Atlanta, GA High-Asset Divorce Lawyer
Wealth can make many aspects of life simpler, but it typically complicates a divorce. Reaching a fair property settlement can be challenging when you and your spouse have substantial holdings, and making appropriate decisions regarding the children can be more difficult when they are accustomed to a privileged lifestyle.
Privacy can also be critical when a couple has a high profile. The safety of your family might be at risk if financial information becomes public. Many high net-worth people also have concerns about keeping business and personal information from the public to avoid reputational damage.
Work with an Atlanta, GA high-asset divorce lawyer if you and your spouse have a high income or substantial wealth. You need a trusted divorce attorney with financial sophistication and an appreciation of your need for privacy and discretion.
Resolving Complex Property Division Issues
Many high-net-worth couples have holdings that include interests in businesses or professional practices or partnerships. You might have substantial investment portfolios, pensions or retirement plans, real estate, and interests in trusts.
When you divorce, you both must disclose and value all your assets and debts. Identifying all assets and liabilities and valuing them appropriately requires help from experts like forensic accountants, appraisers, tax experts, and others. The process can take months or even longer, depending on the property and whether both spouses are forthcoming and honest.
Working with a divorce attorney with a grasp of financial matters, business compensation, and taxation can help the process move smoothly. Our Atlanta, GA attorneys have a network of experts that can assist in identifying, finding, and valuing marital assets when they are significant.
Impacts of Marital Agreements
Couples with considerable assets often have prenuptial agreements or marriage contracts that describe how to divide assets in a divorce. These agreements can often simplify the property division process. However, when the stakes are high, the spouse who gave up rights in the marital contract could challenge the agreement’s validity. The judge may refuse to enforce an agreement if a spouse can prove they did not receive an accurate financial disclosure or for several other reasons. Litigating whether an agreement is enforceable adds time and expense to a divorce.
Ensuring Children Maintain Their Lifestyles
Most couples use a formula to calculate the child support the non-residential parent must pay to the parent who lives with the children most of the time. When a couple is high-income, the process is more complex.
The Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 19-6-15(i)(2)(A) requires judges to use the highest payment the formula provides as the starting point. Courts try to ensure that children can maintain their accustomed lifestyle after a divorce. This could include attending the same private school, continuing the same extracurricular activities, remaining in the same neighborhood, and keeping memberships in the same clubs. An Atlanta attorney can help a parent convince the judge that the child support they requested best supports the children’s best interests in a high net-worth divorce proceeding.
High-Asset Couples Profit From Avoiding Litigation
No matter how bitter a couple’s feelings toward each other might be, avoiding a litigated divorce is in everyone’s best interests. A litigated or contested divorce happens when one spouse files for divorce before the couple has agreed on all the issues they must resolve before divorcing.
High-asset divorces take a long time to resolve in most cases. Working through the family court system to settle your disagreements could lead to long delays and significant legal bills. In addition, the process is public.
You could seek to resolve your issues through mediation and other alternative dispute-resolution strategies. These processes allow you and your spouse to work out your issues and create written agreements that your attorneys submit to the Georgia family courts for approval. These methods are less expensive, more private, and much better suited to resolving complex issues than taking the matter to trial. An Atlanta, GA attorney can represent you through any of these processes and help ensure your agreements protect your rights and meet legal requirements.
Consult an Atlanta, GA Attorney About Your High-Asset Divorce
When couples decide to divorce, they often want it to happen as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, a high-asset divorce can be complicated, and reaching an equitable settlement often requires months of investigation and negotiation.
An Atlanta GA high-asset divorce lawyer has the skills and resources to manage a high net worth divorce as efficiently and discreetly as possible. Call today to discuss your divorce goals with an experienced legal professional.
