Divorce Gets Complicated if One Partner is Deceptive

Tony and Jeanne Pritzker are getting divorced after more than 30 years of marriage and six children together.  The billionaire/philanthropist pair have some exceedingly complex issues to work out, though. Jeanne is discovering just how sneaky her husband could be, and it’s going to cost her in a big way.

The Pritzker Mansion 

The Pritzkers had been residing in an estate of more than 50,000 square feet that overlooks Los Angeles. Their home had also operated as the headquarters for philanthropic activities. Jeanne’s goal was to maintain the property so she could use it for her philanthropic activities, but she was in for a huge shock—and one that was not very pretty. As it happens, the home, alone with every bit of its contents, were owned, not by the couple, but by an intricate network of limited liability companies (LLCs) and trusts. Furthermore, Jeanne was not a beneficiary of these, meaning she not only had no right to reside in the home—the property wasn’t even part of the marital estate!  While she’d been thinking that she was eligible to receive half of the value of the property as per community property laws commonly found  across the nation—she was actually entitled to none of it.

It’s All Too Common 

It turns out that Mr. Pritzker’s actions are not unprecedented. Affluent individuals frequently drop assets into LLC’s and/or trusts for a number of reasons:

• So they can keep their accumulations cloistered;
• To dodge taxes;
• To manage estate planning.

It often turns into a form of divorce fraud, and happens all the time when well-to-do couples divorce. Instead of making purchases in the names of the couple, they have been made in the name of an LLC, which shields the property from unsuspecting spouses in the event of a split.

Some More Instances of Hiding Assets 

There are plenty of avenues through which the wealthy can hide their assets.  Recent cases include:

• John Paulson, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, divorced his wife Jenica, and was accused of pushing billions of dollars into trusts that were hidden from his wife. (He asserts they were for the kids and his wife knew about them).
• Elena Rybolovleva accused her husband of acquiring properties across the world in order to hide billions in assets when the couple divorced.

 Marital Property 

In Florida marital property is to be equitably divided in a divorce.  It means that whatever is accrued during the course of the marriage is fair game.  Cases like these make it difficult to track down who owns what because ownership is camouflaged through convoluted deals.

Fighting for You 

Do you believe your ex is hiding assets to which you are legally entitled? At WiseLieberman our experienced Boca Raton divorce attorneys are prepared to fight for the best possible outcomes for you. Let’s talk about it in a confidential consultation in our Boca Raton office today.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.075.html