Hello and welcome to the 60 seconds with Sergio. I am your host, Sergio Cabanas, Attorney-at-Law here in Florida. Thank you for joining me today.
Today’s question is Sergio, I’m a spouse with a substantial amount of income and or a substantial amount of assets. But I’m a little worried because it looks like my marriage is heading towards a divorce.
What should I do? Well, a famous American poet once said, “Hoping for the best, prepare for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” This is true in life and this is especially true in divorce cases involving high net worth individuals. If there’s one piece of advice that I’d like to give to my my viewers that find themselves in this situation, please, consult with an attorney who handles high-net-worth divorce cases. That’s the best place to start. That attorney should be able to guide you through the process in many ways that I simply cannot cover in a public forum like this video. But there are some important tips that I can share with you right now that can help you get started with the process. The first tip I’d like to share is do all you can to protect important and legal and financial documents. Store these documents in a safe place where it’ll be protected from your spouse. Such documents will include important financial records or any prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements, that’s a very important one, tax returns, bank statements, etc. You should start thinking about limiting your spouse’s access to this type of information because it could be altered or worse yet, it could disappear. Also, think about limiting your spouse’s access to credit or any funds and bank accounts, especially if you believe your spouse might be involved in transferring these assets to non-marital sources. For example, to family members or unfortunately, to people involved in extramarital affairs. When a marriage starts heading towards a divorce, it basically can become like, for example, a disease.
The longer it’s left untreated, the harder it is to cure.
A final piece of advice for those of you who find yourself facing a high-net-worth type of divorce. Try to think of it as a business transaction. That means you try to suppress your emotions as hard as that may be. Try to do the best you can to suppress those emotions and negotiate as intelligent as possible with an eye towards settlement, but being ready to fight if left with no other choice.
I hope this video provided you with at least some guidance over this very difficult area of the law. Of course, this is not a substitute for natural consultation with an attorney who can guide you through this process. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. Thank you again for joining me and as always, stay informed, so you could stay strong.