Sometimes, a marriage doesn’t work, and the only way forward is divorce. If one of the individuals in the marriage earns substantial income, or if the couple has multiple properties, assets, shared businesses, taxable investment accounts, real estate holdings, retirement, long-term investment accounts, inheritances, antiques, jewelry, and stock options, a high net worth divorce attorney in Orlando will assist in your long-term financial well-being.
Protect yourself and your assets by finding the right legal representation for your high-asset divorce. High-asset divorces require attorneys with specialized knowledge, skills, and experience in high-asset divorce cases are essential to secure a fair and equitable outcome in the final division of assets.
Resolute Divorce Law has experience in divorce cases such as these; call today for a free consultation or set up an appointment at our office conveniently located off of Interstate 4 in the Central Business District of downtown Orlando at 390 North Orange Avenue, Suite 2300.
Experienced Orlando High-Asset Divorce Lawyers
At Resolute Divorce Law, safeguarding clients’ interests by securing the financial well-being of their future is paramount within the practice’s strategies and their client’s expectations and goals.
With over two decades of litigation experience, our high net-worth divorce attorneys utilize highly developed strategies designed to manage the complexities intrinsic to high net-worth separations.
When many assets and accounts are involved, financial considerations must be made when managing substantial investments, business interests, and complex estate divisions.
Our divorce team has a deep understanding of these financial complexities. It takes special care to focus on securing a fair distribution of assets for clients while preserving their significant investments.
How Can Our Orlando Divorce Lawyers Help Clients?
Although every divorce is different, our attorney’s goal is to protect your interests while considering all possible outcomes involving the many facets involved in your specific situation.
We support our clients with many aspects of divorce including:
- Providing objective advice to assist clients in decisions: Emotions can run high during a divorce and a divorce attorney aids by providing advice about future concerns to help clients plan rather than focus on the end of their marriage. Lawyers can also act as negotiators and help clients to avoid personal contact with their future ex-spouse.
- Accounting for marital assets: By assisting in collecting records, locating assets and liabilities, and documenting all assets for asset valuation.
- Explain property division: In most cases, marital properties (anything acquired during marriage) are split, and non-marital properties remain with the spouse that owns that property.
- Strategize a debt repayment plan: Handling family debt can be more turbulent than handling assets, but both parties may be legally responsible if it is joint debt. Many cases involve only one party being held responsible for the debt. Let a lawyer guide you through this murky matter; a lawyer can protect a client by proving the debt is the responsibility of the other spouse.
- Spousal support determination and other benefits: Spousal support, or alimony, and other benefits, may be considered by the court based on many factors. These include but aren’t limited to the prior standard of living, the length of the marriage, ages and physical and mental states of the parties involved, financial resources, capacity to produce income, time necessary to acquire appropriate education for employment, and considerations regarding homemaking, child-rearing and the support of education and career-building of the other spouse. Temporary, bridge-the gap, rehabilitative, and durational support are the most common spousal support types.
- Determinations for child support: Each parent has a responsibility to support children according to both the parent’s income and the children’s needs. Child support ends when the child turns 18, joins the military, marries, is emancipated, or dies. Some child support concerns that need to be considered are the amount of support, the methods of payment, ways to ensure payments are made, increases or decreases in child support, and who claims dependents for tax on taxes.
- Custody plans: A divorce lawyer will work with parents to determine a plan that has the child’s best interests in mind while assisting in the creation of a parenting plan that works for everyone. Child support is dependent on parent income, the cost of health insurance for the child/ren, the cost of daycare or school, and under specific circumstances, private school costs can be included. According to the Florida Department of Revenue, the child’s standard needs must be met and the support must cover these needs.
- Discuss tax concerns: How and when you file will affect your taxes. Protect future filings by strategizing with our lawyers about your tax concerns during and after divorce.
- Premarital and post-marital agreements: Pre-nuptial agreements can be negotiated in the months leading up to the marriage ceremony and be created for the protection of each spouse if divorce or death occurs. Post-marital agreements may be required based on the goals of each spouse.
- Inheritance and separation: Oversimplified, in the state of Florida, inheritance is considered a non-marital asset. A separated spouse cannot inherit from your estate if you pass away without a will.
- Privacy and public exposure: High net worth individuals often face different challenges in managing privacy and publicity. Our divorce lawyers understand these challenges and work with you to ensure we understand your expectations while maintaining utmost confidentiality.
