High Net Worth Divorces

If you or your spouse is the owner of a business, has accumulated stocks, bonds, pensions, inheritances, real estate, investment accounts, overseas property, and other assets with significant value, the prospect of ending the marriage may raise reasonable concerns for both of you. All assets will first need to be identified, and special attention will be required to ensure property and possessions are distributed fairly. The Middlesex and Monmouth County high net worth divorce attorneys at Goldstein Law Group can help you through this complex process. Our partners have more than 100 years of combined experience representing individuals with high net worth in this area of law. Our previous experience and education in the tax, accounting and financial industries allows us to tackle economic issues that may arise.

The distribution of assets in a New Jersey divorce must be equitable and fair, but it need not necessarily be equal. The process may vary depending on each spouse's profession, such as when one or both spouses are lawyers, doctors, business executives, or business owners. Our lawyers can analyze your situation and create a plan that suits your circumstances. We can also help identify any hidden assets.

We work closely with knowledgeable forensic accountants, business valuation experts, real estate appraisers, tax experts, and others to determine the accurate value of your assets and your spouse's assets. It is not uncommon for separate funds to be commingled in order for one of the spouses to buy a business or to buy real estate. In those cases, we will need to perform asset tracing to determine which assets are subject to equitable distribution. In this process, a high net worth divorce lawyer in Monmouth or Middlesex County can investigate and determine the source of the funds used to obtain a particular asset. This can make a difference as to how a real estate holding, a business or other assets are divided and distributed.

In many cases, what may have been considered exempt separate property may be transformed into marital property subject to equitable distribution through a process known as transmutation. Some common types of transmutation occur when property is gifted between spouses, they commingle their funds, or they use joint property. The longer your marriage lasted, the more likely it is that transmutation of some assets has occurred and the more difficult it may be to accurately separate the non-marital and marital estates. For example, one spouse may acquire money through an inheritance. If he or she puts the inheritance into a joint savings account and then uses all or a portion of the inheritance to purchase a vacation house in his or her name only, the analysis of who gets the vacation house can become complex. The court may interpret the placing of the inheritance into the joint savings account as a gift to the marriage and conclude the originally exempt inheritance was transmuted, making the vacation home a marital asset subject to equitable distribution. All our attorneys also possess experience as real estate attorneys which can help ensure that complex family law issues like this one are handled with capable attention.

Many divorcing couples have a prenuptial agreement. In some cases, this arrangement does not hold up, and you and your attorney will have to review your situation closely in order to protect your interests, whether your are the spouse looking to invoke the prenuptial agreement or the spouse seeking to busting the prenup. One of our partners, Mark Goldstein, Esq. recently secured a favorable decision in the Monmouth County Superior Court – Family Part in which he successfully invalidated the parties prenuptial agreement, on multiple grounds, following a lengthy trial and a well reasoned decision was rendered by the trial Judge (the Honorable James McGann) resulting in an extremely favorable multiple seven figure settlement being achieved thereafter. (Disclaimer: the facts in your case can vary and thus, past experience in another case is not a predictor or indicator of future results).

Most people with significant wealth work hard to earn and maintain their assets. We can make sure that legal determinations about your property are made as accurately as possible to ensure that your interests in a divorce are well protected. Our knowledgeable family law lawyers have resolved complicated issues for individuals in Middlesex County, Monmouth County and beyond. Many of our clients have come from Rumson, Fair Haven, Red Bank, Edison, East Brunswick, Freehold, as well as other communities throughout the state. Contact our Middlesex and Monmouth County high net worth divorce lawyers at 732-967-6777 or via our online form.