High Net Worth Divorce in Moncton, New Brunswick

What Is A High Net Worth Divorce?

A high net worth divorce falls into the category of complex divorces. Apart from a high net worth of marital estate, complex divorces include dealing with spousal and child parenting issues, especially in the case of highly emotional and combative relationships between spouses. 

A high net worth divorce is a divorce that involves a multi-million dollar family estate. It requires a specific approach and the help of highly-skilled and experienced family lawyers capable of overcoming unique and complex challenges. In addition, dealing with high net worth divorces demands special litigation skills necessary for winning high net spousal and child support cases. 

What differentiates high net worth divorces from other divorce procedures – is their complexity. They involve valuable property and debts, including businesses, professional practice, real estate, stocks, trusts, retirement accounts, letters of intent, executive bonus packages, shareholder loan accounts, etc.

Furthermore, high net worth divorces are typical because wealthy spouses often include prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements. Reviewing them and analyzing how they deal with marital property requires special attention.

High net worth divorces are specific for several other reasons. Namely, the spouses involved in such a complex divorce are usually middle-aged and older spouses. Accumulating multi-million dollar marital estate is a process that takes years. Moreover, many wealthy couples have property overseas and own offshore assets, which further complicates matters. Finally, unlike other divorcing couples, high net worth divorce clients are more likely to have large family businesses.

Division Of Marital Property

In Canada, each province regulates the division of family or marital property. 

Under New Brunswick law, marital property is property the spouses acquired during the marriage. According to Marital Property Act, each spouse has the right to an equal share of the marital property. Likewise, each spouse is responsible for an equal share of the marital debts. 

However, there are certain exceptions to that rule. In some cases, specific circumstances justify unequal distribution of marital property. The court considers the contribution to the marriage by each spouse and participation in the acquisition of marital property. Certain harmful acts, such as intentional destruction of marital property, can justify an unequal distribution. 

The Role of Experts

Since high net worth divorces include closely-held family businesses, professional partnerships, highly valued collections, investments in other countries, and other valuable assets – proper valuation and division of marital property require the participation of financial and forensic experts. They often must work as a team that includes appraisers, vocational experts, forensic accountants, and business valuation experts. 

Given that financial aspects of high net worth divorce are typically resolved based on experts’ opinions, having a highly-skilled and financially literate family attorney on your side is critical. Your lawyer must be able to adequately prepare and present your case in front of the court using the findings of financial experts. 

Therefore, when choosing your family lawyer, it is vital to ensure that they understand sophisticated financial issues and can successfully deal with all financially-related challenges.

Common Mistakes In Dealing With High-End Divorces

Involvement in high-end divorce may cause people to make mistakes that result in an unfair distribution of high net worth marital property.

Under the Marital Property Act, the divorcing spouses in New Brunswick must serve each other financial statements disclosing particular property or debts. However, some spouses hide information about their specific assets attempting to control or maintain the property.

Furthermore, some people often fail to examine their spouse’s assets in detail. It is not rare that a spouse intentionally hides specific assets from their divorcing partners. On the other hand, many people forget about a piece of property or an old account. In any case, such failures result in negative consequences.

Additionally, trying to avoid divorce proceedings and get over a stressful experience as soon as possible, many spouses agree to a settlement too quickly. Examining all aspects of the settlement offer is critical for reaching a fair deal, especially in high net worth divorces.

Finally, failing to hire an experienced divorce lawyer who will thoroughly scrutinize each aspect of a divorce process, including a proposed settlement, typically ends in an unfair outcome regarding the high net worth property.

Choosing The Right Family Law Lawyer

Jack Haller is a highly-skilled Moncton family lawyer with over 18 years of court and mediation experience. 

Possessing the extensive knowledge in financial matters, Mr. Haller will successfully cooperate with financial and forensic experts in building a winning strategy for his clients in high net worth divorces. Mr. Haller is also skilled in reviewing and scrutinizing marriage agreements and determining how they affect his clients in high-end divorces.

Reach out to Jack Haller today to schedule your appointment. Mr. Haller works at his downtown office, where you can meet him in person. He is also available via telephone or email. Mr. Haller’s fluency in English, French, and Spanish makes him accessible to clients from different language and cultural backgrounds.