- Determine equitable distribution: We can ensure a just, fair, and right division of assets by considering the facts and circumstances in your life.
- Prepare divorce paperwork: Formal paperwork must be prepared and submitted to the court for approval. A high-net-worth divorce lawyer handles the initial filing paperwork, and finalizations, and submits responses to the other spouse’s divorce petitions and claims.
- Negotiate settlements: Negotiating the final settlement of the marital assets is beneficial in that it typically can move faster and can be less costly with litigation professionals rather than going through the courts without an attorney.
- Representation in court: Having a litigator present in court may be necessary to help settle disputes regarding custody of children, spousal support, and all other aspects of the divorce.
What to Avoid and Why in Divorce Cases
- Rushed settlements: Once a divorce is a certainty, many want to get the divorce over as quickly as possible, avoiding a lengthy process involving a soon-to-be-ex. Divorces that are completed quickly in high-net-worth situations often lead to an unfair distribution of assets.
- Tax liabilities: Taxes affect those getting a divorce in many ways, but most commonly, divorce affects tax filing status and filing of dependents, those who receive tax refunds, loss carryforwards, or tax debt. Your marriage status as of December 31 determines how you can file. If not educated in taxation and its effects on divorce, know these oversights could cost you more money later.
- Hiding assets: Hiding assets in a divorce in the state of Florida can have severe penalties ranging from jail time to being charged with perjury. Commonly, the party who hid the assets must pay the attorney fees, costs, and expenses accrued due to the investigation of the hidden assets. If you surmise your spouse is hiding assets, educate yourself on the financial matters of your family’s situation and gather all financial documents possible such as bank statements, tax returns, property records, and investments. Seek legal guidance and protection.
- Risky spending: Risky spending such as gambling or vacations may be frowned upon by the court and deemed wasteful dissipation. The court may award the other spouse to make up for the wasted funds that would otherwise be in the marital assets.
What You Need to Know About Divorce Law in Florida
Florida’s divorce rate is 3.4 per 1000 people, making it one of the highest divorce rates in the country.
In Florida, a divorce is called a dissolution of marriage. To begin the process, one member of the marriage must prove that the marriage is irretrievably broken or that its parties cannot save it. In addition, they must prove the marriage exists by providing a marriage certificate and that one party was a resident of Florida six months before filing the petition for dissolution.
The duration of the marriage has an impact on how long spousal support may be required to be paid to the lower earner. Categorizations of time married include short-term marriage (less than seven years), moderate-term marriage (between seven and 17 years), and long-term marriage (longer than 17 years).
There are two ways to file for a divorce in Florida. You can file for a regular dissolution of marriage or a simplified dissolution of marriage.
In high-net-worth cases, the regular dissolution of marriage is highly recommended as the simplified dissolution requires both parties to appear before the judge, file the paperwork correctly, and reach agreements between themselves. This can be hard to achieve in a high-net-worth case between the two parties seeking divorce.
To Stay Married? To Get Divorced? How to Help Your Case.
Divorce is a life-changing step, and one should be certain they are ready to dissolve the marriage. If your marriage cannot be saved, know what your options are and learn as much as you can about your current situation.
While that sounds strange to some, in many marriages, the spouses split the duties of managing finances, or one spouse completes financial tasks, so we will need a full picture of the marital financial situation and assets.
- Protect yourself. Consider all the ways you can protect yourself by gathering all relevant documentation on finances, documenting any irregularities, and avoiding risky spending. Consider hiring a forensic accountant to
- Research Trusts. There are many types of trusts and understanding which trusts are best for your situation requires some research or speaking to a professional about trusts. Ask our divorce lawyers about asset protection strategies or if creating a trust is the right move for you. Asset protection trusts (APT) offer protection against lawsuits or judgments against your estate.
- Hire a Lawyer. Resolute Divorce Law offers free consultations. Call (407) 362-5445 or visit the website for more information on strategic, precise, and professional excellence in managing your divorce.
Your Next Step
Resolute Law Firm is committed to clients and is an experienced leader in the field of high-net-worth divorce cases in Orlando, Florida. Our high net worth divorce lawyers can keep your case moving forward, navigate the intricacies of divorce law and the courts, and negotiate terms that align with your goals.
Protect yourself, your children, your assets, and your future with our strategic, precise, and professional high-net-worth divorce lawyers today.
Call Resolute Law Firm, at (407) 362-5445 for your free consultation with our experienced high-net-worth divorce lawyers.