How do you divorce a millionaire—or anybody else, for that matter? That is a question Lisa Zeiderman confronts often.
Zeiderman is a divorce attorney with Miller Zeiderman, a New York City-based law firm. She’s also a certified divorce financial analyst. Though she deals with people besides millionaires, the more money that’s involved in a divorce case, the more complicated it can be. Many times she has faced clients, both women and men, who are ill-prepared financially to leave their spouses, she says.
Financial advisors or attorneys can help in these situations by spotting red flags. If a marriage is on the rocks, there are usually signs that one partner isn’t financially prepared for a split, Zeiderman says, and if they aren’t, they often leave money on the table when it comes to negotiating the dissolution of the marriage.
“The biggest issue a financial advisor or lawyer confronts before a divorce is making sure neither spouse has all of the power over the money,” she says. “If the husband or wife is saying the other spouse doesn’t care about finances and does not need to know what is going on, that is a warning sign that one spouse may not be dealing in good faith.”
Once a divorce proceeding has been initiated, “the courts are supposed to make sure there is a level playing field for both members of the couple, but it does not always work out that way. Lawyers and financial advisors, in many instances, can help by doing divorce pre-planning,” she says.
A financial advisor acting as a true fiduciary for a couple may even want to suggest that one of the spouses get their own advisor when red flags pop up.
“It can get to be a difficult situation for the advisor if the husband or wife wants control of the family money,” she explains. When one partner eliminates access to the family money, it can leave the other partner without the power to negotiate in a divorce, she says.
“I’ve seen women from wealthy families that end up without the means to even hire an attorney for the divorce,” Zeiderman says. “They end up settling for less than they should. In some cases, only one spouse is earning money, so the partner doesn’t even have a way to recoup losses.”
Both spouses also need to take into account the tax consequences of their changing situation when they are negotiating a divorce, Zeiderman says.
“It is crucial to consider taxes when you value and divide these assets,” she says. “In addition, too many divorcing spouses leave money on the negotiation table because their team of experts does not advise them properly about the tax consequences of exercising stock options.”
She says she’s seen clients try to control money by putting it into trusts “for the children.” This might seem to make sense, but it’s really just a way to squeeze out the spouse. “I’ve seen people move money to a trust and then immediately file for divorce,” she says.
She warns that being the breadwinner is not necessarily enough protection. “I’ve seen people turn over the money they earn to the other spouse and lose complete control of it. People need to empower themselves, and there needs to be complete transparency in the couple’s finances,” she says.
To avoid problems, Zeiderman says, financial advisors should talk with both spouses. “Both people need to understand the finances, because marriage is a financial partnership.”