Divorcing couples in Florida with a substantial amassed fortune are likely to find that the path to a clean division of financial property is a complicated one. The matter becomes more complex when one or both spouses take the effort to hide assets from the other. Financial planners specialized in divorce frequently work to resolve matters regarding assets that are hidden or illiquid in value.
These assets can take the form of partnership interests between two spouses who run a business together. They may also be funds of various sorts or stock assets. Fairly distributing such holdings requires planners to conduct deep investigations and make informed judgments. For instance, one specialist in divorce financial planning handled a stock distribution between two divorcees who were business partners by determining a fair allotment of shares for each ex-spouse to retain in the company in the future.
A representative of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts observed that the term ‘hidden assets is not meant to imply the hoarding of funds in offshore accounts; rather, many actions involving hiding assets can involve familial cooperation. A person may talk a relative into taking a large sum of the other spouse’s funds and buying something with it, or the person may make a loan without any interest to that same relative. Either act can represent an attempted clandestine shift of assets.
If either partner in a divorce in Florida is concealing his or her assets from the other, that person’s spouse may benefit from the aid of legal counsel. A divorce attorney may work with financial planners to investigate the actual possessions of the partner engaged in hiding assets, possibly managing to obtain a fairer settlement for a client.
Source: Financial Planning, “Finding Hidden Assets: Digging Deep in HNW Divorce”, Andrew Pavia, March 24, 2014
