High Asset and High Income Divorce
From Kristi’s interview for the Masters of Family Law series on ReelLawyers.com.
The team at Wells Family law has substantial experience dealing with large marital estates and high-earning spouses. The high asset or high income divorce may present complex issues. For example, executives may have vested and unvested stock options, bonus income, restricted stock, or nonqualified deferred compensation awards to take into consideration in addition to normal retirement and pension assets. Premarital agreements, trust interests, closely-held business interests, real estate interests, complicated estate plans, and separate property interests may also come into play. Complex tax issues such as allocating tax loss carry-forwards, the tax consequences of distributing assets out of a closely-held business, or allocating low-basis, high-value property can also arise. It is imperative that you have counsel who is able to identify and address issues such as these to ensure that your property is divided in a manner that makes sense for you. In high-asset, high-income divorces, there exists a very real possibility that the issues raised will be outside the experience of the court. Where necessary, we may advise our clients to engage consultants or experts to provide opinions where the court may need additional guidance in understanding complex issues.