side. You must take measures to protect your best interests during a high-asset divorce and ensure that your spouse is not hiding assets from you.

The Florida divorce attorneys at Miami Family Law Group, PLLC can help you by investigating whether there are hidden assets, ensuring that your legal rights are protected, and helping you come to a fair divorce settlement. Our law firm offers a holistic approach to high-asset divorce, because we care about protecting what matters in your life. We will help ensure that you can move on to the next stage of your life after a divorce with peace of mind.

Call our law firm today at 305-520-7874 to arrange a consultation with a family law attorney.

What Is a High-Asset Divorce?

A high-asset divorce is the dissolution of a marriage with significant assets involved. Usually, when one or both spouses have over $1 million worth of assets, it is considered a high net worth divorce. Marital assets can include bank accounts, real estate, businesses, stock options, retirement accounts, cryptocurrency, and collectibles.

When this amount of assets is involved, there are major financial interests at play, which can make a divorce more complicated than a typical divorce. Some considerations that must be made in a high-asset divorce include:

• Dividing marital assets and addressing separate property
• Estate and asset evaluation
• Dividing businesses
• Determining spousal support and child support
• Protecting the reputation of both spouses
• Uncovering a spouse's hidden assets

Hiding assets is a common problem in high-asset divorces. When one spouse does not want to share their financial assets with the other spouse or wants to protect their financial interests, they may try to hide assets from their significant other. If one spouse worked more than the other spouse and earned money during the marriage, they may try to hide assets to prevent them from being divided.

Property Division in a High-Asset Divorce

All high-asset divorces in Florida follow equitable division rules. Marital property, which includes real estate property and marital assets acquired during a marriage, is to be divided in a fair and equitable way between both spouses. This does not mean a 50/50 split automatically. However, judges often apply a 50/50 split by default. If you have separate property that you got before the marriage, this will not be divided by a judge.

Often, the division of marital property can cause significant tension during a high-asset divorce. When one spouse has significant assets they acquired during the marriage, they may not want to share these assets with their soon-to-be ex-spouse. Tensions can also arise when both spouses are business partners and they need to divide the business fairly and equitably.

If possible, the best way to ensure you get a fair share is to mediate with the help of a divorce attorney. Often, family court judges do not know the ins and outs of your marriage and cannot attest to your financial assets. This can lead to a property division settlement that neither spouse is happy with. Through mediation, you can try to come to an arrangement that works for both of you. If you cannot agree on what is a fair share for each party, a judge can decide.

Can One Spouse Hide Assets in a Divorce?

As noted previously, concealing assets is a common problem in high-asset divorces. High-value assets, such as life insurance policies, businesses, private bank accounts, stocks, cryptocurrency, real estate, jewelry, and other property, can be difficult to appraise and divide. Often, couples argue about whether certain assets are separate property or marital property and whether they should be divided 50/50 or given to one spouse.

A spouse may hide assets to prevent them from being divided along with other marital property and to keep the entire value for themselves. Some ways a person may hide assets in a high-asset divorce include:

• Creating shell companies
• Creating offshore bank accounts to store assets
• Buying expensive personal items, such as jewelry and art, and hiding them
• Investing in cryptocurrency
• Creating a bank account under a different name
• Reporting business losses

If you suspect that your spouse is hiding assets to prevent you from recovering your fair share in a divorce case, get help from an experienced divorce lawyer immediately. The faster you act in these cases by hiring an attorney and financial experts, the more time you have to find your spouse's hidden assets and prevent them from putting money into offshore accounts.

How Do Hidden Assets Impact Property Division in a High Asset Divorce?

An attempt to hide assets in a divorce case can lead to one person losing out significantly. The only way fair property division can happen is when both spouses and their lawyers are made aware of all assets involved in the marriage. If one spouse hides assets by creating shell companies, reporting business losses, or investing in cryptocurrency, then fair property division cannot be achieved.

During negotiations, it is important that both parties are honest and negotiate with obvious intentions. If one party misrepresents their intentions and lies about the property that they own, the parties cannot come to a fair agreement. This can lead to one party losing out on business interests, real estate property, assets in bank accounts, and much more. When children are involved in the marriage, it can lead to them losing out on property and assets as well.

Consequences of Hiding Assets in Florida

If you believe your spouse is hiding assets to prevent fair property division from happening, report it to your attorney as soon as possible. An attempt to hide assets can have serious consequences. In Florida, if a spouse hides assets in a divorce, they can be found in contempt of court and even face criminal charges.

If they lie during an official divorce proceeding while under oath, they could face perjury charges. They could also face fraud charges if they misrepresented their assets, lied on tax returns, or deliberately provided false information to hide assets from their significant other. If they are found in contempt of court or face criminal prosecution, the consequences can be severe.

When you can prove that your spouse is hiding assets to prevent you from getting a fair share, you can use this to your advantage in court. Because Florida follows an equitable division principle, it is not an automatic 50/50 division of property. If you can show the judge that you deserve a higher share of the assets because your spouse tried to hide these assets from you, you could end up with a large portion of marital assets.

Finding Hidden Assets in Florida

To find hidden assets during a high-asset divorce in Florida, we recommend hiring an experienced family law attorney. An attorney who has experience dealing with high-asset divorces will know how to find concealed assets with the help of a financial expert. Some ways you can uncover your spouse's hidden assets include:

• Financial records -If you have a joint account with your spouse, you can review bank statements and tax returns for suspicious activity. This can look like large payments to people you have never heard of, cash advances, and open lines of credit.
• Business losses -Your attorney can help check the business records of your spouse to see whether they reported unusual losses or payments to other entities.
• Storage -Sometimes, spouses buy property with their assets and hide it to prevent it from being divided during the divorce. For example, your spouse may hide a box full of cash, jewelry, or other valuable items in their apartment or in the family home.

If you suspect your spouse is hiding assets in a high-asset divorce, contact an attorney as soon as possible. The consequences of hidden assets can be severe. You could lose out on significant assets by failing to identify these assets during a divorce. This could cause you to lose out on shared property, business interests, and much more.

Contact Our Miami High-Asset Divorce Lawyers

With the percentage of marriages ending in divorce constantly increasing, people need to protect their assets at all costs. In a high-asset divorce, the stakes are extremely high. Not knowing about hidden assets means that you cannot get a fair and equitable division of marital property. This means you could lose out significantly and be left with a small share of assets after your divorce.

If your spouse attempts to hide assets in a high-asset divorce to prevent fair property division from happening, contact a divorce attorney immediately. At Miami Family Law Group, PLLC, we have significant experience helping clients through high-asset divorce cases. We understand that when there is a lot of money involved, things can get complicated.

Our lawyers have an in-depth understanding of divorce and property division laws in Florida, and we have helped many clients uncover hidden assets in high-asset divorce cases. We care about protecting your best interests, so we offer a holistic approach to all divorce cases.

If you need help with your high-asset divorce, contact our law firm today at 305-520-7874.