When facing a divorce, a California resident may be flooded with thoughts regarding how his property and possessions will be divided between himself and his soon-to-be ex-spouse. Who will get the family home? Who will get the retirement accounts? Answers to these questions may create concern and anxiety in a person who has grown accustomed to sharing his assets with another person.
Individuals of more significant wealth face the same issues regarding how their property will be split when they end their marriages. However, because of their higher than average incomes, they often also possess more unique items of real and personal property that have to be divided during divorces. This post addresses some types of property that are often at issue in high asset divorces.
A high asset divorce may involve dividing real property that falls into a variety of categories. Held property may be rented, leased or owned outright or in partnership with another person. A piece of property could be used as a primary residence or as a vacation property; it could also just be land that the owner has not yet developed into a residential or commercial site.
Individuals who go through high asset divorces often have as marital assets items of property that have to do with owned businesses. Whether the spouses to a marriage were partners in a business venture or one spouse held a sole proprietorship to a corporate entity, an asset division would have to determine if and how those business property interests should be handled.
Jewelry, cars and other items of personal property are often common to divorces of people from different economic backgrounds. The valuations of these items of real and personal property can vary, however, depending upon the divorcing couple. Individuals with questions about high asset divorces can choose to work with family law legal professionals to address their particular divorce needs.
Source: FindLaw, “Checklist: Dividing Marital Property,” accessed on Dec. 22, 2014
