Abbotsford, BC High Net Worth Divorces
Do you make more than $150,000 per year? Do you have assets in excess of one million dollars?
If so, your divorce has higher stakes than most. It’s more prone to contentiousness than most. And it will require the specialized skills of lawyers who focus exclusively on the unique problems of business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, investors, and other high net worth individuals.
Our firm’s lawyers have extensive backgrounds in business law and real estate law that we’ve chosen to apply to our divorce law specialty. This allows us to provide our clients with sophisticated legal solutions to their most challenging divorce issues.
Our team helps you save time, money, and energy. In many cases we’ve been successful at helping our clients avoid litigation and create settlement solutions they can live with. We keep an eye on the long-term picture to ensure that your wealth is protected well past the date of your divorce.
Asset Division for High Net Worth Couples
When you have a complex asset profile you will need lawyers who know how to protect the value of your most important assets. It’s too easy to devalue a stock portfolio, retirement account, or business by dividing those assets in the wrong way.
For example, your spouse might ask you to simply withdraw a lump sum from a retirement account and pay it out to them. This can be disastrous as it will vastly reduce your future interest income. In most cases, it’s wise to seek a QDRO instead or to offer another asset instead.
Farm divorces provide another poignant example. In many cases dividing assets incorrectly could result in a farm that can no longer function or make a profit. That can mean the loss of a property and income-bearing asset that’s been in the family for decades. Fortunately, there are a number of creative solutions we can employ that allow our high net worth partners to keep this asset while remaining within the boundaries set by Canadian family law.
Full Asset Valuation
One of the biggest challenges for our Abbotsford divorce clients is the tendency of their exes to try to hide income or assets in the hopes of retaining a greater share. While the temptation is understandable, the impulse is also illegal.
Our team works closely with certified valuation professionals and forensic accountants to make sure the full value of all assets are located and accounted for.
In addition, if we find hidden assets we are ferocious about seeking sanctions. That could mean that you ultimately receive a greater share of the assets.
We of course encourage you to deal honestly with your ex. We can use wholly legal means to protect your wealth and property, and to ensure that your eventual divorce settlement is fair. You won’t have to resort to any underhanded techniques to protect yourself.
Solutions for International Asset Holders
Do you have assets in the United States? In China? Hong Kong? In Europe?
These international assets create additional challenges during the divorce process. Enforcing the proper division of overseas property can prove difficult, and this difficulty must be accounted for during the settlement process.
Our team is especially familiar with the issues presented when Chinese immigrants seek a divorce in Canada.
Your international asset profile may be especially complex, but we can help. Our team will work hard to make sure you receive your fair share of marital property, no matter where it may be located.
Shielding You From Tax Consequences
We work closely with your financial team to ensure that any tax consequences arising from your divorce settlement are as painless as possible. For high net worth couples taxation is anything but straightforward.
For example, one Abbotsford couple we helped recently owned multiple homes: a family home, a vacation home, and several rental properties. In order to calculate the buyout fairly and correctly we had to make decisions about which home would be treated as the primary family home, as all over home sales would then generate capital gains taxes. Making sure the tax burden was fair for both couples took a great deal of work and time.
Failing to calculate the potential tax burden correctly can render a divorce settlement that looks fair and favorable on its surface into a massive problem once the CRA gets involved. Work with our team to ensure true equity in your divorce settlement.
Managing Imputed Income
Income is often straightforward for middle class couples. The same isn’t true for high net worth couples. Owning a business or drawing a huge proportion of your income from investments can mean that calculating income for the purposes of setting child support and spousal support can require some keen negotiation skills.
If this part of the process isn’t managed during settlement a judge may well impute income to one spouse that is well in excess of their actual month-to-month resources, which can in turn mean that their monthly maintenance burden does irreparable damage to their lifestyle and finances.
When you work with our team you vastly increase your chances of receiving a fair income estimate and working out a maintenance arrangement you can live with.
If you are the spouse that stands to gain monthly maintenance we can make sure that your ex isn’t using creative accounting tricks to short change you and your children. The Federal Child Support guidelines tend to break down when income is high, but we can make an excellent case which will allow you to protect your lifestyle.
Get Help Today
We’ve helped thousands of high net worth individuals in British Columbia. If you’re worried about getting a good, reasonable deal on your divorce settlement, our team can help. Our unique skill set can protect your ability to grow your wealth in the future!
We help our clients retain control of their companies, protect intellectual property, retain the value of their retirement accounts, and more.
Ready to get started? Call 1-604-504-8309 to schedule your first case review today.