High Net Worth Divorce

Right from the outset, the best way of avoiding your ex-partner making a claim against you in the future, is to be totally honest about your financial circumstances.

If your ex-partner is made aware that you have not been truthful and hidden assets etc, then they may be able to make a new claim against you.

It will be necessary to put together a thorough record of your financial situation and how you accumulated your wealth.

You are also able to prevent your ex-partner from making future claims against you by obtaining a “clean break order”, which means you make a lump sum payment to your ex-partner when divorcing.

Our expert divorce solicitors can explain more about this if you have more questions.

Business interests are likely to be a high priority for both parties during the divorce, and as such, often become a complex matter.

A family business is often looked at as something which produces an income - that can be used to provide maintenance - rather than just as an asset to be shared or sold.

Courts prefer to protect businesses during a divorce, ensuring that the value and the employees remain largely unaffected. If you are the person running the business, it is more than likely that you will remain so, following the divorce. However, the business is still counted in the financial settlement, meaning that your ex-partner may be compensated with other assets instead – cash, investments, or properties, or the business income could be used to pay maintenance to your ex-partner.

Both parties are expected to be totally transparent and honest about their financial circumstances and are entitled to see all bank and credit card accounts from the last 12 months (and sometimes longer).

If you think that your ex-partner is hiding or not disclosing part of their financial affairs, then we will advise you of the various options open to you. Should this only come to light after a financial settlement has been agreed upon, then we can go back to Court to have the new evidence considered, and the financial settlement altered.

Assets held overseas are no different from those held here in the Uk. They are all taken into consideration in exactly the same way as other assets will be.

Because they are in a foreign country, overseas-held assets can be easier to hide. If you think that your former partner is or has done this, we will strongly recommend that you speak to us immediately.

Technically, your pension is classed as an asset – just as your home and your investments and money in the bank account are assets. The value of your pension can therefore be taken into account when deciding on your divorce settlement.

There are a number of options that we would suggest are option to you when it comes to your pension and how it’s treated.

1. As already mentioned above, you could offset the value of the pension by transferring a lump sum to your former partner (or other assets to the same value)

2. You could arrange for a proportion of your pension to be paid to your former partner when the pension is paid to you.

3. You could also arrange for the pension to be split into two separate pension funds (this is called pension sharing).

As with other assets, life insurance will be considered when agreeing to a fair financial settlement.

It’s important that both parties agree on how the various policies should be handled and treated. Will premiums continue to be paid and by whom? Will beneficiaries of any life insurance cover be changed?

You may each decide to retain your own individual policies. But if you have any joint policies, these will normally be sold or transferred into one person’s name.

The Court will not normally include any expected inheritance in financial settlements, unless you are due to shortly receive it.

Prenuptial agreements can certainly help protect some of the assets that you bring into the marriage, but not necessarily all. It’s important to remember that the basic principle of a financial settlement is that it is fair to both parties.

Any assets that you accumulate during the marriage cannot be protected by a prenuptial agreement.

We would always recommend that you make a new Will after your divorce. Your former partner will automatically be excluded as a beneficiary of your Will, but unless you have a new Will written, this can sometimes have undesired consequences.

As an example, your previous Will might have stipulated that you wanted your former partner to look after the children using the money left to him/her. With the former partner now excluded, you may want to arrange for a different trust to hold the children’s inheritance. You may also want to alter the way that the assets are split up.

Sometimes, financial settlements make a provision for either party to continue paying maintenance after your death. In these situations, a new Will is essential. If your Will does not make adequate provisions for your former party, as the settlement has been agreed upon, your Will can be legally challenged.