When you hold multiple assets and a substantial amount of money in your account, divorces can take a sharp turn and become a high asset divorce. When dealing with marital assets the divorce process can become much more complicated. In a perfect divorce, all assets would be split 50/50 but in a high asset divorce, you run the risk of losing a lot of money. In this blog, we will be going over the basics of High Asset Divorce in Michigan.
When there are a lot of assets involved there may be pension plans, multiple homes, or property, and these things might make it difficult to determine the true value. There may be assets that even have a fluctuating evaluation which can make it difficult when it comes to the division of these assets. When we divide assets, oftentimes there are assets whose value is a matter of dispute which can present challenges.
What is High Asset Divorce?
A high asset divorce in The State of Michigan is when there is $1 million or more in liquid assets and there is a large amount of property and other assets. There is a huge difference between the complexity of a divorce case involving assets and a case with no assets. When there are assets involved the best possible choice is to try to work with the other party to come to some kind of agreement so that the process can go much smoother. In reality, this is very difficult to do especially with high assets, this is why you need an experienced lawyer.
High Asset Lawyer
Finding the right lawyer is key to making sure your high asset divorce goes right and you get the results you desire. There are many divorce lawyers that handle regular cases but for high asset divorces, it is a different process that requires a skilled and experienced lawyer. If you hire an attorney from a law firm that isn’t accustomed to handling cases that involve millions of dollars, high-value properties, or other assets, then you run the risk of this being handled poorly and not achieving the outcome you deserve. Make sure to choose an attorney that has many years of handling high asset divorces. In a standard divorce with more debt than assets, those cases are easy from the standpoint of discovery.
There isn’t a lot to investigate and ultimately people spend more money on legal fees than what the marital estate is worth. However in a high asset divorce, whether you are the one with the assets or the spouse of the one with the assets, it is very important to engage in aggressive discovery. This is important so that you can find out the value of the assets so that appropriate decisions can be made on how to allocate them.
Your attorney also has to find a way to address alimony or even allocate debt. These questions require a discovery phase and investigation. Goldman and Associates Law Firm can handle all these matters and give you the best possible outcome.
The Dos and Don’t
It is highly unlikely that one person will receive 100% of the assets and one person will leave with nothing. Despite the fact that Michigan is a no-fault divorce state, the truth is that fault can be relevant to some property, alimony, and other issues. The court may not be equal about it, it may be something along the lines of a 60-40 split, but you don’t see 90-10 split in these scenarios from Michigan courts. In the majority of cases, the distribution will be even.
The initial instinct of those with high assets and are going through a divorce, is to generally run and start hiding or moving money, property, stocks, or other assets. This is the wrong thing to do and will backfire on you. When the court finds out that you are trying to hide your assets they will give you less of what you could have gotten, and the divorce process will be drawn out longer than needed. Your attorney will tell you what assets you might need to maneuver and the majority of the time your attorney will tell you not to touch anything especially once you have been served.
If you want to preserve your assets, there are things that can be done in order to preserve those assets from your soon to be ex. Don’t hide any of your assets or try to put all your money into stocks or other savings accounts, this will only hurt you in the long run and the court will find out. Be truthful and tell your attorney about all the assets you own and give all the information needed by the attorney.
Conclusion
If you are involved in a High Asset Divorce make sure to contact your attorney first and listen to what steps you need to take so that everything that can go as planned and you can get the best possible outcome. Some assets are easy to determine such as a bank account, and on the other hand, there are some assets that are hard to figure out such as a house, pension plan.
The court will conduct a simple calculation in order to determine the value and if the value cannot be easily calculated and if your attorney is unable to do so, then the assistance of experts will be enlisted. The court will look at the value from the time the marriage started until the time of divorce, and that piece is the marital asset and subject to division.
If you need more information on High Asset Divorce or Marital Property or if you have any questions regarding divorce in The State of Michigan contact Goldman and Associates Law Firm. At Goldman and Associates, our attorneys are experts in family law and they will thoroughly examine all aspects of your divorce. With the best lawyers in Michigan, Goldman and Associates takes each and every case very seriously and gives you the outcome you desire.
For more information on high asset divorce in the State of Michigan watch the video below and check out the Goldman and Associates YouTube channel for more videos on everything relating to law in Michigan. Make sure to give our attorneys a call if you have any questions about domestic violence in Michigan.
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